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| David Taylor and Jim Emerson |
Members include:
ChildFund International,
founding member
Barnfonden
(Sweden)
BORNEfonden
(Denmark)
Christian Children’s Fund of
Canada
ChildFund Ireland
ChildFund Australia
ChildFund
Japan
ChildFund Deutschland
(Germany)
ChildFund
Korea
ChildFund New
Zealand
Taiwan Fund for Children and
Families
Un Enfant Par La Main (France).
Altogether, these organizations help vulnerable children in 59 countries.
Emerson started his job with a series of meetings with Alliance Chairman
David Taylor, Administrator Shep Harder and ChildFund International staff. As
Secretary-General, Emerson will coordinate with Alliance members as they
implement a new strategy to maximize the Alliance’s unique resources toward its
mission to improve the lives of children.
The strategy includes promoting quality in programming, ensuring a global
voice for children, helping Alliance members increase outreach and developing an
advocacy agenda for children’s rights.
Structurally, ChildFund Alliance will remain a true network — 12
organizations working independently around a lean center to achieve shared
goals. And Emerson, who brings more than 30 years of humanitarian work in more
than 50 countries, believes this decentralization is key. “It’s important that
we remain as independent organizations so that we can remain flexible rather
than being like this big oil liner — these super ships that take forever to turn
around,” he says.
As former deputy CEO of Plan International and leader of Plan’s emergency
response after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, Emerson ultimately connects all of his
experience to serving children.
“The most important thing in the life of a human, of a child, is the
relationships — with your mother, your family, your school,” he says. “And those
relationships determine the quality of your life. This sums up what the Alliance
is really about — not about building an institution, but about
relationships.”
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