Vision 2030 is grounding-breaking and unique: an agreed vision, mission and priority action plan for the global YMCA Movement, reached after nearly three years of worldwide consultation, and resoundingly adopted at the 20th YMCA World Council on 5 July 2022.
In summary, it’s a vision, a mission, four key impact areas, each of which has three goals attached to it – one at the YMCA level, one at the community level, one at the global level.
The vision: Our vision is a world where every person lives in harmony with self, with society and with creation.
The mission: The YMCA’s mission is to empower young people and communities worldwide to build a just, sustainable, equitable and inclusive world, where every person can thrive in body, mind and spirit.
The four key impact areas:
- Community Wellbeing
- Meaningful Work
- Sustainable Planet
- Just World
.
Each of the four key impact areas with a Core Belief, a Pledge, and three Strategic Goals
Community Wellbeing
Core Belief
The YMCA believes that every person should have the means to grow and thrive in body, mind and spirit while taking care of their individual and collective wellbeing.
Our Pledge
By 2030 the YMCA will co-create, provide and advocate for high-quality, relevant and sustainable health and wellbeing solutions to young people and communities worldwide.
Strategic Goals
- Our YMCAs: The YMCA Movement will review and develop relevant policies and practices so that its staff and volunteers at all levels work in a culture where individual, organisational and community wellbeing is a fundamental priority.
- Our Communities: By 2030 the YMCA strengthens and expands safe, inclusive spaces at all levels, empowering every person we serve to care for their physical, spiritual and mental health, and the broader wellbeing and resilience of their families and communities.
- Our World: The YMCA effectively champions improved policies and practices for keeping children and young people safe from harm, abuse and neglect at local, national and global levels.
Meaningful Work
Core Belief
The YMCA Movement believes that all young people deserve the right to learn, engage in flexible, dignified and meaningful work, and build sustainable livelihoods.
Our Pledge
The YMCA commits to creating, expanding and advocating meaningful, just and equitable education, training, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in the transition to the new economies
Strategic Goals
- Our YMCAs: The YMCA will review and develop its policies and practices to become a Movement where all its employees benefit from decent, meaningful, dignified and equitable work, as well as lifelong learning opportunities.
- Our Communities: By 2030, the YMCA Movement creates, strengthens and scales sustainable education, upskilling, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people and communities worldwide, with a focus on increasing their readiness for the Future of Work.
- Our World: The YMCA amplifies the voices of young people and communities and advocates policies to ensure decent, flexible, meaningful and equitable access to employment, entrepreneurship and training opportunities. A Sustainable Plan
Sustainable Planet
Core Belief
The YMCA believes that we should all commit and take action for the protection and regeneration of our Planet, preparing for a Just Transition to a world where humans live in full harmony with Nature.
Our Pledge
The YMCA commits to become a Greener Movement, an active youth voice on climate justice and champion of youth-led sustainability solutions.
Strategic Goals
- Our YMCAs: The YMCA will take steps towards becoming a climate-neutral* Movement, building a roadmap that will allow all YMCAs to make measurable and meaningful progress in their policies and practices based on local realities.
- Our Communities: The YMCA Movement inspires its members, staff, volunteers and community stakeholders to practice and champion environmental responsibility while also integrating climate education components for young people and communities in its programmes worldwide.
- Our World: The YMCA will champion global solutions and policies to support a Just Transition to a Green Economy, making sure that no one is left behind as we work together towards the regeneration and protection of our Planet.
Just World
Core Belief
The YMCA believes in the power of young people and communities to promote and advance justice, peace, equity and human rights for all.
Our Pledge
The YMCA will become a global voice in the fight against systemic discrimination, inequity, injustice and racism in all its forms, amplifying the voices of young people and communities where it is active to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard
Strategic Goals
- Our YMCAs: By 2030, the YMCA commits to adapt its policies, practices and programmes to become a truly equitable, diverse and inclusive Movement in the fight against all types of discrimination.
- Our Communities: The YMCA will empower young people to become peace builders and transformative activists, leaders and advocates for diversity, equity, inclusion and social change.
- Our World: The YMCA will amplify the voices of young people and communities worldwide to ensure that all people, including vulnerable and marginalised communities, are treated with dignity and their voice is heard and acted upon.
Please use all the communications assets which we shared at World Council – logos, approved wordings, and much more.
BRINGING VISION 2030 TO LIFE
How does an agreed strategy become a living, breathing action plan?
In a sense, there is no set formula, and nor should there be. It is for each YMCA National Movement to adopt and align with Vision 2030 as far as it can, and as far as it wants. But the more we align, the greater our impact will be. World YMCA will do everything it can to coordinate that process – sharing progress, and ensuring mutual support.
On 19-21 September 2022 in Switzerland, World YMCA will host some 20 YMCA staffers worldwide in a meeting designed to chart next steps, which in turn we hope will be approved by the new World YMCA Executive Committee on 27 October 2022.
The September meeting will achieve two things:
- To digest the findings of the CoLabs (35 meetings over 3 days incorporating some 650 people in Aarhus, and 8meetings over 2 days online)
- To plan: What does success look like in 2030? How will it work? How will we measure it? What platforms and tools do we need to put in place? How will we connect the Movement around it? How will we engage key partners outside YMCA Movement?
One thing is clear. The only way to implement Vision 2030 is to make a practical difference under each of the four pillars of impact, and to be able to point to compelling evidence – first data, then stories – that we have done so.
Many such stories already exist.
Here, we collected 40 of them – covering all four Pillars in every region of the world, in the communications pack shared at World Council
Global Stories.pptxHere, we shared 12 of them (again covering all four Pillars) to launch the Co-Labs debates.
Here, on World YMCA Secretary General Carlos Sanvee’s Twitter account, he has focussed from April to August 2022 on drawing out hundreds of stories from across the Movement which illustrates work on the four pillars.
And here, we scoped out the possibilities under each Pillar of Impact:
Our goal? First, incontrovertible data, proving how many people we reach and what we achieve in their lives. And second, compelling stories which will not only inspire us in the worldwide YMCA Movement, but also inspire others – donors, partners, governments, media channels and more – to join us.