Kreuzweg statt Gottesdienst

CrowdFlower, a site which pays people to do microtasks, has found that it can be an extremely fast and effective medium between aid workers and locals during disasters.

Americans often want to connect to a cause beyond writing a check. Crowdsourcing is creating new forms of philanthropy globally, giving donors more choice and a stronger connection to the projects they fund.

SERVIR, a joint development initiative of the United States Agency for International Development and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, leverages data from space to improve environmental decision-making in 30 developing countries.

In Israel, approaches to help traumatized IDF soldiers were emotionally focused and did not succeed in restoring well-being. The Six C’s model presents a cognitive approach by Dr. Farchi, which involves stimulating the individual through mental and physical action—such as giving them tasks to complete or make complex decisions.

An increasing number of Venezuelans are fleeing to other Latin American countries, such as Brazil and Peru, leading to the need for changes in these receiving countries. Peru has created a temporary permit, while Brazil has expanded their legal migration path for refugees.

To combat climate change, some Pacific Islanders are turning to tradition indigenous knowledge upgraded with recent innovations in green technology. Examples includes constructing homes with indigenous building techniques that are more disaster-resilient and farming techniques that emphasize drought-tolerant crops.

In the aftermath of natural disasters, like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, SBP is an organization that works to provide long-term assistance for affected communities through a limited volunteer base, partnerships with local organizations, and a focus on the disproportionate impact that disasters have on already marginalized communities. And although the group's main purpose is to provide long-term recovery assistance, they've found it is vital to have a rapid disaster-response to prevent mistakes of the past.

In the wake of serious flooding in Kerala, India, the state has started to incorporate lessons on disaster management and reconstruction into schools' syllabi. “It is way more cost effective to educate the kids now than to bear the losses of disaster later," said the vice chairman of the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority.

Gathered in makeshift open-air learning spaces, teachers and students in Nigeria are resisting Boko Haram's reign of terror against education. “They don’t like education; they don’t want it,” one 19-year old student says. “So just by doing this, we are all fighting them." Working with UNICEF and other organizations, local educators are offering free education to students who have been forced to stay home for years.

A new coalition of nonprofits is working to change the way corporations and philanthropists think about disaster assistance. Most efforts and money funnel to communities in the early days and weeks after a disaster, while very little goes toward long term recovery efforts. The coalition has created a framework to guide more effective assistance to minimize waste and get appropriate resources to communities when they need them.