Reflections on the strategic period 2022-2025

1. Focus on people who are marginalised

During the period 2022–2025, Dorcas stayed true to its core mission: standing alongside people and communities who are marginalised due to poverty, exclusion or crisis. Across all regions, programmes increasingly focused on groups such as older people, displaced families, and socially excluded communities. This led to tangible progress in areas such as empowerment, protection, access to basic services and community support, demonstrating the strength and relevance of our’ approach. During the strategic period, we also further strengthened and refined our approaches. For example, we strengthened programming on Livelihoods and Economic Development, and developed new programming that targets climate adaptation and resilience.

2. Develop coherent and community‑based programmes

Dorcas made steady progress in developing coherent, community‑based programmes. In our programming, the nexus approach was strengthened by further integrating humanitarian assistance with longer-term development objectives within the context of a community-based approach. Additionally, we increased our lobbying and advocacy efforts, primarily in the Netherlands, where we influenced policymakers. We developed a strategic lobbying and advocacy framework, which we will use to strengthen similar efforts in the countries where we work. We have invested in measuring the outcomes and impact of our work, specifically through a comprehensive results framework based on our theory of change. Furthermore, we have increased learning across our country offices through learning events and cross-country cooperation.

3. Increase the scale and effectiveness of our work

Between 2022 and 2025, Dorcas significantly expanded the scale of its work. Partnerships with local organisations and institutional donors grew stronger, enabling Dorcas to reach more people in need. We invested in strengthening the capacity of our implementation partners by realising systematic capacity assessment and development plans. Additionally, we invested in proposal development capacity to enable us to write higher-quality proposals with a greater chance of success. And we explored new funding methods to complement traditional institutional donor funding, a necessary step in the changing funding landscape, where funding availability is decreasing, and competition for these funds is increasing. This is an ongoing journey that will continue in the coming years.

We explored a potential merger with Help a Child to increase scale, but after careful consideration, decided not to proceed along this route. Nevertheless, we remain committed to collaboration with other organisations to increase our scale and effectiveness in the coming strategic period.

4. Mobilise resources and engage communities

Dorcas’ strong connection with communities in the Netherlands remained a cornerstone of the organisation throughout the strategic period. We developed a new private fundraising strategy and strengthened the processes related to it. We also adapted our internal operations to improve the support we provide to private fundraising and the Dorcas shops. As a result, Dorcas shops grew in number and professionalism, volunteer engagement remained high, and supporter trust and satisfaction were consistently strong. At the same time, we also face challenges due to economic developments and increased competition, which influence donor behaviour. However, with the foundations laid in previous years, we have a strong basis for future growth.

5. Become an agile catalyst and ConnActor

The years 2022–2025 were marked by significant organisational development. Dorcas strengthened its foundations through leadership training, development and implementation of internal processes and systems, enhanced integrity and quality management systems, and increased attention to sustainability. These efforts enabled us to achieve successful (re-)certification on all relevant quality standards, including Core Humanitarian Standard certification. The strategic period also further supported the decentralisation trajectory, in which country offices are strengthened and supported to operate in line with their portfolio and capacity. We will continue these efforts in the coming years, as they are also a cornerstone of our strategy for 2026-2030.