The Depaul Group – made up internationally of seven charities and overseen by Depaul International – exists because we believe everyone deserves the dignity and security of a place to call home. Together with our two strategic partners, we span six continents, work in more than 70 countries and support over 75,000 people each year.
Each member of the Depaul Group is locally governed and locally run, with Depaul International providing support where needed while ensuring the highest standards of service provision and governance are met. We establish and/or welcome new members to the Group in countries where we can make a difference – where there is a lack of services and where people and communities need our help.
Depaul International strategic priorities
Although homelessness affects 1 in 5 people on the planet, it has no effective international coordination, limited international collaboration, and is grossly underfunded in almost every part of the world. Our ambitious six-year strategy sets out to change this and encompasses four major themes:
Service: impact and innovation
The homelessness sector is significantly behind other sectors in its collection and use of data. The Depaul Group is ideally placed to learn what’s working, robustly test interventions across different contexts, and cascade evidence and solutions to prevent and/or end homelessness for more people in more places across the globe. By evidencing what works, we can improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and influence policy making and funding locally, nationally and internationally.
Reach: collaboration and partnerships
Only by working together will we be able to achieve a world where everyone has the dignity and security of a place to call home. We will continue to foster global collaboration, work in partnership to respond to emerging global issues, and co-create and scale effective solutions. We remain committed to working collaboratively to grow our existing direct delivery services and increasing our impact, particularly within the Global South.
Voice: influence and amplification
It is imperative that the issue of homelessness is elevated globally to change perceptions and inspire action. We are working in partnership to pursue an ambitious global to local advocacy strategy to accelerate our work within the UN ecosystem, place housing and homelessness on international development agendas, leverage appropriate international funding, and provide local actors with tools to advocate for change.
Values: ethos and excellence
Continuing to be a well-governed, values-led, and inclusive organisation, shaped by the experiences of our clients, will be fundamental to our success. We will continue to strive for excellence, develop radical approaches to meaningfully involve people with lived experience at every level, and seek to integrate an environmentally responsible mindset into our projects and operations.
Each charity within the Depaul Group has its own areas of specialty guided by local contexts and need. Services typically fall into one of five categories but share a common purpose – to end homelessness and change the lives of those affected by it. The way services our delivered is deeply influenced by our values, with those affected by homelessness always at the heart of everything we do.
Immediate needs
We ensure the basic needs of those we support are met by running day centres, outreach services and night shelters providing warmth, safety, food, hygiene and medical care.
Accommodation and support services
Our teams provide suitable temporary and permanent accommodation, alongside comprehensive support, for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This includes assistance towards health and wellbeing, and supporting people towards independent living by building life skills including financial management, education, training and employment.
Developing skills, independence and belonging
We provide a wide range of activities and programmes alongside our services in the community. We support people to seize opportunities, and to develop their social networks and skills by running employment programmes, mental health and wellbeing initiatives and more.
Targeted prevention
Where possible, we intervene early to prevent people from becoming homeless, including through prevention work in schools, family mediation and housing advice. We also prevent people from re-entering homelessness by running outreach services to help maintain tenancies.
Advocacy
Ending homelessness requires local, national and international efforts. Across the Group this may involve advocating for an individual’s rights, local advocacy to increase services, or national or global campaigning for systemic change.
