Pathfinder International
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an article about the NGO. For the international communist grouping, see Pathfinder tendency.
Pathfinder International is based in Watertown, Massachusetts and is a large non-profit organization (NGO 501(c)(3)), that focuses on reproduction and AIDS/HIV prevention issues. Under the wings of Daniel E. Pellegrom, who became CEO in 1985, Pathfinder International changed from a small organization, to the current global organization, with an annual budget of over USD 57 million. It has a higher organizational efficiency and more revenue then for example Doctors Without Borders USA [1]. The organization operates in 21 developing countries.
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1957 "Pathfinder Fund" was founded originally by leading birth control advocate, Clarence Gamble, heir of the Procter & Gamble soap company fortune.
In 1985 Daniel E. Pellegrom became CEO of Pathfinder International.
In 1996 Pathfinder was awarded the United Nations Population Award.
In 2004 Pathfinder International had total operating support and revenue of USD 57 million (FY).
[edit] Activities
Pathfinder International works together with many organizations ranging from national ministries of health to local NGOs, to deliver different means of birth control to young adults, people working in the sex industry, and rural populations.
Pathfinder International is working in over 20 countries throughout Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Near East.
[edit] Africa
Pathfinder started its operation in Africa in the 1950s, and its regional office in Nairobi, Kenya was opened in 1974.
Pathfinder International is participating in the African Youth Alliance (AYA), that is active in Ghana Botswana Tanzania and Uganda, to improve overall adolescent health and control HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections.
AYA is collaboration between:
- Pathfinder International: Youth Friendly Services (YFS) and Institutional Capacity Building(ICB);
- PATH: Behavior Change Communication (BCC) and Integration of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) into Livelihood Programs
- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): Policy and advocacy, and Coordination and Dissemination.
Pathfinder also works on the FOCUS on Young Adults Program in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
[edit] Asia and the Near East
Pathfinder supports the following projects in Asia and the Near East:
- Bangladesh, providing information on Birth Control. Pathfinder publications.
- Egypt, Pathfinder and the CATALYST consortium launched a program called Tahseen Sihitna Bi Tanzeem Usritna (TAHSEEN), to improve the quality and access of reproductive health services. Its objectives are to invest USAID and Egyptian investments in family planning and reproductive health, ultimately lowering the fertility rate to 2.1 (births per woman) in 2017. Pathfinder publications.
- India, Pathfinder facilitates access to reproductive health services and educates the lower educated and young, to improve birth control knowledge. Pathfinder publications .
- Vietnam, Pathfinder works together with the Vietnamese government, to improve the quality and accessibility of reproductive health care. It achieves this by clinical and management training of reproductive healthcare employees. It is also very active in HIV/AIDS prevention. Pathfinder publications.
[edit] Funding
Pathfinder accepts contributions from both individuals and foundations.[2]
[edit] Organization Information
[edit] Mission statement
Official mission statement[3] :
Pathfinder International believes that reproductive health is a basic human right. When parents can choose the timing of pregnancies and the size of their families, women's lives are improved and children grow up healthier.
Pathfinder International provides women, men, and adolescents throughout the developing world with access to quality family planning and reproductive health information and services. Pathfinder works to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, to provide care to women suffering from the complications of unsafe abortion, and to advocate for sound reproductive health policies in the U.S. and abroad.
Pathfinder is committed to making family planning and reproductive health services available to all who want them. By partnering with local governments and grassroots organizations, Pathfinder creates programs that are responsive to the needs of individual communities.
[edit] Board of directors
Henry W. Foster, Jr., MD - Chair of the Board
Susan S. Swift, DPA - Vice Chair
[edit] Directors
- Sharon W. Allison
- Richard L. Berkowitz, M.D.
- Cornelia L. Cook
- Patricia J. Cooper
- Andrew L. Frey
- Walter J. Gamble, MD
- Susan M. George, MD
- Jane L. Havemeyer
- Denise E. Holmes, JD, MPH
- Anne Hale Johnson
- Benjamin R. Kahrl
- Edward M. Kaplan
- Rajen A. Kilachand
- Kathryn H. Lansing
- Nafis Sadik, MD
- Prakash Shah
- Philip Y. Shen, Ph.D.
- Kathryn Ketcham Strong
- Alfred W. Tate
- Dr. Manuel Urbina Fuentes
