David South International Client Map | 2017

David South International (DSI) has offered consultancy services since 1991. This has included award-winning work in Asia and the United Kingdom, contributing to the UN winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 and the UK's NHS winning the Childnet Award in 2003. Since 2006, DSI has been working with the UN on raising the profile of innovators in the global South, in particular Africa, and increasing awareness of innovation to address poverty and the global innovation agenda. The fruits of this work are considerable. From rescuing Mongolia from the "biggest peacetime economic collapse" in the late 1990s, to the design and mobile and information technology revolutions in international development from 2000 onwards.

David South International

Founder: David South

Headquarters: London, UK

Founded: 2010

Status: Private but investment welcome. Please see our scale-up plans for current opportunities.

ASSETS

David South Consulting

Founder and Senior Partner: David South

Headquarters: London, UK

Global Hub: Geneva, Switzerland

Data Centre: Reykjavik, Iceland

Founded: 1991

Status: Partnership

We abide by the UN Global Compact. UN Vendor 63301.

All production energy used is 100% renewable. 

Brand owner for the following: 

davidsouthconsulting.com

davidsouthconsulting.org

davidsouthinternational.com

davidsouthinternational.org

southerninnovator.com, the online presence for Southern Innovator Magazine (Launched: 2011). 

wildeast.ca and Wild East Promotions for Wild East: Travels in the New Mongolia (ECW Press, 2000).

Our mobile products are developed at the Google Campus London for Startups. 

About Senior Partner David South

An adventurer at heart, David South has travelled around the world for various clients since the early 1990s. Senior Partner David South in Cannes, France in 2015. Photo: Jill Lawless.

Senior Partner David South outside the White House, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., in 2014. Photo: Jill Lawless.

Senior Partner David South at the Cinecitta film studios in Rome, Italy in 2011. Photo: Jill Lawless.

Read about Senior Partner David South's participation in the Workshop on Innovations in Service Delivery: The Scope for South-South and Triangular Cooperation held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in December 2017 here: http://www.davidsouthconsulting.com/blog/2017/12/16/southern-innovator-in-dhaka-bangladesh-public-service-innova.html

We are located in London, UK. London offers a heady mix of academia, creatives, diplomacy and government, financial services, and tech talent. Let us bring that together to help you.

We accept payments and donations here: https://www.paypal.me/davidsouthconsulting.

 

© David South Consulting 2020

About Senior Partner David South

David South is the founder and senior partner for David South International and David South Consulting. He has worked around the world for the United Nations and has led a number of groundbreaking projects for major institutions. Clients have included the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH)/Institute of Child Health (ICH)/National Health Service (NHS), Harvard Institute for International Development, UNICEF, World Bank, USAID, and the Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine, among others.

He has worked for, or side-by-side, with many high-level senior professionals and executives.  These experienced professionals had roles under close public scrutiny and needed to show the impact of their work to a tight deadline.

He has been the editor for the United Nations magazine Southern Innovator since 2010. He also researched and wrote the influential United Nations e-newsletter Development Challenges, South-South Solutions (2007-2014). He has over two decades’ experience in media and journalism (developing strong relationships with many top journalists and media professionals), health and human development, and the role innovation plays in transforming major organisations while getting the most from people tackling complex problems in challenging environments.

Experience

I am an international development consultant with over 20 years’ experience. I specialise in media, health communications, development strategies, project management and publishing. I have led high-profile projects in Asia, Canada and the UK. This work has included a number of groundbreaking, award-winning new media projects.

United Nations Global Marketplace (ungm.org) Vendor.

Read the David South Consulting Summary of Impact here: http://books.google.co.uk/books/about?id=1FdyBgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Read the Southern Innovator Summary of Impact here: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lK4jBgAAQBAJ&dq=southern+innovator+summary+of+impact&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Methodology

I have managed and delivered projects to tight deadlines, with extensive public scrutiny and under difficult country conditions. I keep a cool head and am a seasoned trouble-shooter.

Education

University of Toronto: BA Honours in Political Science and History

Courses

BBC: Managing Complex New Media Projects

International Health Exchange: Humanitarian Aid: Policies and Practice

Languages

English, Mongolian

Publishing

High-quality, award-winning offline and online publishing has been key to larger successes. Examples can be found on this website along with cited work in books, journals, papers and online here: http://www.davidsouthconsulting.com/media/2017/7/9/publishing-david-south-consulting-1990-2017.html

Archived work can be found on various platforms here: Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/user/16741171/David-South; Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/%40southern_innovator?&sort=-publicdate&page=2

My books, magazines, newsletters, papers and research materials are archived at Academia.edu: https://independent.academia.edu/DavidSouth

Journalism by theme and timeline can be found here: http://www.davidsouthconsulting.com/stories/2017/7/11/stories-david-south-consulting-1991-2017.html 

My journalism portfolio on Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/david-south

Online

I have launched and overseen a number of high-profile, high-impact, and award-winning online projects. My roles have been as strategist, project manager and/or content provider: 

GOSH/ICH Child Health Portal

Southern Innovator Online Archive

UNDP Mongolia Development Web Portal

UN Ukraine Development Web Portal

Graphic Design

High-quality graphic design and illustration has played a key role in project success. Some examples are below: 

Client: Case Study 7: UNOSSC + UNDP | 2007 - 2016 Images

Client: Case Study 5: GOSH/ICH Child Health Portal | 2001 - 2003 Images

Social Media

An early adopter of social media, DSC/DSI has been able to reach across borders and cultures to spread the message on innovation. One Twitter account, @SouthSouth1, was called “one of the best sources out there for news and info on #solutions to #SouthSouth challenges (Adam Rogers, Assistant Director, Regional Representative, Europe, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation - UNOSSC)”.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidSouthConsulting

On SlideShare: https://www.slideshare.net/DavidSouth1?utm_campaign=profiletracking&utm_medium=sssite&utm_source=ssslideview

Follow my work on the Academia.edu platform where academics share research papers: https://independent.academia.edu/DavidSouth

Follow me on Academia.edu

Thank You!

The achievements detailed on this web portfolio are down to fruitful collaboration and wise mentoring. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ever-growing list of people who have helped me in one way or another over the years.

David South in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Jill Lawless.

© David South Consulting 2020

Graphic Design @ David South Consulting | 2003 - 2014

High-quality graphic design and illustration has played a key role in project success. Some examples are below: 

Client: Case Study 7: UNOSSC + UNDP | 2007 - 2016 Images

Client: Case Study 5: GOSH/ICH Child Health Portal | 2001 - 2003 Images

 An infographic for UNDP Mongolia's MDGs Media Project in 2005.

© David South Consulting 2017

A UNDP Success Story: Grassroots Environmental Campaign Mobilizes Thousands in Mongolia | 1998

I had read the other day the following headline from Bloomberg: World's Worst Air Has Mongolians Seeing Red, Planning Action. As far back as 1999, such a health and environmental tragedy was foreseen by a highly successful UNDP environment project. As its Canadian adviser Robert Ferguson said to UNDP News at the time, “Mongolia’s environment is endangered by a range of problems that are on the brink of exploding."

He knew what he was talking about: Ferguson and his Mongolian colleagues had spent two years mobilizing Mongolians across the country to take practical steps to address the country's environmental problems as part of the Environmental Public Awareness Programme (EPAP). Few people had as much first-hand knowledge of the country and its environmental challenges than they did.

In its 2007 Needs Assessment, the Government of Mongolia found the EPAP projects "had a wide impact on limiting many environmental problems. Successful projects such as the Dutch/UNDP funded Environmental Awareness Project (EPAP), which was actually a multitude of small pilot projects (most costing less than [US] $5,000 each) which taught local populations easily and efficiently different ways of living and working that are low-impact on the environment." 

UNDP News: Networking Publication of UNDP Staff Worldwide April/May 1999 

A UNDP Success Story 

By David South, Communications Coordinator, UNDP Mongolia 

Grassroots environmental campaign mobilizes thousands in Mongolia 

A countrywide environmental education campaign in Mongolia has drawn praise from around the world, most especially for its ability to mobilize thousands of people and produce hundreds of advocacy materials.  

Robert Ferguson, a UNV Information Specialist from Canada, has just finished a two-year assignment advising on the Environmental Public Awareness Programme. The project, implemented by UNDP, proved that civil society is alive and very well in Mongolia, despite 70 years of Communism and the hardships of transition to a free-market economy.  

For the first-time visitor to Mongolia, it is easy to be dazzled by the view: the expansive steppe, the sparse population with a sprinkling of nomadic tents, the enormous herds of sheep, goats and cows. First impressions tend toward the belief that Mongolia is an unspoiled paradise where nomads have roamed for thousands of years. The reality is considerably different. The 600,000-plus capital of Ulaanbaatar, or Red Hero, is densely populated, urban and home to the country’s remaining factories and electrical power plants. In winter, pollution from power plants and coal stoves in the traditional tents, or gers, where half of the city’s population still lives, chokes the population and causes numerous respiratory problems. 

While Mongolia has space to spare - the population is 2.4 million, plus 32 million head of livestock, in a territory the size of Western Europe - a long list of threats are taking their toll on this harsh but beautiful country.  

“Mongolia’s environment is endangered by a range of problems that are on the brink of exploding,” says Robert Ferguson. “As these  problems are not yet out of control, this country is in a very good position for grassroots initiatives that can help communities to realize their environmental problems and understand possible ways to keep them under control … 

... On one cold autumn day, Ferguson and his colleagues are visiting a project in the shantytown of Chingeltei in the north of the capital. A majority of Ulannbaatar’s population live in neighbourhoods like this, where the mix of traditional gers, wooden cottages and newly built Mongolian monster homes gives a vivid example of the transition years. The population has exploded as more and more Mongolians seek out their dreams in the capital.  

The Environmental Public Awareness Programme, or EPAP, uses small grants of between $1,000 and $2,000 to start awareness projects with local NGOs. After two years, nearly 100 small projects have been implemented - yet the original project document had only proposed 15 projects.  According to Ferguson, the project team, which includes Sumiya and Davaasuren, were struck by the wellspring of enthusiasm they were tapping.

… Garbage is strewn liberally on the dusty streets. Inspired by recycling campaigns in his native Canada, Ferguson encouraged local women to start the Blue Bag Project. Local women proudly show off their streets - garbage-free - as they collect pop and beer bottles and animal bones to turn in for cash at the local recycler. This is just one EPAP project that has galvanized grassroots action. Back in the EPAP at the Stalinesque Ministry of Nature and Environment, Ferguson continues … 

…. were all weak. What was needed was a means to take the right to public participation and an understanding of these laws to community organizations and let them develop public awareness campaigns that get the information out.”  

The Programme has exceeded expectations … 

…. “The response we got to our initial call for interested environmental groups was unexpected,” says Ferguson. “NGOs came from nowhere. And they embraced the idea …

… In October last year, EPAP launched the Mongolian Green Book, a pocket-sized environmental awareness handbook for NGOs. More recently Ferguson completed a Handbook on Environmental Public Awareness to share Mongolia’s experiences with others who care about the environment…

… The workshop is an immediate follow-up to the launching of the network through a workshop attended by 12 members in December 1998…

… with such enthusiasm that we pursued more money and nearly doubled the funding for small public awareness problems.”

Note: This is just an excerpt from the story. This issue of UNDP News featured contributions from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Danny Glover, Nadine Gordimer and Amartya Sen.

The highly successful EPAP project was profiled in UNDP News in April/May 1999. This issue of UNDP News featured contributions from then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Danny Glover, Nadine Gordimer and Amartya Sen.

Many resources are available online to explore Mongolia's 1990s transition experience.

The Environmental Public Awareness Handbook: Case Studies and Lessons Learned in Mongolia, published in 1999 by the UNDP Mongolia Communications Office.

The Mongolian Green Book was published in 1999 by the UNDP Mongolia Communications Office.

Read Robert Ferguson's The Devil and the Disappearing Sea: Or, How I Tried to Stop the World's Worst Ecological Catastrophe (Publisher: Raincoast Books, 2004) to learn more about the toxic mix of politics and the environment. The book has been widely cited since and can be purchased online here: The Devil and the Disappearing Sea: A True Story about the Aral Sea Catastrophe: Amazon.co.uk: Ferguson, Robert, Ferguson, Rob: 9781551925998: Books

Robert Ferguson's The Devil and the Disappearing Sea: Or, How I Tried to Stop the World's Worst Ecological Catastrophe (Publisher: Raincoast Books, 2004).

Further reading on the plight of the Mongolian steppe in China: 

Life sentence for former Party chief who killed the Mongolian steppe: For 8 years Liu Zhouzhi pocketed bribes favoring mines exploitation, destroying the landscape, polluting land and drying up the pastures' water sources. 

"The former head of the Communist Party in Inner Mongolia has been sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes that have led to pollution of the Mongolian steppe and the oppression of Mongolian herders. According to the judgment, published yesterday, by Beijing News, Liu Zhozhi, who had been expelled from the party before trial, used his eight years in power to pocket up to 8.17 million Yuan (over one million euros)."

Read more on the connection between corruption and air pollution levels here: The effect of corruption on carbon emissions in developed and developing countries: empirical investigation of a claim 

Update on Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 1:59PM by David South

And it hasn't got better, according to UNICEF, as reported in The New York Times:

Mongolian Air Pollution Causing Health Crisis-UNICEF

The story reports on a child health crisis in the country's capital, Ulaanbaatar, because "Many ger households burn coal or even trash to keep warm and the smog they produce has led to a surge in respiratory and heart disease and stoked anger and protests."

And "Pollution levels in Ulaanbaatar" have "become worse than that in cities such as Beijing and New Delhi", according to the UNICEF report. 

In 2018, Time published a story titled "Life in the Most Polluted Capital in the World". This consequence of poor development policy stands in stark contrast to just a few years earlier, when the Mongolian President was awarded the 2012 Champions of the Earth award for "leadership that had a positive impact on the environment" and in 2013 was named as Global Host for World Environment Day 2013 because Mongolia "is prioritizing a Green Economy shift across its big economic sectors such as mining and promoting environmental awareness among youth". Awards and meetings are clearly not enough. 

Update on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 3:35AM by David South

The importance of reducing exposure to urban air pollution is being backed up with more studies and evidence. What we have seen in the past 20 years of globalization has been a big push to encourage urbanization and denser urban living conditions. But, unfortunately for human health and well-being, this has not been connected to a strategy to reduce urban air pollution. In fact the opposite has been happening in many cities.

Urban air pollution has increased from various sources, in developed countries from vehicles, in particular those burning diesel fuel, and in developing countries, from not only vehicles but also households burning fuel for heating and cooking.

The tragedy unfolding in Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, is a classic case of this public health problem. But it is also a crisis in developed world cities, as more vehicles clog streets (many people have been encouraged to buy these vehicles as a boost to the economy during the Global Financial Crisis). Bizarrely, highly polluting diesel engines were marketed as a 'green' solution, in particular in the UK!   

Some stories that highlight the harm done, especially to children, can be read below:

Air pollution linked to increased mental illness in children

Air pollution causes ‘huge’ reduction in intelligence, study reveals

A new book to be launched in April 2019 by journalist Beth Gardiner (@Gardiner_Beth), "Choked: The Age of Air Pollution and the Fight for a Cleaner Future" (Granta) (University of Chicago Press), explores today's global air pollution crisis in the world's cities. Gardiner is an environmental journalist who writes for The New York Times, The Guardian and other publications (bethgardiner.com).  

The UK cover for Choked: The Age of Air Pollution and the Fight for a Cleaner Future (Granta, 2019).

"An urgent, essential read" Arnold Schwarzenegger

Listed in the Financial Times' "What we'll be reading in 2019"

"A compelling book about a critical subject" Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction

"Air pollution kills seven million people every year, causing heart attacks, strokes, cancer, dementia and more. In Choked, Beth Gardiner travels the world to tell the story of this modern-day plague, exposing the political decisions and economic forces that have kept so many of us breathing dirty air." 

Interviews for the GOSH Child Health Portal | 2001-2003

 An interview in the hospital newsletter Roundabout.

Roundabout, November 2001 Issue No. 18

Joint Website Launched

A two-year project to turn our joint institution’s website (www.gosh.nhs.uk) into a respected child health portal got underway with the launch of the first phase of development in September. The second phase of content development will get the site ship shape for a UK-wide publicity campaign as the hospital’s 150th birthday celebrations begin in January.

The site’s web editor, David South, has been working on the project since arriving here in June, having worked on award-winning websites for the United Nations.

“The first phase saw collaboration from staff across both institutions,” he says. “An impressive amount was done, and we have now laid the foundations for future improvements to the content on the site. I really want to offer more for children. Over three million children in the UK now surf the internet.”

The opportunity for both institutions is enormous. As the internet has evolved, it has become increasingly clear that the future of its development lies in the public sphere. US government sites now outstrip commercial operations, selling far more books than the largest online bookseller, amazon.com. Here in the UK, the www.ukonline.gov.uk site is working to offer one-stop access to all government services, including health care.

Unlike commercial operations, the hospital and the Institute are an unbiased resource for the public to turn to. Currently, the joint site has more than 180 factsheets for families covering tests and procedures, illnesses and diseases and operations. It also has the complete archive of Dr. Jane Collins’ Times column, with its jargon-free look at child health issues.

“This being London, we have the unique advantage of being at the centre of so many developments, and having the opportunity to communicate this through our website,” says David South.

Across the NHS the Modernisation Plan involves the largest data collection exercise in its history. More and more resources will be offered online, and the content produced by individual trusts like ours will be linked with national sites like NHS Direct.

New GOSH/ICH website

With over three million children in the UK now using the internet, and a total of 33 million UK citizens accessing it through work, school or the home, no organisation can afford not to make the most of this valuable communications tool. Estimates vary, but some put the number of health-related websites at more than 100,000. Trust is an even more important issue, as users search for accurate information. It is in this context that the new hospital and ICH website, www.gosh.nhs.uk, launched in September. Web editor David South puts us in the picture.

The new site reflects the hard work and collaboration of staff across both institutions, and it is hoped it will quickly make its mark as a trusted resource on complex child health issues. The site also becomes one of the most visible signs of our on-going modernisation programme, and can uniquely tie together the breadth of our work in a way that no other medium can. The site development project spans two years and will fit in with the wider move across the NHS to offer a wide range of services online.

The next phase of the site’s development is aimed at getting the site ready for a larger publicity campaign slated to coincide with the hospital’s 150th birthday celebrations with start in January. In preparation for this public launch, a number of improvements will be made to the site’s content, interactivity, platform and design. To put it simply, the site should become a critical first stop for anybody seeking our services, or wanting to learn more about the latest research and care developments in the field of complex child issues.

The joint site will also be available via Gosweb for staff in the hospital who don’t already have internet access.

As the project evolved, regular updates were communicated to colleagues and the public through the media.

A BBC story in 2002 announcing the launch of the GOSH Child Health Portal's children's content. 

© David South Consulting 2017

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.