Doctors for Global Health is a non-profit organization with members/volunteers from a wide range of work areas and interests. The organization was incorporated in Georgia as a 501 (C)3 tax exempt charitable organization in 1995. DGH began as a 100% volunteer staffed organization. "To Accompany" is a concept we have adopted from other grassroots organizations. Accompaniment is a paradigm of how to work with marginalized populations. It implies being invited rather than arriving without prior community knowledge or approval, as well as a participatory process with the community rather than imposing our way of thinking or doing things. Our mission is a) to promote health, education, social justice, and human rights by funding and carrying out projects in cooperation with local non-profit, non-governmental partner organizations, and interested communities; b) to work with its partner organizations to bear witness for human rights and against human rights violations; c) to educate and inspire others, especially students, by providing them information, opportunities for service, a human rights perspective, and "world citizen" role models; d) to directly sponsor non-profit, non-governmental projects deemed compatible with the principles of Doctors for Global Health. One will not find DGH registered in the Salvadoran Government's list of NGO's. Instead DGH has concentrated on accompanying local NGO's and educational institutions in creative partnerships. What lessons can be learned from this approach? What is happening with the work in El Salvador today, more than 8 years since it began?
Learning Objectives: 1. Articulate the mission statement of Doctors for Global Health 2. Identify ways that Doctors for Global Health is combatting the legacy of colonialism 3. Discuss current projects that reflect the work of Doctors for Global Health
Keywords: International Health, Community Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.