Looking Back with Gratitude.
Moving Forward with Purpose.
Operations Report 2024
DEAR FRIENDS,
2024 was another remarkable year for Adara. As I reflect, I feel immense pride in all we achieved – and deep gratitude for the incredible people who walked alongside us. Together, we’ve continued to advance our mission to support communities living in poverty with health, education, and other essential services – a commitment that has been at the heart of our work for 27 years.
Hand in hand with our incredible teams and community of supporters, we made progress strengthening our AdaraNewborn and AdaraRemote models throughout 2024. From opening a leading newborn unit at our third site in Uganda, to rebuilding four more schools in remote Nepal, we continued to drive meaningful change. Beyond this, we shared our knowledge to reach even more people and expand our impact across the globe.
As always, we remain deeply connected to the individual stories at the core of our work. Stories like that of Baby Eva, who is now thriving after received lifesaving care at Nakaseke Hospital. Or Lapka, whose journey shows what’s possible with perseverance, ambition and access to a quality education. These stories inspire us every day and serve as a powerful reminder that behind every achievement are real lives being saved and transformed. Together we’re creating change – one newborn, one child, one family at a time.
In 2024, we also made a bold step forward in our localisation journey. After years of building capacity and growing expert teams in-country, we made the decision to close our US office at the end of the year. This move reflects our commitment to ensuring leadership and expertise are centred where the work happens. As we graduate from US-based clinical and research support, we are investing in new clinical and knowledge-sharing roles in Uganda. I want to extend heartfelt thanks to our US staff for their many contributions over the years. As we enter this next chapter, our local teams will continue to lead with excellence.
We’re also operating in a rapidly changing global context. Aid budgets continue to shrink, and support for development efforts has become more uncertain. These shifts present real challenges – but they also reinforce just how vital our work is. The communities we serve continue to face immense need, and in times like these, our deep partnerships, proven models, and long-term commitment are more important than ever.
As we celebrate our progress, we also recognise the work that remains. We feel a deep responsibility to keep pushing forward. As the world is evolving, so are the challenges facing the communities we serve. But with the right people, vision and determination, I know we will continue to grow our impact in the years to come.
Looking back with gratitude, we move forward with purpose – committed to building a brighter, fairer future for all.
With gratitude,
Madeline Vaughan
Chief Executive Officer
Our models of excellence
We have developed three models of excellence in our mission to deliver quality health and education services to communities living in poverty. Now we are sharing and expanding these models to impact more lives.
AdaraNewborn
AdaraNewborn is our model of care, with the power to halve newborn deaths and stillbirths across 10 facilities in Uganda over the next decade. It will do this by supporting women and newborns from pregnancy through to their return home after birth.
It provides health workers with training and mentorship; strengthens leadership and governance in the health system; equips facilities with the tools to succeed; and focuses on quality improvement systems. This creates sustainable systems change, saving lives now and reducing maternal and newborn deaths into the future.
AdaraRemote
AdaraRemote is our holistic community development model, which aims to improve access to essential services for people living in remote areas. Implemented in two isolated districts in Nepal, it spans five pillars of service delivery: education, child protection, youth development, health and community resilience.
Together these pillars can support remote communities to truly thrive. This model has been developed in collaboration with governments, local organisations and communities.
AdaraBusiness
AdaraBusiness is our innovative business-for-purpose model. Through this model, the profits of our boutique corporate advisory business, Adara Partners, fund our core support and administration costs.
This allows 100% of donations from our supporters to go directly to project-related costs. Adara Partners is possible thanks to a panel of 16 of the most senior members of the Australian financial services industry. These Panel Members use their investment banking skills and expertise to provide advice and wise counsel to clients. Panel Members work for Adara Partners without recompense to support our work with communities living in poverty in some of the world’s remotest places.
2024 At A Glance
Globally
more than
70,000
people reached, as well as countless others through knowledge sharing
US$4.8m
donated to our work
100%
of administration and infrastructure costs paid for by the Adara businesses
424
staff, volunteers and secondees
– directly and through our community partners
Maternal, newborn and child health
13,203
mothers cared for across Kiwoko, Nakaseke and Luwero maternity wards – a 138% increase from 2023
2,983
youth received counselling sessions through the Adara Youth Community Centre – a 15% increase from 2023
2,381
babies cared for across Kiwoko, Nakaseke and Luwero newborn units – a 37% increase from 2023
128
children are currently enrolled in the Baby Ubuntu programme – 208 babies have participated since inception in 2021
818
infants enrolled in our Hospital to Home programme – 97% received at least one at-home follow-up visit
393
staff trained across three Adara Newborn sites – a 159% increase from 2023
Remote community development
2,023
people reached, as well as countless others through knowledge sharing
59
women gave birth at Adara-supported birthing centres – an 15% increase from 2023
90%
average student attendance rate across all Adara-supported schools – compared with the national average attendance rate of 68%
7,652
appointments across all Adara-supported health posts
2,520
visits to the Sowa Rigpa (traditional Tibetan medicine practice) – an increase of 79% from 2023
111
new greenhouses built – a 22% increase from 2023
Stories of change
CATHERINE AND
CHARLES’ STORY
When Catherine’s son, Charles, wasn’t meeting his developmental milestones, she began to lose hope. Despite her efforts, nothing seemed to help him.
Thankfully, they were connected with Baby Ubuntu and Caroline finally began to find answers. She learned that Charles had a neurodisability. As they continued to attend sessions, Catherine was shown how to care for Charles and provide him with the support he needs.
Slowly but surely, she saw progress in Charles. As he continued to develop, so did Catherine’s hope. Eventually, he began to meet milestones Catherine had thought she’d never see, including his first steps. “One day I saw him standing by himself and taking his first step,” Catherine reflects. “I am overjoyed that he has learned to walk. It’s not perfect yet, but he is improving every day.”
DOLMA’S FULL CIRCLE STORY
OF HOPE AND DETERMINATION
Born in the remote district of Nuwakot, Nepal, Dolma always dreamed big, despite having limited opportunities.
“My village had school up to Grade 3 only,” Dolma recalls. “We had to leave our village for further studies.”
Getting to school involved a gruelling walk – a journey which Dolma could only begin after finishing chores at home. And when she did arrive, often after 11am, the school lacked supplies, infrastructure and teachers.
This area was once known as the epicentre of girl trafficking in the country. Just a decade ago, very few girls of Dolma’s age would have received an education in Ghyangfedi. But now that the region has excellent schools, more girls are attending, and parents are seeing the enormous value of education.
Dolma was thrilled to complete Grade 10 with a full scholarship at Ghyangfedi School. But the learning environment here was a stark contrast to her prior experiences.
“When I first came to Ghyangfedi School, I was amazed at how different everything was there compared to my previous schools,” Dolma says. “I felt supported and prepared in my studies.”
Dolma now aspires to give back to the school that helped her so much.
After graduating from Ghyangfedi School, she pursued a nursing degree with the support of Adara. After completing her studies, Dolma returned to Ghyangfedi as the school nurse. Appointed by the Ministry of Health and Population, she was thrilled to return to the place that was instrumental in her education journey.
“I will soon be stationed in Ghyangfedi School, where I will be responsible for looking after the health and hygiene of students,” Dolma says. “I studied hard and showed courage to study despite all of the difficulties.”
Dolma’s journey showcases what’s possible with perseverance, ambition and access to a quality education.
“I hope that my story will inspire young girls to study and keep chasing their dreams. I want to convey a message that perseverance makes everything possible, and we shouldn’t stop dreaming.”
Knowledge Sharing
We believe the knowledge created through our programmes is not ours to keep. We strive to scale the impact of our programmes by sharing the data, research conclusions, training packages and lessons learned. We are taking our very best ideas and our biggest mistakes, distilled from more than two decades of working in the field, and sharing them locally, nationally and globally.
The Adara Knowledge Centre is an online platform to share our learnings and resources with others. These span our Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and Remote Community Development work. We hope these resources will impact, inspire and guide many others to create change in their own communities.
Read our full report
That’s just a fraction of what we achieved together in 2024. Download our full Operations Report for more updates on milestones, stories of impact, celebrations of our partners and supporters, and financials.