We call each other ‘family’. So, you can imagine how happy we were to reconnect after three long years of the Covid pandemic! We are staff and partners of Episcopal Relief & Development. On February 7-11, 35 of us gathered in Accra, Ghana from seven countries (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, USA, and Zambia) representing […]
The Situation: Early Warning Systems (EWSs) are an important part of achieving relief and development goals. Their purpose is to prevent and/or mitigate the effects of disasters – be they related to weather, conflict or disease. Most EWSs, however, are still focused on triggering action by governments and official stakeholders that speeds up and increases […]
Safety and respect are key to ensuring community engagement. This is as true in rural Ghana where I work, as it is in most places in the world. Here are some tips that I have found helpful for the African context: Understand the cultural dynamics. It is important that while entering a community the facilitator […]
Every teaching or meeting situation is unique and offers its own challenges. I work in rural Africa and have found the follow seven tools especially helpful for engaging community members. Use appreciative inquiry. In every community some things have worked well. It is therefore important for facilitators to appreciate and build on what is already […]
Social change is a complex process and does not follow linear steps or procedures. And, it is not usually fast. Recently, I met some community members in rural areas of Ethiopia where many international and local NGOs have worked for a long time. I asked the community members to tell me the positive change they […]