COMMUNITY AID FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT (CARD)

The ‘Focus for Sustainable Change’ CARD's Strategic Plan between 2009 - 2014 brought in its wake four (4) approaches and functions that will be central to the way CARD work and intent to move to: 

Advocacy and Resource Mobilisation: We will work to support advocacy, awareness raising and mobilization of resources (both human and material) to aid the people, communities and organizations we work.

Empowerment and Capacity Strengthening: We will work to ensure that CARD has the human and institutional capacity to deliver effectively and efficiently in the strategic areas of its operations. We work vigorously to empower the people, communities and organisations with whom we work.

Partnership and Strategic Alliances: To catalyse and facilitate the establishment of partnerships that bring together the range of expertise and capacity needed to achieve CARD’s Specific Objective. These partnerships will draw on all CARD stakeholders, the District Assembly, National and International Non-governmental Organisations depending on the task at hand. They will create a capacity for efficient functioning of CARD, improve the efficacy and impact of project designed, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Above all project funding.  CARD’s committed to making a sustainable impact in everything that it does. Promoting sustainable impact will therefore feature prominently in its advocacy, partnership and capacity-strengthening approaches. We are committed to work in partnerships in order to maximise our impact and upholding the principles and values of subsidiarity, delivery and accountability (in a most cost-effective manner), transparency and to adopting professional standards.

Commitment to learning and Access to Knowledge and Technologies: To empower CARD core staff and impact makers (volunteers) by providing them with access to information, learning opportunities, and new technologies in the areas of our work. This will be achieved through mechanisms for information exchange, advisory services, mechanisms for the exchange of technology-based innovations, mechanisms for adoption of best practices and inter alia. We are highly committed to actively learn within and from partners so that our work builds upon the skills, knowledge and understanding gained from experience.

Core Values and Principles

We shall uphold the following Values and Principles, which shall inform all our strategies, programs and activities:           

• Team Spirit and Participatory approaches to development 
• Gender Sensitivity, Youth and disable Friendliness and effective community participation
• Transparency and truthfulness , Integrity  and Accountability
• Effective and Strategic Partnership and Alliance

What have CARD done since its establishment?

• Our work has been focused on rural and most deprived communities within the Upper West Region.
• Much premium has been placed on six priority or functional areas which are dear to our hearts: educational empowerment, HIV&AIDS and Access to primary health care, disability, secure livelihoods through sustainable agriculture, and social well-being.
• CARD work has targeted three categories of vulnerable groups in Northern Ghana in particular and rural Ghana as a whole, specifically Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities.
• Building strong and long-term partnerships with NGOs, CSOs and other organisations with whom we can work to achieve the greatest sustainable and consolidated change.
• Continued to work with partners to improve the lives of disadvantaged people.

What CARD has focused on now?

• Working effectively and efficiently in four broad areas of our programme; education empowerment, HIV&AIDS and Access to primary health care including reproductive health rights and education, disability, secure livelihoods through sustainable agriculture, and social wellbeing.
• Conscious efforts in maximising our impacts in a cost-effective manner by working to sustain and increase the size of our core programmes and funding to enhancing the overall wellbeing of women, children and persons with disabilities.
• Strengthening CARD’s institutional and human resource capacity to work for the benefit of vulnerable and excluded people through partnerships and collaborations.
• Conscious efforts blend with ambitious plans to increase our profile and funding sources so as to place CARD at the apex of its goals and strategic objectives.

Focus for Sustainable Change puts Advocacy and Resource Mobilisation, Empowerment and Capacity Strengthening, Partnership and Strategic Alliances, Commitment to learning and Access to Knowledge and Technologies at the heart of how CARD works.

Our aim is for partner organistions to provide advisory services, funding, capacity and training programmes for CARD’s management, Impact Makers (volunteers), and communities as well as programmes so that we can stand firmly to contribute effectively towards sustainable and consolidated poverty reduction.