World Vision

Overview
World Vision International (WV) is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. WVI is the world‟s largest non-governmental organization and serves close to 100 million people from all religions, races, ethnicity and gender in nearly 100 countries. WV is working with GULL to provide opportunity and access to lifelong learning for the many communities that it serves. The WV- GULL initiative is founded on the practical, professional and holistic development that occurs in local communities, where we aim to encourage, recognize and certify the outcomes of action learning.

History
World Vision was established by the Reverend Bob Pierce after he met Tena Hoelkedoer, a teacher, while on a trip to China in 1947. She introduced him to a battered and abandoned child named White Jade. Unable to care for the child herself, she asked, "What are you going to do about her?" Bob Pierce gave the woman his last five dollars and agreed to send the same amount each month to help the woman care for the girl. Thereafter, he began building an organization dedicated to helping the world's children, and in 1950 World Vision was founded. The first child sponsorship programme began three years later in response to the needs of hundreds of thousands of orphans at the end of the Korean War.

Over the next several decades, World Vision expanded its work throughout Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Resources from child sponsorship assisted poor children with food, education, health care and vocational training. In the 1970s, World Vision embraced a broader community development model and established an emergency relief division. It attempted to address the causes of poverty by focusing on community needs such as water, sanitation, education, health, leadership training and income generation.

World Vision began the 21st century by strengthening its advocacy efforts, particularly on issues related to child survival and poverty alleviation. Today, some 40,000 staff members (including part time and temporary staff) implement programmes of community development, emergency relief and promotion of justice around the world.

(Above) Reverend Bob Pierce, World Vision founder. His prayer was “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”

 

1. Haiti, Mar 2010
Developing community educators in Haiti
World Vision International (WVI) is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. WVI is also the world’s largest non-governmental organization and its work spans some 97 countries with people and communities from all religions, races, ethnicity and gender. WVI is working with GULL to provide opportunity and access to lifelong learning for the many communities that it serves. The Vision-GULL initiative is founded on the practical, professional and holistic development that occurs in local communities, where we encourage, recognize and certify the outcomes of action learning. We are especially concerned to provide opportunities to learn for those without the funds, academic qualifications and access to any other form of further and higher education.

In Haiti, Vision-GULL is focusing on youngsters in the age range from 17-25. They are now by default, Haiti’s frontline community educators. This group has lost its opportunity to enter and graduate from an academic institution – but they can build their personal and professional skills in the community and help to lead and create an inclusive, community-based model for learning via Vision-GULL led by Haitians – now and for the future. To better equip these youngsters for their role, they undergo regular on the job training. The GULL system is interlinked with this training to enable the participants to reflect, review and professionalize their roles and to develop others skills by action learning. On completing the foundation level, the initial groups will as part of their own ongoing development to professional Bachelor level, serve as facilitators for new groups. This will enable us to ‘cascade’ to many more youngsters as quickly as possible.

Noah Ochola, World Vision’s senior advisor for children in emergencies comments: “This is a unique opportunity to help Haiti’s children and young adults continue their education and the initiative will help Haiti’s next generation find a future for themselves in this country.”

 

 

17-25 year old community volunteers are providing pre-school and continuing education in a creative and highly professional way. They are undertaking a critical role in creating and sustaining a child-friendly environment for young children – many of whom are traumatized by the impact of the earthquake.

Until the earthquake, Dan was a first year law student at university in Port-au-Prince. He was in class when the earthquake happened. He saw the walls shaking and ran for the door – just as the walls collapsed. He does not know how he made it to safety – he was the only survivor – his professor and all his class mates died. The WV team say that Dan is an outstanding community educator. He makes learning fun for the children and he is also teaching them English.

Related | News: Vision-GULL Haiti

2. World Vision Pacific Development Group, Papua New Guinea, November, 2010
Launching World Vision’s Pacific Development Group (PDG) work with GULL in PNG
The World Vision action learning cascade leaders for WV-GULL’s work in Papua New Guinea (PNG) met with GULL‟s Founding Chancellor, Sir Paulias Matane on Monday 1 November 2010 to discuss the role that GULL can play in facilitating self-directed community mobilization.

David Sweeting, Programme Development Manager, WV PDG, outlined the WV-GULL application:

“Almost two years ago now we went to Bourgainville to find out what Bourgainvillians really need assistance with. We spent close to 18 months talking to the communities and obtaining feedback. The most significant issues highlighted were related to education and community participation and their request was could World Vision assist with this? Arising from that and from talking to Richard Teare and others, we felt that the best approach would be to use action learning so that the initiative can be owned by the communities themselves. The target group for the project is youth and in Bourgainville there are many disenfranchised youth. The yearning for education is there but today‟s youth get bored easily and if they are not occupied with something productive, they can become disruptive and lapse into drugs and alcohol abuse and so our goal is to design a project that will benefit the youth who have fallen out of the education system and engage them in self-directed learning.”

 

The need for holistic lifelong learning

Sir Paulias Matane, GULL‟s Founding Chancellor, poses the question: “‟How do we educate a child?‟ Is it to pass exams and progress on to the next grade or is it to education them for life? If the child is to become a complete human being, he/she must understand that there are three parts of his being – body, mind and spirit – which must be trained and developed properly. Education must help the individual to become a total human being. When I look at the standard of education today and compare it with my own experience of school, there is my view, a significant gap.”

(Above) Sir Paulias Matane, GULL‟s Founding Chancellor & 8th Governor General, Papua New Guinea

 

World Vision and GULL overview

“Using GULL, we aim to build the capacity of the person who is standing in front of the youth and the person doing awareness building with the parents because the capacity of our community volunteers is so critical. We want to build them up so that they are confident and enthusiastic and more likely to succeed in developing the competency of others. At that point, we want to recognize them for their efforts. I think that this has been the essence of Sir Paulias‟ dream for a long, long time so I am very hopefully that this kind of support from GULL is going to make a difference.”

Dr Micael Olsson, Director, Education & Life Skills, World Vision International.

 

Meeting with the Prime Minister, Papua New Guinea 4 November, 2010

Sir Michael Somare, GULL‟s Co Chancellor & Prime Minister, PNG: “I am looking forward to hearing about World Vision and especially to a progress report on the Global University for Lifelong Learning. As you know, Sir Paulias Matane and I are great colleagues – we went to school together and we always maintain that education is our key theme. If developed properly, Papua New Guinea is going to be a very rich country and I believe that we can transform this nation.

(Above, centre) Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister, Papua New Guinea & GULL‟s Co Chancellor with WV and GULL leaders

 

WV PDG-GULL planning workshop 1-5 November 2010

The WV PDG team were briefed on the concept of self-directed action learning and the many ways of using the GULL action learning system to interlink WV‟s training and other activities with evidence of change in the form of learning outcomes (a process that GULL terms „outcomes mapping‟)

Participant reflections and closing remarks:

“During the week, I have come to realize that learning has to be customized so that every GULL participant can resolve their own challenges. Our main purpose at World Vision is to meet the needs of those we serve and support and I see that GULL provides a closely related enabling framework that provides a development pathway for each one of us that we can later pass to others.” - Joseph

(Above) participants at the WV PDG and GULL planning workshop 1-5 November, 2010.

 

3. Internalizing and cascading the GULL system at World Vision, Seattle, USA January 2011

Reflections on the cascade planning process

World Vision is internalizing the GULL system in order to recognize the individual and collective efforts of those who are causing change and progressive transformation in communities. In 2010, a number of pilot cascades were established in different settings so as to explore ways of starting and sustaining an action learning cascade. The piloting work clearly demonstrated that self-directed action learning can be operationalized on a large scale and that by engaging entire communities in the process, significant outcomes arise. These include growth in individual self-esteem and confidence and the wider implications of collective self-reliance as groups of action learners learn together, pass on their action learning expertise to others and begin to mobilize entire communities.

 

Community-led action learning

“I am excited about a process and framework that empowers the most vulnerable in our communities. The poorest are unable to realize the „Genius of God‟ in them and lack of opportunity means that they are often unaware of their own potential. I believe that the action learning process will enable us to re-focus on God‟s desire to bring good news to the poor and to enable them to discover the totality of what they are able to do. I also love the fact that the GULL cascading method inverts the pyramid and places the majority at the top so that solutions flow from the people we serve as they determine their own change process. The implications are huge – every person who is touched by this process will be able to support their own community with renewed confidence and there will be a ripple effect that we cannot even imagine at this moment in time.”

- Elinor Alexander Capacity Building Advisor, Education & Life Skills, Global Center, World Vision International

 

Enriching the learning organization

“I am excited because GULL provides a framework that augments and enriches WV‟s learning organization concept and embraces our community-based work by equipping and empowering the marginalized. I have always felt that the people who are best placed to find and implement practical solutions are those who are most closely affected by the challenges that need to be addressed. We owe it to all whom we serve to enable this to happen in a more systematic way. The cascade method offers a way of co-creating and sharing this process by releasing the creativity and potential of large numbers of people.”

- Fe Garcia Senior Advisor, Maternal & Child Health, Global Health Center, World Vision International

 

Responding to disability challenges

“I am excited by the opportunity to participate in GULL as I know that it will enable me to have a greater impact in terms of the work we do with our partner organizations in the global disability movement. In this sphere, it is so important to work with community-based organizations and I can foresee ways in which we can share the GULL process with them. This is an important moment because I have always wondered how we might provide opportunities for the many people I meet in communities who are capable and yet not recognized for the skills they possess.”

- Hitomi Honda Disability Advisor, Global Center, World Vision International

 

Aligning work with personal and professional development

“Given the time-related challenges we all have, a method that helps me to „map the madness‟ is really encouraging. I‟m also excited about the opportunity that this initiative will give me to contribute to the bigger picture. I‟m looking forward to our team effort as we seek to articulate the journeying process – so that the many with limited or no development opportunity can fully participate.”

- Marla Grassi Support Services Manager, Children in Ministry, Global Center, World Vision International

 

The potential for self-directed development

“I see GULL as a structure that will enable WV to provide self-directed development pathways for its staff and volunteers that are grounded in everyday experiences and are likely to yield fresh insights, self-confidence and greater maturity. I can see an immediate application – our induction process is relatively narrow and limited and by linking this with GULL we can enrich the experience and help participants to reflect more deeply on their own learning needs and the various ways in which they can contribute to the development of others. Further, we often work in a routine way in accordance with an established model and by reflecting on the actions that are taken we will be able to determine if we are doing the right things and innovate where necessary.”

- Osvaldo Benitez Global Life Skills Work Team / HIV and AIDS Research Development Specialist, World Vision International

 

Equipping communities for the future

“I have long been committed to the principles of GULL and our collaborative effort will help to institutionalize and operationalize our efforts to recognize and strengthen the communities that we serve. It is a timely initiative and the GULL affiliation enables us to internalize the principles and at the same time, customize the process so that it is flexible and engaging for both WV volunteers and staff. We already have endorsements from several WV national directors and by initiating new action learning cascades in eight African countries during April 2011, the process will build momentum across a range of initiatives in education, life skills development and healthcare.”

- Micael Olsson Director, Education & Life Skills, Global Center, World Vision International

 

4. World Vision Pacific Development Group, Papua New Guinea, May, 2011

Cascading WV-GULL’s work with World Vision’s Pacific Development Group (PDG) in PNG

Building on the launch of WV-GULL’s work with WV PDG in November, 2010, field training for WV staff and volunteers in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea took place from 9-12 May 2011. A group of 18 local WV staff members were joined for the workshop by volunteers from all the participating communities. The forty-strong group worked closely together to develop an action plan that will enable all the communities to embed the WV-GULL action learning system in WV’s technical training and wider community work. The significance of the event was enhanced by the presence of Curt von Boguslawski, National Director, WV PDG and Trihandi Saptoadi, Regional Director, WV South Asia & Pacific region.

 

WV PDG are pioneers in framing the process for facilitating the creation of self-reliant learning communities and the WV-GULL cascade started in all the participating communities in Bougainville on 17 May 2011.

Left: Dr Curt von Boguslawski, National Director, WV PDG comments on the role of WV-GULL in facilitating community-based learning:

 

 

5. Partnering for Quality Education and Learning Outcomes
World Vision Education & Life Skills Forum, Nairobi, Kenya, 31 May – 2 June 2011

The World Vision Forum brought together key WV staff and representatives from organizations like UNICEF, Save the Children and GULL among others. The purpose was to clarify the role community-based NGOs can plan in contributing to recognized and measurable learning outcomes and to explore partnering arrangements that might enable World Vision and other NGOs to achieve advances – especially in the most remote ‘hard to reach’ communities - globally. The Forum also considered ways of building the capacity of communities in order to strengthen outcomes. The challenge for interested stakeholders was to clarify just what role community-based NGOs could play in contributing to quality education and recognized and measurable results. Further, to explore how stakeholders might best partner with one another to minimize redundancies across the collective organizational effort.

In order to improve educational opportunities for an estimated one billion children in hard to reach areas, World Vision is establishing a number of strategic partnerships and will take the lead on life skills development. In support of this, the formation of WV-GULL has enabled World Vision to internalize the GULL system so that all the communities it serves in almost 100 countries can be introduced to action learning. The over-arching objective is to build the capacity and self-reliance of communities and to enable volunteer community educators and others in fields such as healthcare to professionalize their work and attain recognized qualifications.

(Right) Forum participants 2 June 11

WV-GULL, life skills development and action learning

Representatives from 22 World Vision Partnership offices attended the Forum: WV Burundi; WV Cambodia; WV Canada; WV East Africa Region; WV Ethiopia; WV Germany; WV Haiti; WV India; WV Kenya; WV Latin America Caribbean Region; WV Malawi; WV New Zealand; WV Papua New Guinea; WV Rwanda; WV Somalia; WV South Sudan; WV Swaziland; WV Tanzania; WV Uganda; WV United States; WV Vietnam; WV West Africa Region.

Participating World Vision representatives were invited to respond to the array of partnering opportunities offered at the event. The response to WV-GULL and its methodology for building self-reliance across entire communities was overwhelming:

 

 

Implementing WV-GULL – a three year plan

World Vision National Offices in many countries will adopt WV-GULL during the next three years and to facilitate this, the launch process will include regional forum and master trainer sessions. All participating countries will ‘cascade’ action learning via their Area Development Program staff teams. This is likely to be the world’s largest action learning project, focused on the poorest communities on earth.

 

6. Recognising the impact of community volunteers
The Global University for Lifelong Learning comes to World Vision

In support of the WV-GULL implementation plan, the video profiles the mission of GULL and the outcomes of a WV-GULL pilot in Narok, Kenya. The video features reflections on the outcomes by the World Vision Kenya National Director, Education Coordinator, Area Development Program Manager and a World Vision Volunteer. They comment on the ways in which the process of action learning and WV-GULL recognition is helping to address the problem of female genital mutilation (FGM) and adult illiteracy among the Maasai population. Below: ‘Recognising the impact of community volunteers’

 

World Vision (WV) and the Global University for Lifelong Learning (GULL) have partnered together as WV-GULL to provide a global capacity building system. Our goal is to professionalise and recognise the contribution of community volunteers and staff through action learning. ‘Capacity building’ is a process that enables people to develop in contextually appropriate ways and our vision is to encourage self-directed individual and community development.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities. As the world’s largest agency in this field, World Vision works in partnership with more than 100 million people in nearly 100 countries in their struggle against poverty, hunger and injustice, irrespective of their religious beliefs.

WV-GULL brochure 26th August 2011

 

What is the WV-GULL initiative?
World Vision and the Global University for Lifelong Learning (WV-GULL) have partnered together to provide a capacity building system (a process that enables people to develop in contextually appropriate ways) to professionalise and recognise the contribution of community volunteers and staff through action learning. Action learning is learning while you are doing. GULL is a widely recognised alternative to formal university training that facilitates action learning through reflection on community-based work and provides pathways towards degrees based on life experience and other accomplishments.

GULL is a nonprofit public benefit corporation registered in California, USA with a presence in many countries. GULL’s mandate to confer professional awards is based on a statement of recognition in perpetuity offered by a Head of State and Prime Minister, Government of Papua New Guinea and endorsed and supported by other governments, leaders and institutions. Multiple endorsements enable the University to contextualise a global system in any community or workplace setting.

 

Who endorses GULL?
GULL’s Founding Chancellor is Sir Paulias Matane (front center), the eighth Governor General (head of state) of Papua New Guinea. Sir Paulias is one of a significant number of renowned individuals around the world who regularly promote GULL and support action learning initiatives.

A panel of prominent Pro Chancellors, to include heads of state, senior public servants and politicians also support GULL. GULL is gaining acclaim from leaders, organisations, and students around the world.

To see global endorsements of GULL consult the GULL website at www.gullonline.org/recognition/endorsements

 

How does WV-GULL professionalise and award degrees?
GULL awards professional certificates, diplomas and degrees. Its learning process is entirely linked to results or outputs using an active self-directed action learning approach that is customised by the learner.

WV-GULL recognises and certifies the evidence of learning and application. This happens as participants use and apply action learning and then cascade (share) their experience with others.

The evidence typically relates to change, impact and transformation and the objective is to enable participants and other stakeholders in the learning process to advance and improve.

 

How does WV-GULL support World Vision’s goals?
World Vision’s Integrated Competency Development (ICD) approach to capacity building is ‘competency development’ of local World Vision staff to effectively implement the Guidance for Integrated Programming (GIP). Developing and implementing a plan to equip local level staff with the competencies they require to apply the GIP is a key part of a national office’s work. Where ICD provides a framework to build the competences of local staff, WV-GULL extends building the capacity to World Vision’s many local volunteers who implement our programmes. WV-GULL does so by ensuring that competencies, character (personal) development and their contribution to community change (impact) is integrated and verified.

The capacity of World Vision staff who work with local communities is clearly important to World Vision’s effectiveness in improving the well-being of children. The capacity of local partner volunteers they supervise is even more critical to that effectiveness. It is the local partner volunteers who are the ones who work directly with the children and parents we seek to serve. Their training is limited, the compensation they receive from working with World Vision is marginal, and while they receive some level of recognition for their work, it doesn’t influence their professional status or certify them in ways that lead to further opportunity.

GULL is powerfully motivating for community volunteers. Not only does it affirm their personal contributions, but their professional status improves and they are given formal documents from a recognised global body to show for it. Professionalising and recognising their accomplishments not only benefits and further motivates them, but significantly improves World Vision’s overall performance.

 

What does WV-GULL action learning look like?
The WV-GULL approach is not so much about lectures, textbooks and exams as it is about taking what one has learned and demonstrating its positive impact on everyday life; in our case, the well-being of children. While it is based on self-directed action learning, participants must demonstrate their impact through verified data that is broadly accepted for that field of study.

The initiative includes support from a mentor or learning coach, a personal support group and/or peer support group, World Vision trainings, self-reflection through journaling and supervision by the World Vision staff overseeing the area of field programming. Additionally, the participant can add a wealth of other resources, learning aids and opportunities to their curriculum.