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The CRGR developed a workshop on writing for the preparation of the report.
As part of its comprehensive training and capacity-building strategy, the Regional Network for Risk Management held a virtual workshop on “writing for reporting” aimed at technical staff from its partner organizations.
On February 25 of this year, representatives of the National Network´s for Risk Management of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua and the technical team of the CRGR met via zoom to find out how to deliver documents and what information is essential to provide in the reports of projects in execution.
Estela Garcia develops the training, an independent consultant, who offered a participative and enjoyable day for the participants to prepare a proposal according to the CRGR and its partner organizations’ strategic axes.
During the day, the participants practiced the structure of a sentence and paragraph—likewise, the difference between activity, result, and impact. The participants do practical exercises, individually and in the group.
Later, everyone had the opportunity to present their work, provide and receive contributions, and carry out an evaluation and group reflection at the end of the workshop.
With these types of activities, the CRGR is committed to strengthening the capacities of the staff of its partner organizations to correctly prepare and present reports at the national and regional levels.Networ
The CRGR participates in the meeting of partners Hope and Light in 2021
The Humanitarian sector reached a tipping point in 2020. It was a year highlighted by a global pandemic, which continues to impact the world in different ways, protracted nature of conflict, and an ever-increasing impact from cyclones, hurricanes, floods, and drought due to climate change.
This day the Emergency Response Team of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation held the event Hope and Light in 2021!, with the aim of reflecting on how these events such as COVID-19 impacted and changed the humanitarian sector, organizations and people.
This virtual session brought together more than 90 partners from different networks around the world that work in the humanitarian sector, including the Regional Network for Risk Management in Central America.
This meeting of partners, opened the space to learn from some projects and how, despite a challenging year, the work was carried out, including when it meant to adapt and make drastic decisions.
During the day, there was an exchange of experiences acquired at three levels: individual (personal learning), organizational, system (humanitarian sector), and there was also the opportunity to share how the change has influenced the work of local teams and not local.
During 2020, the role of local humanitarian actors, both from the public sector, civil society, and even the private sector, was enhanced as they had to lead and assume a more important role in humanitarian action, as expressed by the participants.
Among the barriers that were identified for local actors to assume greater responsibility were: lack of political will on the part of historically dominant humanitarian actors, lack of internet, community organization is decisive, gaps in technology, overly complicated administrative and compliance requirements by donors, entrenched attitudes that “international” actors have more “capacity” than “local” actors, the language gap, restricted funding, among others.
In the same exercise, it was compiled which would be the key points to facilitates these local actors assume greater responsibility, among those are: access to resources, the change in the way in which resources are allocated and the role of the International NGOs, the use of virtual community access links by local institutions that guarantee these rights, decolonize the aid movement: raise the problem. As well as partnerships with other local organizations, more direct donor engagement, and larger INGOs putting local actors at the forefront (rather than competing for limited funds)
The participants discussed and reflected on the lessons learned as a result of the context experienced during 2020 and at the same time identified how these lessons can help guide collective work in 2021.
In this context, local actors shared some ideas to strengthen humanitarian leadership, among some of them are: maintaining permanent outreach and contact with communities, taking more local ownership, improving community systems and working to strengthen the capacities and competencies of each collaborator involved.
Likewise, non-local actors manifested the different way to work with local actors, among the most are: transferring power and resources to local actors, letting local actors direct, communication and technology, rescue of local knowledge and ancestral practices and advocating with donors for more flexible and direct funding for local actors.
As a result of this session, 2020 was named the year of great learning, and 2021 was viewed as a light of hope, which provides a new opportunity to reinvent itself and create new ways of action from each of the partner organizations. focused on each of their contexts and areas of intervention.
CRGR develops a response project to support families affected by Hurricane IOTA in Nicaragua and Honduras.
The Regional Network for Risk Management in Central America (CRGR) signed a response project with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, through the Salvadoran Association for Humanitarian Aid PRO-VIDA to support families affected by Hurricane IOTA in Nicaragua and Honduras .
As a result of an analysis of the effects of Iota in the region, the membership of the RNetwork for Risk Management recognized that the most affected countries were: Nicaragua and Honduras, therefore this proposal is directed to these two countries.
This project lasts for 4 months and will cover the urgent needs as an immediate response to 1,565 families (10,500 people, of which 51% are women), belonging to highly affected communities in Honduras (La Lima, Omoa, San Manuel, Tocoa , Juticalpa, Olanchito, Trojes and Marcovia); and Nicaragua (Wiwilí, Jinotega, Pantasma, Condega, Pueblo Nuevo, Telpaneca and Sébaco).
The organizations implemented in the countries of intervention will be the National Advocacy Board for Risk Management in Honduras and the National Board for Risk Management in Nicaragua, national networks members of the CRGR.
As part of the project actions, the delivery of a food package, cash transfer for food and nutritional security and economic reactivation, distribution of an environmental sanitation kit and tools and equipment to promote hygiene and environmental sanitation are contemplated.
These humanitarian action initiatives are developed efficiently and from an inter-institutional response through local organizations that are in the front line. The experience developed and the capacities installed in the humanitarian leadership of the CRGR and its partners have made it possible to carry out monitoring actions, early warnings, evacuation, attention to emergencies and rehabilitation of livelihoods for communities at risk from a comprehensive approach.
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Technical teams and volunteers are trained in Geographic Information Systems
The Regional Network for Risk Management in Central America held a workshop “Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)” from August 6 to 8 of this year, in the city of Choluteca of the Republic of Honduras.
The purpose of this training process was to provide the attendees with initial knowledge about methodologies and technological tools, which are used for the management and representation of geospatial data and to promote the development and implementation of basic skills for the development of maps that facilitate the management and decision making of the national tables that are members of the Regional Network for Risk Management, in their different activities.
For Rodrigo Hernández Regional Humanitarian Action Officer of the CRGR, Geographic Information Systems are very useful instruments for decision making in the field of research and for responding to an emergency, since apart from the management of technology, it is a methodological tool that allows technicians and volunteers from different fields to process and analyze spatial information associated with different variables.
“The knowledge that we have acquired in this workshop will serve to strengthen the capacities of the technical teams and volunteers of the CRGR and National Network for Risk Management. Likewise, we can use technological tools to achieve effective communication and improve monitoring systems through maps and information associated with the territories where we have a presence” explained Rodrigo Hernández.
This capacity building process introduced the participants in the knowledge and management of the latest technologies in Geographic Information Systems, from a theoretical and practical perspective. Likewise, I provide the space to review the basic concepts of the two main models of cartographic representation (raster and vector), spatial databases and the application of methodologies for the capture, processing, storage, analysis, recovery and updating of information georeferenced.
This workshop was carried out within the framework of the project “Strengthen the capacities of the CRGR for a higher quality Humanitarian Action and contribute to improving resilience in Central America. Phase III “, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
On this day, 17 people representing the National Network for Risk Management and the CRGR participated, including national officials and the regional reference for Humanitarian Action and Communications and technical and volunteer staff working with member organizations of this network of networks .
Soon second regional simulation
Within the framework of the Phase II project of Strengthening local, national and regional networks for disaster management in four countries of Central America “the Regional Agreement for Risk Management together with the National Risk Management Tables prepares for that month of April 2018 the second regional simulation of emergency response in Central America.
The technical teams made up of: officials of preparation and humanitarian response, communications, coordination and facilitation of national and regional projects are ready for the development of this event.
With this regional exercise, the response capacities, agility and adequate knowledge of the action protocols, strategies and communication systems at the different intervention levels of this network will be tested.
Together we respond better to an emergency
Successful cases and Lessons Learned | Maria Emma community leader of the municipality Vueltas Chalatenango was affected by the last rains that occurred in the Central American region in June and where the department of Chalatenango was one of the most affected in El Salvador, being incommunicado from the rest of the country .
In the case of the municipality of the turns only in the urban helmet were affected 50 families, this is equal to about 400 people. In response to this situation, the WaSH for El Salvador program was initiated to respond to the needs of these affected families.
Our community was helped in the health section, with the delivery of the Hygiene Kits. All the families affected were also provided with the basic necessities that people have in these emergency cases, especially the families who they do not have resources that are also the most vulnerable in this municipality.
According to Maria Emma Rodríguez in the delivery of Hygiene Kits made by the Humanitarian Organization PRO-VIDA, the community through the municipal authorities put a counterpart to support the distribution.
Emma mentioned that there are 8 volunteers participating; collaborating in the activities. He also commented that as a group of people in the community have had to coordinate with municipal authorities, villages and water boards.
Among the lessons learned is that it is extremely important to include all poor families in the municipality and that the delivery of assistance is much faster.
“It is important that all of us are included in the election of people benefiting from the assistance, house-to-house visits, accompaniment by those affected by the rains in the fumigation campaigns, because together we respond better in an emergency as this “mentioned Emma.
“WASH for El Salvador” was a rapid response intervention to the crisis facing this municipality. The intervention was based on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion (WASH) actions in which hygiene kits were delivered to all families, health campaigns were carried out in all communities.
Maria Emma community leader of the Vueltas Chalatenango municipality in dialogue with Rodrigo Hernández, regional humanitarian officer of the CRGR