Crisis Recovery & Renewal Knowledge Exchange

GFC brought together 22 grantee partners from its Recovery & Renewal portfolio in Mamallapuram, India, for a five day Knowledge Exchange in May 2007. Participants from tsunami affected Thailand, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka were joined by Hurricane affected partners from Mississippi and Louisiana and partners affected by the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

Specific session topics included:

• Engaging Governments after a disaster
• Organizational impacts of disaster (funding, community outreach, mission)
• Engaging youth and addressing the different needs of boys and girls
• Thematic focuses following a disaster: psychosocial needs, prioritizing education, children without support

The site visits to two local partners were inspiring for those organizations who had yet to see children laugh and play normally after a disaster. One Louisiana partner will be implementing an Indian partner’s psycho-social focused program. A final result of the exchange was a powerful Manifesto, created by the participants, declaring the rights and responsibilities of CBOs following a natural disaster. Participants also created a group journal to document their shared experience.

An article about this Knowledge Exchange was published in the December 2007 issue of Monday Developments, an international development monthly journal. Click here to read the article.