Medecins sans Frontiers
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"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: New York, NY
Founded: 1971
Mission: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in more than 60 countries.
Tags:
emergency response, humanitarian assistance, relief, disaster response, medical, armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, natural disasters, advocacy
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Dr. Unni Karunakara.
Dr. Unni Krishnan Karunakara was appointed International President of MSF in June 2010. He first joined MSF in 1995, when he set up a tuberculosis control programme in Jijiga, Ethiopia. He went on to become Medical Coordinator for MSF’s activities in Azerbaijan, providing basic health care services to forced migrants from Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, to the indigenous population…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
14.51%
Total Revenue:
$143,303,906
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
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Contact Info
E-Mail:
info AT doctorswithoutborders.org
Phone:
212-679-6800
Facebook:
Address:
333 Seventh Ave, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001, USA
Twitter:
Story:
Today, MSF provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols.
In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Expert Reviews of Medecins sans Frontiers
Evidence of Impact Summary:
Experts confidently expound on the lifesaving impact of Medecins sans Frontiers professional, high quality work. They have an amazing ability to provide emergency medical services in conflict zones, and due to massive public support, are able to operate independently and go where the needs are greatest, regardless of the funding opportunities.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Medecins sans Frontiers has a highly competent staff who have a strong sense purpose. Experts praise the organization for its courage and boldness, tight, highly focused operations, responsiveness, neutrality, and modeling advocacy-by-doing.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
The organization could benefit from further improving its engagement with other actors in the system, focusing more on their phased exit strategy and building up local capacity, and becoming more conscious of local acceptance in different cultures and circumstances.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Effective Programs |
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Due to their clear emergency focus, high quality work, and ability to mobilize staff, contingency stocks can rapidly respond to any sudden emergency. Massive public support ensures that they can operate independently and go where the needs are greatest, regardless of the funding opportunities. | ||
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Medecins sans Frontiers Belgium and France have been working in Kosovo for over a decade. At the time, most of the population was deprived of access to health care, water and sanitation, and public sector jobs (which constituted 99% of the Kosovo economy). Due to their program of support, designed after three months of careful needs assessment and good listening to the local stakeholders, access to basic health care services and essential drugs was enabled throughout the country. | ||
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They are good at providing service in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. | ||
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Their work has life-saving impact in nutrition, epidemic control, general health and sanitation in acute emergencies. | ||
Operate In Difficult Circumstances |
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They tend to operate in some of the most insecure areas where populations are most vulnerable and least served by local health institutions. They fill highly tangible gaps and save lives. | ||
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They are skilled at saving lives in difficult circumstances. | ||
Needs Driven |
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They have always been an effective needs-driven organization. | ||
Experienced |
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They have years of experience in doing the work, they focus on what they do best, and have a strong ability to recruit qualified volunteers. | ||
Operates in Difficult Areas |
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They have an amazing ability to provide emergency medical services in conflict zones, even where others fear to tread (e.g., Somalia at the moment).They are very professional, and have high standards. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Independence |
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Their strength is their independence. | ||
Successful Marketing and Advocacy |
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They utilize successful marketing, branding and fundraising strategies. They are centered around a single purpose - emergency response. | ||
Strong Staff |
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They employ highly competent medical practitioners (nurses, doctors and surgeons). They have tight, highly focused operations. | ||
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Leadership and staff together with mission ( e.g. a strong sense of purpose), are Medecins sans Frontiers' core strengths. | ||
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This organization's strength is in the shared values and beliefs of most of its employees. They also have a special aptitude for identifying local talent and people with access. They take risks more then other nonprofits I know and this pays off with a greater impact. | ||
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They are good at branding, communication, and using funds wisely. Their leadership, staff, volunteers, and operations are all amazing. | ||
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They have strong leadership and a commitment to reaching and protecting the most affected people. | ||
Boldness |
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This organization is characterized by courage and boldness. | ||
Strong Advocacy |
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They are good at advocacy. Their strength is neutrality. | ||
Strong Operations |
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They have strong marketing, image management, strong conceptual products (trend-setting books, articles by senior staff), and model strong advocacy-by-doing. They have a strong organizational structure - decentralized with five operational centers and a number of fund-raising centers, such as the US office, and are just sufficiently coordinated to work, but are not top-down. They are good at setting examples for combatants. | ||
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Their strengths are responsiveness, focus, and strong operational procedures and norms. | ||
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Their strength is they are able to move quickly. They have a core capacity in medical provision similar to IMC. | ||
Mission Principled Approach |
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Their strengths are their mission, principled approach and professionalism quality of volunteers. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Improve External Cooperation |
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They should coordinate more with other peer NGOs, participate in UN and government coordination structures. They should give some more thought to post-emergency work. | ||
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The organization could further improve its engagement with others. They can positively influence the work of others if they are prepared to further engage and do not build walls with other actors in the system. They should pay more attention to sustainability, something that is often a trade-off with organizations that focuses more on emergencies. | ||
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They should be more accessible to external partners. They do not seem as user friendly to foundations - they are a large organization and based on my individual experience, it seems difficult to develop a relationship with a development person. They could do a better job with foundation and donor relations. | ||
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They can improve by having stronger ties among the operational and non-operational sections. | ||
Increase Sustainability |
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They should focus more on their phased exit strategy, as they tend to conclude their missions rather abruptly, before local authorities or other institutions can set up successor arrangements. | ||
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They should do more capacity building of local partners. | ||
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They should become more conscious of local acceptance in different cultures and circumstances, as they are perceived as being mostly Western. | ||
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They can be fairly political and that causes problems for them and sometimes for other NGOs as well. Because of their focus on emergencies, they don't always handle transition out of emergencies very well. | ||
Develop Staff |
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They should invest more in the development of their local staff. | ||
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They could increase their staff tenure and level of experience and work on reducing turn-over at the field management level. | ||
Leadership
Dr. Unni Karunakara
MSF International President
MSF International President
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.