| Dear Folks, I have apparently not gotten my self on this mailing list, so now I am writing through Tahir's email. For any one going abroad, to do anything, in any kind of disaster situation, there is a handbook developed over the past 15 years by the 400 mayor NGO's and Red cross/Red crescent, giving guidelines and minimal standards to fulfill and work from when doing a relief/development project. The initiative is called "Sphere" and the sphere handbook can be downloaded for free from this website: http://www.sphereproject.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,200/lang,english/ Any one going to Haiti, Should be aware of OCHA, Which is UN's coordination organization. They will have up dates on the situation, on what all the organizations in Haiti are working on on reliefweb: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm There are so called "cluster-meetings" held, where all NGO's e.g. working with shelters, will have a representative meet ever so often, to up date each other, on where they are working, any relevant local information gathered etc. There is as well something called the Logical Framework Approach, which states an approach to any kind of relief project, that insures especially the needed of local participation, but as well, that the necessary assessments, feed backs, monitoring, evaluations etc. are done along the way. DO LOOK THAT UP. You have to remember that the process is more important then the result, since it is the process that determines the peoples experience, and there by their interest in using what you are offering. Finally. The most important of all perhaps, is the attitude, to meet the Haitians as your clients. They are all ready victims of a great disaster, they do not need to be victimized by any one any more. If bales are to be manufactured, the PAKSBAB has developed a manual baling machine, using a farm jack. Perhaps in Haiti you want to bale styrofoam fastfood trays rather then straw..I don't know. All my blessings (: I wish you a good experience. For your own mental health's sake, remember to take more pictures of children smiling and playing, then of ruins and mentally upset people. And forgive me if I am repeating already writen messages, I have not been following the topic on the list. Caroline --- On Fri, 2/19/10, Sara Tommerup <stommerup@gmail...> wrote:
|