Nongovernmental Agencies Involved in Global Issues
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Capella University
NURS-FPX8024
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Submission Date
Nongovernmental Agencies Involved in Global Issues
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are non-profit and independent organizations that deal with social, health, and humanitarian concerns in the world. During the evaluation, Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) is one of the most prominent NGOs that deal with dementia care, awareness, and advocacy. Dementia remains a significant health issue worldwide, and its prevalence is increasing in most areas, and the resources available are insufficient. Also, the NGO is a part of international partnerships that aim to sway health policies and improve the quality of care. Therefore, NGOs can continue playing significant roles in the global health sector by driving innovation and making sure that marginalized groups are not marginalized.
Section I
About the Nongovernment Funding Organization
The ADI is a prominent NGO that is the global mouthpiece on dementia. It was created in 1984 when the national Alzheimer’s associations and dementia societies were merged to create the organization. The establishment of ADI is based on the necessity to enhance global cooperation, advocacy, as well as support of people with dementia and their caregivers (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025a). In such a way, the NGO is concerned with the creation of awareness, stigma, policy, and best practices in dementia care across the globe. The NGO is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and operates through a massive network of more than 100 member associations and in over 100 countries (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025a). The multicultural membership allows ADI to represent both at the global and the local level, providing culturally appropriate programs and resources. ADI is global and can be found in regions and, in particular, in countries like Pakistan, India, Africa, North and South America, and Oceania, where it is particularly present in such countries as Nigeria, Brazil, and Japan (Alzheimer’s disease International, 2025a). The broad representation empowers ADI in its capacity to influence social change and make a difference in the area of dementia policy and research on an international level.
Mission and Goals
The ADI aims at empowering and enhancing Alzheimer’s and dementia associations across the globe, creating awareness, eliminating stigma, and prioritizing dementia as a health concern globally. Mission is focused on the need to tackle the soaring world burden of dementia and the insufficiency of health and social care resources to respond to the challenge. ADI’s mission is advocacy as well as action-driven; the goals are clear and operationalized to impact the national policies as well as provide evidence-based interventions (Alzheimer’s disease International, 2025c). Some of the objectives are being in a position to build the capacity of national associations, promote the adoption of the Global Action Plan on Dementia by the World Health Organization, and publish global reports like the annual World Alzheimer Report (Alzheimer’s disease International, 2025b). The aims of the organization also lead to positive social change as they are aimed at systemic change as well as grassroots support of people with dementia and their caregivers.
Transparency and Accountability
ADI has a good level of transparency and accountability in its operations. Being a non-government and non-profit federation, ADI is accountable and transparent as the annual reports, strategic plans, and the communication of the governance structure are publicized. The ADI follows the internationally accepted governance practices, including the Board of Trustees, which is elected by membership organizations, thus making decisions inclusive and representative (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025d). Besides, the NGO publicly announces the partners, financiers, and sponsor resources, which demonstrates a desire to be transparent. Financial responsibility is observed by publishing audited financial reports as well as budget control over programmatic and administrative operations. Although ADI is primarily an advocacy and capacity-building organization, ADI routinely assesses the effect by releasing the global data on dementia and establishing evidence-based policy suggestions. To conduct a formal institutional audit, ADI would be required to examine the latest audited reports, board meeting minute reviews, and verify compliance with the conflict-of-interest policies (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025b). Thus, even though ADI gives adequate data to build the confidence of the population, a deeper look into the core financial documents would enhance the general evaluation of the transparency and responsibility.
Program Effectiveness
In a bid to deal with the rising international burden of dementia, ADI has initiated several programs that would contribute to the improvement of awareness, professional education, and policy formation. The Alzheimer’s University training program is one of the impactful programs, as it is devoted to capacity-building of both Alzheimer-associations and international healthcare practitioners (Alzheimer’s disease International, 2025f). The program is based on the evidence-based practices that allow the local organizations to possess leadership skills, fundraising skills, and advocacy skills. The training gives the associations more authority to remain more efficient in the delivery of support services, formulation of outreach, and national strategies of dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025c). Another important project is the annual World Alzheimer Report that proposes similar research on the rates of dementia and its diagnosis, treatment, and care improvements (World Alzheimer Report, 2023). The report has been widely quoted by governments, NGOs, and policy makers among other stakeholders and has served them to influence national implementation of dementia plans and investment in research across different countries.
Partnerships and Collaborations
The ADI has a superb history of getting into alliances that can expand its reach and influence. ADI being a non-governmental federation of Alzheimer and dementia associations is uniquely placed to mediate between international organizations and local communities. The collaboration between the ADI and the World Health Organization (WHO) has particularly played a significant role in advancing the global action plan on dementia that sets measurable objectives that nations are expected to hit on enhancing awareness, diagnosis, care, and research (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025g). Besides, the partnership of the ADI with research and philanthropic foundations and regional associations will provide ADI with better access to popularize the advocacy and share best practices in the healthcare systems across the countries. ADI helps the associations of Alzheimer to create dementia-friendly communities, network-supporting caregivers, and policy engagements with governments in different countries to engage one another nationally (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025c). The collaborations are also positively impacting the service delivery, in addition to a concerted global response to dementia, whereby locally based initiatives receive international advocacy and resource adoption.
Financial Management
The ADI has been shown to have good financial management and transparency. The total income of ADI in the fiscal year was about £2.8 million, according to the World Alzheimer Report (2023). At the same time, the organization registered more than 200,000 net deficit with most of the losses attributed to higher expenditure on capacity-building programs and campaigns targeting the global populations (Alzheimer’s disease International, 2025e). Therefore, the financial analysis indicated that although ADI has a stable base of funding, the expenses sometimes go beyond revenue, as the strategy of reinvesting the reserves to have maximum impact. Compared to budgetary allocations, ADI focuses on programmatic activity, including international advocacy, research, and training of members at comparatively low administrative expenses. As of 2023, the total expenditure covered programmatic activities, taking into account some 70% of the total expenditure, with the rest covering operational and governance functions (Alzheimer’s disease International, 2025c). The financial profile of ADI, hence, indicates a sustainable model that is backed by diversified funding sources and has a high level of concentration on mission-related outcomes.
Section II
Logistics
Name: Dr. Sarah Malik, Program Coordinator at ADI
Email:
Phone:
The interview was conducted online through Zoom, and thus, it was possible to have a comprehensive conversation notwithstanding the geographical distance. ADI has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom, and operates in the world through its member associations, one of which is Alzheimer Pakistan. Dr. Malik has served for seven years in ADI and has said that her job is both demanding and highly engaging. According to her, she spends her normal day liaising with national Alzheimer’s associations, checking reports around the world, and handling training of member organizations. Her best part of the work is the immediate effect of ADI capacity-building programs on smaller resource-constrained associations.
Mission, Activities, and Community Impact.
Dr. Malik stated that the purpose of ADI is to aid and empower the associations of Alzheimer’s and dementia across the world, increase awareness, decrease stigmatization, and make dementia a focus of the general population about health-related issues. The ADI has objectives that are consistent with the global action plan on dementia by the World Health Organization (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025g). She noted that the policies of dementia affect the work of ADI since national health plans define the extent of attention and investment to be given to dementia care. The ADI defined the necessity of the services due to the increasing prevalence of dementia all over the world, estimated to reach more than 150 million people by 2050 (Alzheimer’s Disease International, 2025f). She observed that ADI is the supporter of equitable access to care, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where the rate of diagnosis is very low. ADI is very important in influencing the change of public health policies and awareness creation through the global campaigns. Instead, she underlined that all countries are beneficiaries of the work of ADI, be it through training, policy advocacy, or caregiver support networks.
Programs and Services
In the interview, Dr. Malik identified the major programs and services at ADI. She also incorporates the Alzheimer’s University training program, which prepares the local Alzheimer’s associations with leadership, fundraising, and advocacy skills. The second pillar is the annual World Alzheimer Report that gathers research, policy, statistics, and good practice in dementia care across the globe. In case of a humanitarian crisis, ADI is also offering dementia-friendly community advice and guidance, and humanitarian supplies to dementia patients. ADI has a target population in its programs, and these include individuals living with dementia, their caregivers, and local health associations. She described the fact that although ADI does not provide direct healthcare services would only enable local organizations to build better care systems. This model will be sustainable and responsive to local cultural and economic settings. Consequently, the programs of ADI satisfy the requirements of global policies and local support at the community level.
Community Engagement
ADI’s strategy is based on community engagement. Dr. Malik explained the way ADI operates by having 100 or more member associations to get down to the communities. Such associations participate in awareness walks, memory cafes, training, and caregiver support groups. The ADI helps them through the provision of culturally flexible toolkits, campaigns, and policy guidance. To illustrate, one of the global outreach programs that ADI has implemented is the World Alzheimer’s Month, where communities are invited to share stories and combat stigma. Multilingual education resources and online campaigns are also among the outreach strategies to make it more accessible. The ADI also encourages a two-way communication between communities and neighborhoods, and this is done through getting feedback on its materials from the member associations to enhance the resources. Dr. Listening to the lived experience of people with dementia, pointed out that it is the focus of the ADI strategy, thus it is the voices of the community that inform advocacy.
Impact Assessment
In responding to the question of impact, Dr. Malik said that ADI has qualitative and quantitative measures of success. World Alzheimer Report (2023) also presented the global prevalence data and marked the strides taken on national dementia plans, which serve as the reference points to change. The ADI also follows up on the countries that are adopting dementia strategies and follows the number of countries participating in training programs. She gave an example of how Alzheimer Kenya, through ADI, was able to conduct the first dementia awareness promotion that saw more caregivers taking part in the local service support mechanisms. The other success story is the caregiver training program of Alzheimer Pakistan, which has grown tremendously following their attendance at ADI workshops. These results are indicators that ADI has a tangible, yet potent influence on enhancing national reactions. She clarified that ADI does not treat patients directly, but the type of support is translated into practical gains in terms of awareness, diagnosis, and engagement between caregivers.
Collaborations and Partnerships
Dr. Malik said that collaborations are the key to the success of ADI. The NGO is an active partner of the World Health Organization, which participates in the Global Dementia Observatory and promotes the adoption of international policies. The ADI also collaborates with universities and research institutes in promoting studies related to dementia. On a national level, ADI collaborates with the Alzheimer’s associations to provide evidence-based and sustainable local services. As Malik emphasized, these alliances enlarge the capabilities of ADI to access vulnerable groups in different circumstances. As an example, the partnership between ADI and Alzheimer’s Pakistan has helped to conduct culturally specific training workshops. Collaborations with funders and other organizations are also important in offering essential resources towards campaigns and research. She observed that without such partnerships, ADI would hardly have a world impact.
Volunteers and Staff Participation
The network of ADI is characterized by volunteers and staff. Dr. Malik pointed out that each local association has awareness programs, fundraising, and caregiver assistance initiatives that are supported by volunteers. The employees of the headquarters of the ADI are specialized in research, program design, and policy advocacy. She has characterized her colleagues as enthusiastic professionals who know the field of public health, nursing, and nonprofit management. There is usually a personal experience of being a caregiver among volunteers that complements the empathetic nature of the work of the organization. According to Malik, such a mix of professional staff and inspired volunteers makes it possible to maintain the equilibrium between evidence-based approaches and community-driven compassion. She also observed that capacity-building programs usually make the volunteers leaders who form or develop local dementia associations later on. This perpetuation of involvement is what keeps ADI strong in its grassroots.
Challenges and Adaptability
Dr. Malik openly explained the problems ADI is experiencing. The problem is that dementia is not a priority in the health budgets, particularly the health budgets in low-resource environments. The difficulty of fighting the stigma of dementia is also another challenge that makes people avoid getting diagnosed or receiving care. She stated that ADI adapts through supplying culturally sensitive resources and through dementia friendly community programs. The COVID-19 pandemic also compelled ADI to transfer a lot of programs to online platforms, and this expanded the scope, but new digital strategies were needed. One of the unmet health problems, which ADI has specified, is the lack of professional healthcare personnel trained to work with dementia. To counter the existence of such barriers, ADI focuses on training, advocacy, and the transfer of international knowledge. Dr. Malik has stressed the importance of being adaptable as a key ingredient to remaining on a mission in the fast-changing healthcare environment.
Financial Sustainability
ADI finances its operations through critical issues of financial sustainability, according to Dr. Malik, ADI sources its funds through membership, philanthropic contributions, grants, and foundation partnerships. She stated that about 70 percent of the ADI annual budget goes to programmatic work, with the remainder going towards operations and governance. To guarantee transparency and confidence of the donors, the ADI also publishes audited financial reports. Although the source of income is subject to change, diversified sources of funds have ensured financial stability in ADI. She pointed out that the management of funds is not done jokingly and that there is close monitoring and frequent audits by outside auditors. As with most non-governmental organizations, ADI has on some occasions experienced shortfalls when the program needs go high, but the reserves are deployed tactically to continue important initiatives. Financial sustainability is still a juggling game, yet proper planning would enable ADI to keep making an impact across the world.
Future Plans
Going forward, Dr. Malik told me that ADI will continue to advocate inclusion in health systems and the need to raise the issue of dementia in more nations through the adoption of national dementia strategies. Future strategies involve the expansion of risk-minimizing activities, especially those related to lifestyle change, and encouraging research funding in low- and middle-income nations. The ADI is also intending to increase online materials to serve younger generations and underserved groups. The other area of interest is enhancing humanitarian advice on dementia care in crisis areas, including refugee camps and disaster impact areas. Dr. Malik underlined that ADI sees a way forward in the future where dementia is not just a publicly acknowledged health issue, but it becomes a part of primary care models in various countries across the world.
Reflections
This interview helped me dispel some of my notions concerning public health organizations. I have assumed that NGOs such as ADI operate autonomously, but I was surprised to see the extent to which they cooperate with governments, communities, and other nonprofits. ADI can more easily adjust its strategies in response to changes, whereas the government-sponsored programs are less flexible and thus do not suit my expectations of a nongovernmental organization. The most surprising part to me was the extent of training and capacity-building activities they conduct in the world, which I have not viewed as having been at the core of their mission. The experience made me realize that NGOs do not simply provide services, but they are strong policy changers and educators. In general, the interview helped me better understand the importance of effective cooperation between NGOs and government initiatives in the sphere of delivering public health.
References for NURS FPX 8024 Assessment 1
Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2025a). ADI – Our history. Alzint.org. https://www.alzint.org/about-us/our-history/
Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2025b). ADI – Reports & resources. Alzint.org. https://www.alzint.org/reports-resources/
Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2025c). ADI – Vision & strategy. Alzint.org. https://www.alzint.org/about-us/vision-strategy/
Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2025d). ADI – Member associations. Alzint.org. https://www.alzint.org/our-members/member-associations/
Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2025e). Dementia facts & figures. Alzint.org. https://www.alzint.org/about/dementia-facts-figures/
Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2025f). Programme | Alzheimer’s Disease International 37th Global Conference. Alzint.org. https://adiconference.org/programme
Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2025g). ADI – WHO global plan on dementia. Alzint.org. https://www.alzint.org/what-we-do/partnerships/world-health-organization/who-global-plan-on-dementia/
World Alzheimer Report. (2023). Reducing dementia risk: Never too early, never too late. Alzint.org. https://www.alzint.org/u/World-Alzheimer-Report-2023.pdf
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