Good Neighbors (NGO)

Good Neighbors

Founded	1991
Founder	Il Ha Yi
Type	Non-governmental organization
Focus	Well being of all people, especially children, and community development
Location	Seoul, Korea (Main Headquarters); Los Angeles, California, United States (United States Office)
Area served	37 countries
Method	Transformational development through local collaborations, investment in infrastructure and educational systems, provision of nutritional necessities, medical care, and disaster relief
Revenue	US$48 million (2009)
Slogan	Good Change for the world
Website	www.goodneighbors.org

Good Neighbors is an international humanitarian and development non-governmental organization in General Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC), and one of the largest in South Korea.^[1] Established in 1991, the organization currently conducts missions around the world to improve quality of life and educational standards, as well as to provide aid in areas of civil unrest or natural disasters. It has fundraising offices in the USA, Korea, and Japan, and an International Cooperation Office in Geneva.

Currently, more than 2,000 professional staff and 20,000 volunteers—ranging from doctors and nurses to engineers and professors—support approximately 16.8 million people, including 9.6 million children. GNI projects include building clean water wells in Africa, providing new cook-stoves for families in Guatemala, and sponsoring children in Chad, Guatemala, Malawi, and Nepal. It raises funds and network with other organizations through offices in the USA, Korea, Japan, and Switzerland. GNI also partner with local governments, international donor agencies, and local communities to raise public awareness about development problems and solutions, and advocate for change. In 1996, Good Neighbors received the prestigious General Consultative Status with the United Nations and in 2007, it was awarded the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Award in recognition of its contribution in achieving the goals .

Good Neighbors USA opened its Los Angeles office in 2007, which currently handles fundraising, donor management, volunteer programs, and marketing campaigns for all major projects. In December 2010, a Washington, D.C. office was established to network and partner with other organizations, as well as obtain grants from U.S. government agencies and foundations.

History

Good Neighbors is a humanitarian and development organization from Seoul, Korea that originated as a non-profit, non-governmental organization in 1991. Funded projects concentrated mainly on equity of life, primarily by supporting orphanages, handicapped children programs, living arrangements for disadvantaged widows, rural community development and the assistance of disadvantaged families of tuberculosis patients in Korea.

The organization has since been reorganized in 1996 and now supports projects in 35 countries. The majority of those programs focus on ultimately enabling the young and poor to become self-reliant through education and nutrition. In August 1996, Good Neighbors was granted General Consultative Status, the highest status level for an NGO, with the UN ECOSOC.^[2] In 2007, Good Neighbors was recognized by the UN with a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Award for their achievements in Universal Primary Education.^[3]

Good Neighbors currently operates projects in 26 field countries, with more than 120 project sites in third world countries, 26 project sites in North Korea, and in 40 field offices consisting of 70 project sites in South Korea, and with USA, Japan and Switzerland as supporting countries, with the annual budget of 2009 at approximately $48M, with 1,500 employees worldwide, a total of 12,000 volunteers, and 350,000 individual donors.

Organizational structure

Good Neighbors is headquartered in South Korea and maintains a number of field offices in the countries where projects are supported. The majority of funds are raised from South Korea, the United States, Japan, and Europe. In 2009, Good Neighbors raised over $48 million in support funds, drawn mainly from sponsorship dues, government subsidies and donations.

Good Neighbors maintains field offices in Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania Eastern and Western Chapters, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Guatemala, Paraguay, Haiti, Chile, and Dominica Republic. Each field office is run by a director and employs both local and expatriate staff members; additionally, each field office determines the specific need of the region and how the funds raised can be disbursed.

Programs

Good Neighbors International embraces the concepts of both community development and child sponsorship, and often will determine which program to support based on the needs of the nearby region.

Child Development Projects

For the cost of little over a dollar a day ($35 a month), donors can support the monthly cost for a child’s educational or nutritional necessities in a developing country.

Community Development Projects

Depending on the needs of the nearby region, community development projects may vary from country to country. For instance, in Chad, water supplies are dire, and thus the main projects supported in Chad focus mainly on increasing the supply of potable water. Projects can vary from construction of infrastructure to micro-finance, each with an emphasis on long-term sustainability.

Health and Sanitation

The provision of medical services and health-related education helps reduce the mortality rate in Third World countries. Good Neighbors also strives to improve the public health status of the poor through prophylactic means: for example, clean water development and the construction of sewage systems to help reduce the incidence of infectious diseases.

Advocacy

Good Neighbors provides awareness and education programs, as well as vocational training through partnerships with local governments and organizations.

Emergency Relief

In 1994, Good Neighbors began emergency relief operations in response to the desperate conditions resulting from the civil war in Rwanda. Since then, Good Neighbors has been a presence in disaster zones: for instance, the earthquake in Pakistan, India and Turkey, the Afghanistan war, the tsunami in South Asia, the devastating earthquake in Haiti and in China.

References

External links

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