This document summarizes the agenda and discussions at the CORE Group Spring Meeting and Board and Staff Strategic Planning Retreat on May 6, 2014. It outlines the contributors and sponsors to CORE Group, the capacity building work done by CORE Group, and the discussions around CORE Group's role in the changing global health environment. Key topics discussed include the board elections, CORE Group's vision, mission, and strategic priorities, CORE evidence-based tools, updates on initiatives, and working groups. Participants were asked to consider questions around priority community health issues, communities of practice, and the effectiveness and vital role of working groups.

1. CORE Group Welcome
and Strategic Planning
May 6, 2014

2. Contributors and Sponsors
• USAID
• MCHIP –Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program
• CORE Group Polio Project
• Concern Worldwide
• Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health
• Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Rights
• JSI/Advancing Partners & Communities
• Philips Healthcare
• Translating Research into Action Project/URC
• Worldwide Diagnosis
• Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) Task Force

3. Spring Meeting
• Capacity Building—what CORE does
• Critical to global work
• Country level initiatives
• Health for All Starts in the Community
• Primary health care
• Universal health coverage
• Community engagement
• Looking to the future…what is our role in the
changing environment of global health and
development

4. Board
• Role of Board
• Current Board members: Mary Hennigan (Catholic Relief
Services); Joe Ichter (External); David Pyle (External); Eric Starbuck
(Save the Children); Alan Talens (World Renew)
• Outgoing board members:
• Demet Güral, Vice-Chair (Pathfinder)
• Diana Dubois, Secretary (Wellshare)
• Jed Hoffman, Treasurer (World Vision)
• Jaime Carrillo (Medair)
• Areana Quiñones (External)
• Bakary Sidibe (External)

5. Board and Staff Strategic
Planning Retreat

6. Areana Quiñones
Bakary Sidibe
Jaime Carrillo

7. Demet Güral
Diana Dubois
Jed Hoffman

8. Elections
• New board slate
• Chair: Judy Lewis (External)
• Vice-Chair: Erin Stieber (External)
• Secretary: Jenn Weiss (Concern Worldwide)
• Treasurer: Dennis Cherian (World Vision)
• At Large: Sonya Funna Evelyn (ADRA); Janine Schooley (PCI
Global); Graciela Salvador-Davila (Pathfinder); Geraldine Sicola
(Aga Khan Foundation)
• Need to vote by 2 pm today—must have vote of majority of
members for slate to be approved
• Dory Storms ballot due at same time

9. Vision and Mission
VISION
Healthy communities where everyone
can attain health and well-being
MISSION
Improve and expand community health
practices for underserved
populations, especially women and
children, through collaborative action
and learning

10. Key Strategic Priorities
• Hub of community health innovation and
learning
• Implementation science informed by practice
• Increase global participation in our collaborative
learning model—build strategic capacity
• Engage in priority global health initiatives
• Advocate for community participation and
intervention
• Expand impact through innovative business and
governance models

11. CORE Evidence Based
Tools developed in collaboration
with implementing PVOs

12. Updates
• CSHGP evaluation released last fall
• Letter to USAID administrator signed by 38 member organizations
• “We are an organization strongly committed to the
reduction of maternal and child mortality using CORE
Group’s innovative learning environment, our collective
knowledge, and coordinated responses to global child
survival challenges.”
• Collaboration between U.S. PVOs and priority APR countries
• Support for the continuation of CORE Group and the replication of
CORE Group-like networks in global regions
• “A Promise Renewed: International NGOs Can Work Together at
Scale to End Preventable Maternal, Newborn, and Child Deaths”

13. USAID Response
• thanked us for our commitment to broader health and
development in meeting MDGs
• CSHGP evaluation will be used to better leverage
assets of US NGOs and other partners to accelerate
sustainable progress toward ending preventable
deaths through better ownership at the country level
• Development landscape changing due to the economic
transition of health allowing us to think bigger and
more boldly about new opportunities

14. Time of Transition
• Opportunities
• Challenges
• Not just what we have accomplished but
what we can do in the future

15. Coming Week – Working Groups
• Heart and soul of CORE
• Bring issues of importance to larger audience
• Use members’ field experiences to examine challenges and
obstacles
• Share best practices, and co-create tools and guidance to
overcome implementation bottlenecks
• Discuss current Working Groups given the number of new
forums in global health
• Are Working Groups still vital?
• Configured to best meet the needs of members?
• Are there new issues to be addressed?

16. Questions to think about…
1. What community health issues keep you up at night?
2. List up to 3 Communities of Practice/Working Groups
(existing or new) that would be important to your
work.
3. What are 2 ways Communities of Practice/Working
Groups can be more effective?
4. Is your Working Group vital to the evolving global
health agenda?

17. Coming Week – Future Directions
• Shifting paradigms affecting INGOs
• Focus on elimination of preventable maternal and child deaths
• Advocate for NGO voice in discussions about future program
directions to meet this goal
• Demonstrate power of collaboration in CORE evidence based
practice and among CORE members in countries
• Support the community perspective, civil society involvement
and increasing local capacity
“Alone we can do so little
together we can do so much."
Helen Keller