Mission Statement of The Noar Foundation for Global Community Development

By emphasizing and synchronizing improvements:

• In healthcare delivery, economic empowerment, educational advancement, respect for the environment and the richness of cultural diversity, communities are enabled to experience sustainable socioeconomic growth allowing for the preservation of the family, social and community identity.
• The Foundation's unique and successful approach to global-model programming is designed to facilitate interest to duplicate and disseminate similar, although locally adapted, efforts in other communities, and serve as a learning center for the export and dispersal of ideas, equal opportunity, and sustainable growth.

Goals and Objectives of The Noar Foundation

Headquartered in the US, right outside of Washington DC, the Foundation works currently in Sub-Saharan Africa, with our efforts specifically concentrated in Northern Togo and Northern Ghana

Our focus is on the off-the-grid rural communities, where there is a heightened need for a coordinated developmental approach to improve healthcare, agriculture, education and to develop local industry. These communities are essentially all subsistence farming based and there is little local industry or governmental support. As such, there is a significant threat to population retention and loss of cultural and social identity.

We provide economic empowerment opportunities, improve healthcare delivery, promote entrepreneurial initiative, and encourage coordinated sustained local growth and development, acknowledging and accommodating the anthropological and ethnological essence of targeted communities.

Why promote economic empowerment?

It is important to address the specific needs of people lacking opportunities, by targeting areas where people rely on subsistence farming and have few possibilities for advancement. By intervening in different sectors simultaneously, prompting economic growth at the individual and community level, this prompts economic growth. Without durable economic empowerment, there is no chance for global development. Promoting economic empowerment means providing the necessary tools, because we want to ensure success in what the communities do, not in what we do for the communities.

Why is economic empowerment important for development?

Economic empowerment is a particularly important domain critical to us because it allows individuals to take care of their basic needs like food, shelter, health and education. Once these needs are taken care of, individuals can fulfill other dreams and aspirations for themselves. The Noar Foundation wants to promote equal opportunity for both men and women, creating an entrepreneurial model that can be easily replicated. It has already been well demonstrated that by insuring that women have access to financial resources of their own, this makes a significant impact on the overall well-being of the family and society as well as the individual woman.

Gender issues facts in Togo:

• Literacy: total population: 60.9%, male: 75.4%, female: 46.9%
• The school attendance is 7 years for female and 11 years for male
• Customary divisions of labor generally do not still hold in Togo. Although men do most heavy construction or farming work, women perform almost all other manual labor in towns and villages, though less machine work, and control small market commerce.
• Women, though having attained legal equality, remain unequal in all walks of life. Women and men are kept apart in most social gatherings. Women usually eat after men but before children.
• Women have little place in political life and less in government programs, though there is a ministry allocated to women's and family affairs.
• Only women descended from ruling tribal families, successful businesswomen, or women politicians enjoy privileges equal to that of men, more won than granted.
• Togo recently banned the practice of female genital mutilation.

Togo and economic development:

• Economy: this small, sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate about 40% of export earnings with cotton being the most important cash crop.
• Average per capita income is about US$360, and gross national income was US$2.4 billion in 2007
• 32% of the Togolese live below the poverty line
• In terms of electricity, 514 million kWh out of the 640 million kWh consumed are imported from Ghana, which calls for an alternate energy solution as solar.

Sources: CIA – The World Factbook / Togo
World Bank
Everyculture.com

Why adopt a coordinated approach?

Without synergy in development, the improvement created in one area does not last since the needs generated in other sectors are likely to bring down the more developed area to the lowest common denominator. For instance, any improvement in the health sector if it is not matched by food security at the household level, is likely to bring people back into health clinics or to see them perish as a result of preventable illnesses. The Noar Foundation believes that a global approach to overall development, locally focused, with full understanding of the cultural and historical background is the key to long-lasting success.

Why Togo?

Our projects began in small rural communities in Northern Togo because that is where we have established strong connections on the ground. Dr Noar and Dr Piot met on the ground in Togo and quickly realized that by combining their expertise and knowledge in 1) the local and national milieu, 2) healthcare, 3) cottage industry development, and 4) international development, they could make great strides and create a successful development plan. According to the UN, the human development index of Togo is low, ranking 159 out of 192 countries. We prefer to focus our initial interventions in specific geographical areas and strive to improve several key sectors simultaneously. We are confident that, once these communities experience real improvement and overall development, other surrounding communities will then recognize the improvement and try to replicate the model on their own and/or with the assistance of the Foundation.

Source : qwickspep.com

Partnerships

We are working in the north of the country in the low mountain regions, in particular, in the communities that are part of a large Canton, with a number of smaller villages. Examples of some of these communities are Farade, Kudwe, and Tchi-Kawa. All are well-organized communities, with a Chief of the overall Canton and each village with its own chief that falls under the Canton supervision. Dr Piot has based his life's work in these communities in Togo. His published research and books are a literal roadmap of the society. He is extremely well connected at all levels of government and society countrywide. Chiefs de Canton and local leaders have a prominent role in the implementation of any projects, and establishing partnerships is of crucial importance since a complete understanding of the anthropology, ethnicity and social strata, as well as human connections are key success factors in doing coordinated development work.

What have you Achieved so far?

We have initiated and/or provided support for several projects, which have been very favorably received in the communities and have the support of local Chiefs and leaders. Among them is the introduction of WiFi capabilities, computer access via internet cafe, solar energy, tea as a cash crop, opening the local textile market, and improvements in healthcare delivery by coordinating efforts of spiritual, traditional, and western medicine healers, the development of a local health insurance plans, and reinforcement and support of local school systems resulting in improved attendance and higher scores in national tests.  You can learn more about our interventions in our project section.

• Founder: Mark D. Noar, MD, MPH, FRCTM&H
• Established in: 1999
• Location: 7402 York Road, Suite 100, Towson, Maryland 21204-7519, USA
• Motto: Integrated Global Community Development

Togo:

• French Togoland became Togo in 1960
• Located in Western Africa, between Benin and Ghana
• Togo’s area is 56,785 sq km, slightly smaller than West Virginia
• The climate is tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north
• The terrain is varied with gently rolling savanna in north; central hills; southern plateau; low coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes
• Current environmental issues include deforestation attributable to slash-and-burn agriculture and the use of wood for fuel; water pollution presents health hazards and hinders the fishing industry; air pollution increasing in urban areas
• The current estimated population is 6,199,841, with 41.2% under 14
• The median age is 18.9 years with a population growth rate of 2.741%
• 60% of children ages 5-14 work
• The 2010 estimated birth rate is 36.23 births/1,000 population
  The urban population represents 42% of total population
• The infant mortality rate is 55.51 deaths/1,000 live births and the life expectancy at birth is 59.99 years
• The 2010 estimated fertility rate is 4.74 children born/woman
• The ethnic groups include 37 ethnic group; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre
• In terms of religion, Christians represent 29% of the population, Muslim 20%, and people with indigenous beliefs 51%
• Languages: French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north)
• Togo's population is challenged by numerous health problems, including parasitic, intestinal, nutritional, venereal, and respiratory diseases.
• Public health problems are exacerbated by inadequate waste disposal, sewerage, drinking water, and food storage.
• Traditional healing methods and preparations continue to be the most widely used form of healthcare

Sources: CIA World Factbook / Togo

Everyculture.com

• Geographical Reach: future projects will be concentrated in other villages in Northern Togo and Northern Ghana. The unified plan for the North will serve as a model to duplicate in other regions of Togo and in other countries.
• Funding: The majority of our donations come from private individuals from around the world.
• Board Members: Dr. Mark Noar, Dr. Charles Piot
  • About Dr Mark Noar: Dr. Noar is a physician who was trained in International Health and Development, as well as Tropical Medicine at both Tulane and Columbia Universities, prior to becoming a Gastroenterologist in the Washington DC-Baltimore region. The development of the Foundation is the realization of his long standing dedication to the dream of improving the lives of those less fortunate in our world.
  • About Dr. Charles Piot: Dr. Piot is a dedicated Anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at Duke University, where he teaches fulltime. He is the former head of the Department of Anthropology. His life’s work as been the study of the anthropology and ethnology of the people in Northern Togo, having spent more than 3o years on the ground in Togo. He has published two books on the topic, which have won critical acclaim.