NorthSouth Group for Poverty Reduction
A non-governmental international development organization
Annual Report 2009
   
“A country's level of human development reflects its investments one or two decades earlier and a true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its women and children. Investing in women, children and youth, in their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included is critical.” Global Health Council
Dear Friends
Despite much investment and many successes, the most vulnerable continue to suffer from poverty, lack of prospects, and poor health. New approaches are needed to understand the ‘causes of causes’ of poverty and the factors that hamper progress.
In poor communities throughout the world, women and children are among the most vulnerable populations. About seventy percent of the world’s poor are women. They lack access to basic health services, are not able to go to school, and are not empowered to provide better lives for their families and themselves.
The world’s population of young people is the largest in history, nearly two billion. Ninety per cent live in developing countries and face multiple challenges -malnutrition and under-nutrition, early pregnancy and unsafe abortion, lack of marketable skills, and the highest rates of new HIV/AIDS infection.
The well-being of over one billion children continues to be compromised. They are severely deprived of at least one of the essential goods and services they require to survive, grow and develop. Around 400 million people - including 100 million children - in developing countries live with a disability, outnumbering most other marginalized groups.
The NorthSouth Group focuses on health and poverty issues through strengthening capacities and empowering those who are the most vulnerable. As management specialists, educators, economists, epidemiologists, and public health and nutrition specialists we aim to build local capacity, bring key partners together, and demonstrate good practices for replication and scaling up.
Our first Annual Report outlines briefly our past-year activities and some plans for next year. We are confident that through better understanding of health and poverty, wide collaboration, and community participation, change will happen. All of us in the NorthSouth Group are committed to poverty reduction and working for better health outcomes. We will continue to make efforts to improve the lives of vulnerable men, women and children around the world.
Maj-Lis Voss Pia Rockhold
Executive Director Board Chair
About NorthSouth Group
Our mission
The NorthSouth Group was founded in 2007 out of a concern for the persistence of poverty and vulnerability. Our mission is to contribute to poverty reduction, improve health outcomes, and strengthen livelihoods among the most vulnerable groups. We do this through collaboration with local partners and communities to support those at risk.
We have recently become operational and grant writing activities will begin in the new year. Main areas of focus are adolescent health and development, youth employment, child protection, disability, gender equity and men’s participation, and water and sanitation. Our aim is to address the lesser-known ‘causes of causes’ of poverty and the factors that hamper progress.
We focus on strengthening and empowering those who are the most vulnerable through: building local capacity; collaborating with clients, governments and non-governmental organizations; bringing key partners together; and demonstrating good practices for replication and scaling up.
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Activities
Fundraising
Thanks to Esteban Sanz, an ExxonMobil scientist and a Board member of the NorthSouth Group, we received a $2000 grant from the ExxonMobil Foundation for website management and outreach. We have updated the website and it is now disability-accessible.
In December 2009 we received an announcement from the Niblock Foundation of Takoma, WA that $20,000 would be granted in January 2010. We are discussing project development based on these funds, focusing on (i) orphans and vulnerable children in India and Kenya; (ii) inhalant abuse among children and adolescents in Kolkata, India; and (iii) gender issues in Malawi.
Networking
During 2009 we worked on building global networks of partners with the intent to develop collaborative projects. Areas of common interest focus on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), gender, and HIV/AIDS and disability in India, Kenya and Malawi.
Some Plans for 2010
Meetings will be held in the first quarter of 2010 in Washington with KUSARD, a Kenyan organization, and its New York based representative. We are planning to collaborate on strengthening systems for care and support for orphans and vulnerable and disabled children in selected communities in Kenya.
Grant writing, with a focus on the three projects outlined above, will begin in February.
A Student Intern will support our project development and grant writing efforts. The aim is to expose the Intern to the entire cycle of project work and to inspire an interest in international development.
Our website will be updated at regular intervals. Pages will be added on project development in the three countries and other activities as they arise.
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Financial Information – 1/1/09 – 12/31/2009
Revenues and Expenses
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Amount
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Revenues
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Grant, ExxonMobil Foundation
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2,000.00
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Total revenues
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2,000.00
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Expenses
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Bank of America: Account maintenance fee ($13/mo)
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156.00
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Web management by ArtDriver LLC
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950.00
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Supplies (ink, paper)
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93.59
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Total expenses
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1161.79
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Balance on 12/31/2009
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838.21
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NorthSouth Group Board of Directors and Advisory Committee
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Board of Directors
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Advisory Committee
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Pia Rockhold, MD, PhD, Chair
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Keerthi Bollennini, MA
Vasila Mahali Mandala
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Doris Toolanen, Treasurer
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Rie Hiraoka, PhD
Asian Development Bank
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Maj-Lis Voss, Secretary
NorthSouth Group
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Mariam Khokhar, MA
International Organization for Migration
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Holly Michael, PhD
University of Delaware
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Homira Nassery, MA
World Bank
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Esteban Sanz, PhD
ExxonMobil Corporation
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NorthSouth Group Officers and areas of expertise
Maj-Lis Voss, MA - Executive Director
Public health and child and adolescent development
Meenu Bhambhani, PhD
Disability and development
Jindra Cekan, PhD
Nutrition, food security, and livelihoods
Leena Lahti, PhD
Change management, gender/diversity and coaching/mentoring
Shreelata Rao Seshadri, PhD
Public health and social development
Miho Tanaka, MPH
Public health, community health and program evaluation
Carina Torfalk
Education and teacher training
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NorthSouth Group is an international non-governmental development organization based in the Washington DC area.
Contact us
NorthSouth Group for Poverty Reduction
11615 Fox Clove Rd
Reston, VA 20191
USA
Ph. (+1) 703 476 8274
Fax (+1) 703 476 4714
E-mail: info@northsouthgroup.org
Web: www.northsouthgroup.org
NorthSouth Group for Poverty Reduction
www.northsouthgroup.org
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