Allies
Many GDRA members began their work around gender and disaster in 1997 at an early morning meeting in Colorado (see below). As GDN expanded, so did the interests of some of these early founders. When Hurricane Katrina made clear the urgent need for more attention to the gender dimensions of crisis prevention, response and recovery—even here, with all our assets and a well-developed emergency management system—the GDRA was born.
Many GDRA members turn to the GDN regularly for international news and have a foot in both camps–Kristina Peterson is the GDRA/GDN liaison, for example. GDN is moving forward with regionalization, seeking partnerships through Regional Hubs in the main World Regions, with webpages on the main site for some separate countries. The GDRA elected to move ahead with our own website but remain ‘joined at the hip’ with our sister network! Read on for more on the GDN as described on their website, where you will also find current information from around the world on women’s efforts to reduce disaster risk.
Meet Our Allies and Become One By Joining as an Organization
The Gender and Disaster Network is an educational project initiated by women and men interested in gender relations in disaster contexts. It emerged from an early morning meeting during the July 1997 Natural Hazards Research and Applications Center workshop in Denver, Colorado. We aim to utilise the Internet and other forms of new media in support of a global network of researchers and practitioners while recognising that communications technology is not fully accessible and that we must try to work in many languages and contexts.
GDN members share the latest information and resources on gender, drr and related issues through a mailing list hosted by Preventionweb. To subscribe to the LISTSERV, please register online.
Broadly stated, our goals are to:
- document and analyze women's and men's experiences before, during, and after disaster, situating gender relations in broad political, economic, historical, and cultural context
- work across disciplinary and organizational boundaries in support of collaborative research and applied projects
- foster information sharing and resource building among network members build and sustain an active international community of scholars and activists
With support from Northumbria University in the UK and a number of international agencies, including USAID/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, now has over 1300 registered members from 97 countries, and speaks out in our name at the annual Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. The 2011 presentation was delivered in Spanish by Ms. Rosa Sanchez del Valle, GDN representative from the Latin American region.
Download the GDN poster here and join the global Gender and Disaster Network for international information and organizing.
The emergency management organization for women…Emergency Management Professional Organization for Women's Enrichment™ (EMPOWER) is a 501(c)(3) that was created to build a platform where professionals can come together to share experiences, build skills, and expand and deepen industry knowledge. This vision will facilitate the advancement and enrichment of women in emergency management. EMPOWER is about strengthening and uniting women to encourage and enthusiastically support their growth and success.
EPI Global exists to promote the practice of inclusive emergency management to the benefit of all people. We believe that people from all backgrounds and beliefs should be an integral part of the planning for, responding to, recovering from, and mitigating the impact, of natural and man-made disasters. EPI Global’s mission is to serve as a bridge that informs emergency management practitioners, empowers stakeholder communities to collaborate effectively, and to identify issues and find solutions across the life cycle of emergency management resulting in a better prepared public and a more capable response community.
INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF WOMEN IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
The new International Network of Women in Emergency Management seeks to honor pioneering women and connect with future generations of women emergency managers to support preparedness and resilience. Founder Jacqueline McBride explains the INWEM mission: “Expanding partnerships towards a shared and committed responsibility of building a national culture of readiness, resiliency, and sustainability; as we to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.” Look here for more information on the website, currently under development.
Mahila Partnership is a grassroots non-profit organization serving the unmet needs of communities by investing in education, public health and sustainable development initiatives while promoting disaster risk reduction and gender equality. Initiated and led by Angela Devlen, who also serves generously on the GDRA Steering Committee, Mahila Partnership takes action in US disasters and others, bring much-needed attention to the capacities and needs of women and girls. We are proud to recognize Mahila as the fiscal agent for GDRA and thank them for this and other forms of sustained support.
