The Listening Tour 2016
The Listening Tour 2016
Participant Feedback Report
Thank you A special thanks to Lisa Legena, who went out of her way to help make the event happen in Perth – we very much appreciate your time. Thanks also to Pat and Ralph Boldra in Canberra, and Leanne Muffet in Adelaide, for giving feedback on the follow up survey. And of course a very big thank you to all of you who attended the events around the country. We were so inspired and thankful to meet you all.
“When the world wants us to imagine things as ‘us and them’ it is reassuring that there are indeed plenty of ordinary people who resist such narrowness and see the world as one.” Ian Wishart Listening Tour 2016
Front cover: Coby Viewgever meets her sponsor child Esteydí (6) in Nicaragua.
About the Listening Tour Between April and July this year, we met with 85 Plan International supporters in six cities. We arranged these events with a few things in mind – most importantly to say thank you. The contributions you make are so important to creating change in the lives of children and their communities all over the world. Without you, we simply could not do the work we do.
We also wanted to keep you informed about the direction that Plan International is taking and to get your feedback and ideas. We wanted to hear from you about your experiences as part of the Plan International family – what you value and why. And, of course, what we can do to improve on the experience for you and all of our supporters. And we wanted to do this by inviting you into an informal, welcoming space where we could come together to get to know each other a little better.
So, what did we hear? About your experience We heard that for many of you, the motivations to begin supporting Plan International were to make a lasting difference in the lives of others and to see the evidence of that impact. Many of you told us that you are motivated to continue your support because Plan helps communities to help themselves, that you can see you are part of long-term, sustainable solutions and that Plan is having a powerful impact.
About Plan International’s strategic direction We heard that you are overwhelmingly in support of Plan’s new global strategic direction as advocates for all children, particularly girls. We also heard that many of you are anxious that we continue working with boys as we always have, both to increase gender equality, but also to ensure they have opportunities to be safe, educated, healthy and happy. Many of you are supportive of our expanding work into the Pacific, and also into exploring work with Indigenous communities in Australia.
We talked about the inevitability of digital communications and how Plan needs to better harness technology to improve your experiences with us – but not just for the sake of it. For those of you that sponsor, you would not want to lose the experience of receiving your sponsor child letters in the mail, for example. For others, you would like to stop receiving so much printed material asking for further support – you would prefer these to be digital to save money.
Your ideas We also heard some fantastic ideas that we will explore further. Some of you want to get together again in an informal way to instigate your own plans for raising awareness and funds. We had wonderful offers to harness your skills and expertise as volunteers. And we heard a wealth of fundraising ideas. Finally, more than half of you gave us overwhelmingly positive feedback about the event and let us know that you really appreciated the opportunity to talk to us and each other.
What we will do now We will take this feedback into the conversations we are having about Plan International Australia’s strategy, to be finalised later this year. We are already talking about ways we can communicate with you in different ways, including podcasts, and will be trialling a series later this year or early next year – particularly taking into account the areas we need to communicate to you about more clearly.
We have a number of teams looking at how we can improve processes, including how we can personalise your experience and greater enable you to choose what we communicate to you about, how frequently, and in what format (mail and digital). We are also looking into how we can support you to form your own groups in capital cities. We already have the wonderful friends of Plan in Canberra, and we would love to see more groups like this across the country.
PERTH
may 10
april 11
Who came along? We had a fantastic range of supporters attend, with a diverse range of ages from 22-84, including new supporters and supporters who have been part of Plan International for over 40 years. Some of you sponsor children, some support projects, some give to emergency relief, and some take action on advocacy issues – and many of you do all of those things.
july 26 BRISBANE
may 19 SYDNEY
may 09
june 14 ADELAIDE
MELBOURNE
CANBERRA
Where did we go?
What did we ask you? The evenings all took a similar format – some conversation over wine and cheese, a speech from our CEO Ian with a short video, and conversation in small groups prompted by some questions. We asked you:
what did we hear? Motivations to begin supporting Plan International
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What were your motivations to begin supporting Plan?
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What are your motivations to continue supporting Plan?
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Where do you think your funds should mostly be invested?
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About Plan’s future – what do you think should be part of it and which of the phrases we are using in our strategic thinking resonate with you.
LEARNING ABOUT DEVELOPMENT
MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND SEE THE IMPACT
HAVING AN INTEREST IN A PARTICULAR REGION / COUNTRY
COMMUNICATION WITH AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD
“It was a great way to meet other donors and to open a conversation with Plan International”
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what did we hear? Note: of the 85 people that attended, 51 were child sponsors. Therefore, it is to be expected that the questions relating to sponsorship will have a lower response rate than others. This has been taken into account in the narrative below.
A lasting difference and seeing an impact You all agreed that you were motivated to begin supporting Plan International to make a lasting difference to children and their communities, and because you wanted to give to a charity where you could see the evidence of the impact of your donations.
Learning about development A little under half of you agreed that you began supporting Plan International because it was an opportunity for you or your children to learn about development. However many more of you (around half) were neutral on this.
Communicating with an individual child Many of you who attended the event do not sponsor a child, so this connection was not the reason you began supporting Plan International, so over half of you responded neutral to this prompt. Although the option wasn’t available as part of the prompts, as we discussed further, we discovered you were more likely to have been motivated to support us because you were passionate about the issues Plan International addresses – like gender equality and access to education.
“The evening exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed hearing other enthusiastic Plan supporters express what Plan means to them. And to see just how passionate your staff are.”
Of those of you that do sponsor, just over half of you said the connection to a child through child sponsorship was not a strong motivator to begin supporting Plan International – for some of you though this became really important once the relationship was made. For those of you who were motivated to begin supporting Plan International for this reason, it was mostly because you had sponsored with another organisation and knew what to expect, or because you had heard about the experiences of friends or family who sponsor.
Having an interest in a particular country or region This was the motivating factor for just over a quarter of you – you had a connection to a particular place through family, friends, having visited, or just felt that some places were in more need than others of your support. However just as many of you were definitely not motivated by this, and specified that your support go to communities most in need of it at the time you joined.
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what did we hear? Motivations to continue supporting Plan International LONG TERM, SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
POWERFUL IMPACT + NON POLITICAL
HELPING COMMUNITIES TO HELP THEMSELVES
NON-RELIGIOUS + LOW ADMIN
NOT MAKING REPEATED REQUEST FOR EXTRA MONEY
CONNECTION FORGED WITH SPONSOR CHILD(REN)
"I expected a formal, theatrestyle presentation – I was pleasantly surprised to find it was more of a collaborative, workshop style in which we got the opportunity to ask many questions of the CEO/Deputy CEO."
what did we hear? Help communities help themselves Most of you agreed that your motivation to continue supporting Plan was because Plan’s approach helps the community to help itself; because Plan works for longterm, sustainable solutions; because Plan makes a powerful impact in the communities in the developing world; and because Plan is an organisation with no political affiliations.
Non-religious and low administration costs Just over half of you agreed your continued support was because Plan International is non-religious, with the other half feeling neutral on this issue. For all of you, the importance was placed on the fact that not being affiliated with a particular religion means we are inclusive of all.
Not making repeated requests for extra money Around a quarter of you felt that Plan International did not make repeated requests for extra money, many of you telling us that we do this less than other organisations. Around half responded neutrally to this prompt, with some of you telling us that it was disappointing to make a donation and then be asked for more.
Connection forged with sponsor child(ren) Of those that sponsor a child, the connection forged between you and the child(ren) you sponsor was a strong motivator to continue support for around a third of you. For those for whom this was a strong motivator, this was the most important part of your experience with Plan International. Many of you have visited children and their communities and shared stories of how extraordinary these experiences were.
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“Indeed, it exceeded expectations. I felt very valued and that my opinions mattered.�
what did we hear? Where do you think your money should mostly be invested? WATER, SANITATION + HYGIENE CHANGE ROOT CAUSES AND CALL GOVTS TO ACCOUNT
COMMUNITY IDENTIFIES
GENDER EQUALITY
PLAN INTERNATIONAL IDENTIFIES
CHILD RIGHTS FOCUSED PROJECTS AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE
EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT
SPONSORED CHILD AND FAMILY PLAN INTERNATIONAL’S FUTURE
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE
MAKING PLAN INTERNATIONAL BETTER KNOWN
WHERE WE WORK
what did we hear? Change root causes and call governments to account
Child rights focused projects and adapting to climate change
Of the list of options, the top places you colletively felt your money should be invested were projects that change the root cause of poverty and call governments at all levels to account; and water, sanitation and hygiene. When we discussed this further, it was clear that these were understood to be the foundations of the other issues addressed, not that the other issues were of less importance.
Child rights focused projects were considered to be important, but for some this sounded too political. For those that selected Climate Change Adpatation as a priority, you placed in the foundational category – something that must be addressed to ensure other issues can be met.
Gender equality, early childhood and education, and working with communities Gender equality and early childhood and education were also top priorities for most of you. In discussion, you felt that this work is necessary and interchangable – for example, the link between gender equality and girls’ education. Many of you also discussed here boys’ education too – education in gender literacy, particularly in the early years, but also the importance of continuing to ensure boys are educated and able to participate in opportunities. Working with communities effectively – whichever area Plan International identifies as most needed; and whichever area the community identifies as most needed were seen as somewhat interchangeable. It was understood that Plan works with communities to identify what is most needed.
Youth employment and emergency response Youth employment was seen as important, but not as a top priority. Particularly for those who sponsor, supporting children once they turn 18 and are not part of the program anymore is very important. We had some interesting conversations about emergency response. Many of you did not know Plan International operated in this space, or what our work here looks like. When we talked further about the way we work in coalition with others and our expertise in child protection and education in emergencies, it was clear that this was considered an important area to work in, we just hadn’t told you enough about it.
Sponsored child and family Of those that do sponsor, it was well understood that investment is made in the whole communtiy, and not to the child and their family. There was a lot of conversation however about making this clearer in our communications.
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“Thank you for a lovely evening. It was wonderful to meet the staff and take the opportunity to thank you for the work you do.”
Plan International’s Future We asked you to write down whatever came to mind when thinking of Plan’s future. We had some fantastic conversations about your ideas for what we can do to improve.
Make Plan International better known Many of you want to see Plan’s profile raised – for more people to know who we are and what we do. And you had some great ideas about how we can go about that, and the role you can play. Many of you would like to get together with each other again, in an informal space where you can share your ideas and turn them into action.
Communities, people, children, girls and education Central to your ideas for the future of Plan International are the importance of working with communities, engaging more people; working with all children as well as girls; with a focus on
“Great atmosphere, very personal and inclusive, I felt listened to.”
education. And here education was used to mean more than children going to school – it was also about educating communities so they can help themselves, and educating more Australians about Plan international’s work.
Indigenous communities and the Pacific Some of you were very supportive of expanding our work to Indigenous communities and the Pacific, particularly recognising the need for adolescent girls and women in these spaces. We also had conversations about working in cities and urban environments, as well as rural villages. Alongside this, we discussed the interconnection of issues like climate change on the communities we work in – again, particularly in the Pacific.
Plan International’s Future Advocates for children, particularly girls
Communications and connection
You all responded postively to the statement “A dvocates for children, particularly girls”. We had many interesting conversations about the role of boys and men in addressing gender inequality, and some of you were concerned that to describe ourselves as ‘girl focused’ begs the question ‘what about boys?’. We had a lot of conversations about this, and we understand we need to better communicate that we work with boys and men, not only to address gender inequality, but to continue to make improvements in their lives as we have always done.
Innovation While many of you didn’t particularly like the word ‘innovative’ or feel that it was very meaningful, you agreed that it was important for Plan to take advantage of ways to multiply our benefit at the lowest cost – and that’s what innovative should mean. For many of you, this means working with other organisations doing similar work to reach greater scale at lower cost. Again, we do this across most of our work, and we need to communicate this better to you.
ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN, PARTICULARLY GIRLS
CHILD FOCUSSED
There was some confusion about what ‘eye level communications’ means. When we discussed that what it really means is to communicate from the perspective of our program participants, many of you agreed that it was an important way to describe the way we communicate our work. Human connections and digital connections resonated with fewer people – most felt they were both part of the present, and therefore not required as a big focus for our future. Many said digital in particular was inevitable, and that Plan International does need to understand how to engage with it for the greatest benefit without losing the human connection.
We’re not customers! Many were very opposed to the term ‘customer’. You don’t consider yourselves customers, but part of our global community advocating for change – that’s how we see you too! You do want us to provide you with the best possible experience as members of our communtiy by being responsive and proactive. This includes customising your experience by allowing you to opt in or out of communications, quickly resolving issues, building a personal relationship with you, and for staff to be knowledgable, well trained and professional.
CUSTOMER FOCUSSED
INNOVATIVE HUMAN CONNECTIONS
DIGITAL CONNECTIONS 'EYE LEVEL' COMMUNICATIONS
GIRL FOCUSSED
A MOVEMENT FOR CHILDREN
What will happen now? Your ideas You all had fantastic ideas to contribute, including: •
Many of you were keen to instigate Plan groups in your capital cities to meet up and do local fundraising and awareness raising
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A greater focus on positive change – sharing empowering stories of change and how Plan International is improving the lives of girls and communities
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A lot of fundraising ideas – from local events to an online birthday registry for Because I am a Girl
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You understand the rising expense of post, but don’t want to go entirely digital. Many people love sending and receiving letters and photos of their sponsored child in the mail. Equally though, many dislike receiving unsolicited mail and feel that it is a waste of money. You want to be able to opt in or out. Many of you who enjoy receiving letters and photos are happy to pay a little extra for that.
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Using our supporters as professional volunteers
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As we are inclusive of all religions, we could fundraise around any religious holiday, not just Christmas
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Engaging with influential people to help tell the story of the work e.g. Philip Adams
Things we can improve We can do more to tell you about the things you are most interested in, or that we haven’t communicated to you, including: •
Accountability and transparency – our income and expenditure, how we deal with corruption, and how much money goes to the projects
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How we select the projects and communities we work in
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Our expertise and unique contribution to the global coalitions operating in times of emergency, and how supporting our emergency appeals makes a difference
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What our gender equality programming looks like – not just working with girls, but with boys and men to change the attitudes and behaviours so girls are not disadvantaged
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What it means to advocate for all children, but particularly girls – we are not going to work only with girls, nor will we only work with boys and men to advance gender equality. We will continue to improve the lives of boys too, just as we always have.
Feedback from those who attended 49 of the 85 supporters that attended gave feedback after the event. Your feedback was overwhelmingly positive – for most of you the event met or exceeded your expectations. For those that it did not, you said you had expected a more informative evening of hearing from Ian about our work. Most people who responded to the survey said they would be very likely to attend an event like this again in the future and that based on the event you would be very likely to recommend events of this kind to others, as well as recommend to others that they support Plan. For most, the evening is the best time of day for these events, and the venues met most people’s expectations. If you were to come to another event like this, you would most like to hear details on specific Plan International programs and Plan International’s advocacy work, with fewer interested in how child sponsorship works. However many people stated they would be interested in all three, as well as to hear more about the long-term impact once Plan leaves a community, more about gender equality and more about income and expenditure. We will take all of this into consideration when planning events and communications in the future – thank you for your feedback, it is extemely useful.
“Thank you for a lovely evening. It was wonderful to meet the staff and take the opportunity to thank you for the work you do.”