In 2018, as ALA was on the cusp of its Decennial celebrations, we launched ALA 2023, our five-year strategic plan. We identified three priorities that reinforce each other and unlock a virtuous cycle. We set out to:
- Win in the marketplace, amplifying our brand to strengthen market demand for our programs and power a robust financial engine as a model social enterprise.
- Invest in learning and innovation in our diploma program, such that we improve our leadership development outcomes and can share learning with the broader sector.
- Unleash our network, such that we catalyze impact across generations and through diverse sector pathways, engaging our youth as active partners in achieving our audacious mission.
Less than two years into the implementation of this strategy, the world experienced the most severe disruption of the century: a global pandemic. While important progress occurred across all indicators, institutional priorities shifted in order to ensure the safety of students and staffulty and the success of core functions.
We emerged from this period of disruption safe, stable, and having made important progress. After a period of focus on important enabling conditions, our community was ready to turn to questions of long-term direction. The most important work of ALA 2023 remains incomplete, yet at the same time, we are more clear than ever on what we hope to achieve. We can clearly describe the school we want to become; we have a concrete path to financial sustainability, and the organizing principles for our programs have come into sharper relief. ALA 2026 will push us to finish what we started in ALA 2023.
As we build to 2026, we will organize our work around four priorities:
- A School To Change The World: We will significantly evolve the academy program over the next two years. We aspire to build a school that is a true model of pan-African excellence.
- Communities Of Leadership: We recognize an important opportunity to accelerate and enrich the reach and impact of our entrepreneurship and leadership programs beyond campus.
- A Lasting Financial Engine: By controlling costs, rebuilding earned revenue, and securing our philanthropic engine we have a clear path to ALA’s financial sustainability.
- A Great Place To Grow: People are the key enabler of any organization, just as we invest in developing young leaders, we will build a human capital engine that makes ALA a great place to grow as a professional.
Over the next few weeks we will share more on each strategic priority. You can read more in our 2023 Annual Report by clicking the image below!
