Core Group

In 2001, the group’s original moniker, The Child Survival Collaborations and Resources Group, was streamlined, and the newly named CORE Group incorporated as a coalition of non-profit global health organizations. Though the original scope has broadened from child survival to include women’s health and infectious diseases, the organizing principle for CORE Group membership remains the same: technical excellence in integrated, community-based global health programming.

Coming Together for 15 Million Children

In 1978, approximately 15 million children (now estimated to be 9 million, as of 2009)  under the age of 5 were dying from preventable diseases. The world responded with the Alma-Ata Declaration, declaring health as a basic human right.

Recognizing the effects of these deaths on families and communities, in 1985 the United States Congress provided $15 million in funding for a new Child Survival and Health Grants Program at USAID.  This Program provided grants to private, voluntary organizations (PVOs, also known as NGOs) to increase child survival rates around the world.

The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University was contracted to support the Child Survival grantees by bringing together PVO staff for training in program strengthening and management. Led by Dr. Dory Storms, these successful events enabled many technical professionals to meet for the first time and engage in technical dialogue. Participants soon developed active professional relationships across organizations.

Karen LeBan, CORE Group’s current Executive Director, remembers this early phase as a sea change within the child survival field, a change truly empowering to PVOs.

“Until that time, PVOs were generally competitive and their staff barely knew each other, even those working on the same types of programs, in the same countries. Now, trusting and dynamic relationships sprang up, and PVO management began to realize that sharing information across organizational boundaries was a winning tactic for all involved—most importantly for child beneficiaries of the programs.”

NGO Collaboration Leads to Better Health for All

In October 1994, USAID’s Child Survival grantees convened in Bangalore, India to examine the health impact of their work during the period from 1985 to 1994. PVO documentation of results from around the world showed increases in child survival service coverage and maternal health knowledge and practices, and reductions in infant and child mortality rates. In this formal peer-reviewed forum, PVOs shared evaluation findings and discussed effective implementation strategies for delivering preventive and curative services to underserved populations. The findings and recommendations generated by from this workshop were eagerly received by other PVOs, donors, global alliances, multilaterals, academics and advocates.

USAID’s Administrator was notified that conference findings demonstrated the “dramatic global effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of strategies and interventions developed by the USAID – PVO partnerships in reducing morbidity and mortality of children and women…deserving of policy review and [increased] budgetary allocations.”

The success of this effort convinced participants of this increasingly dynamic network of the need to create their own formal association, in order to continue to build technical capacity, and speak with one voice to donors and policymakers. In 1997, USAID demonstrated their support with a $150,000 grant managed by Victoria Graham.  Since 1997, CORE Group has continued to receive funding from USAID as well as grants through Family Health International, Macro International, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs,  World Vision and private individuals.

A Growing Membership and Network

The original 25+  PVOs receiving Child Survival and Health Grants Program grants automatically became members of CORE Group. In 2003, CORE Group established annual membership fees and a membership process. Membership opened to any international NGO with commitment to community-based maternal and child health, based on a set of criteria. Each year, membership has grown. As of 2009, CORE Group has over 50 member organizations with several organizations in the process of applying.

In recent years, many others have become involved in CORE Group activities—including academics, policymakers, global alliance representatives—which has helped to expand the range of activities beyond the CORE Group members. The emergence of a larger entity, known as the CORE Group Community Health Network,  involves many global health actors jointly advancing this important subfield within the larger world of international development.


Learn More about the History of CORE Group

Learn More about CORE Group’s Achievements