Campaigns & Working Groups

We are a diverse group with lots of ways to work and a broad agenda for social change to reduce the risk of disaster in the US. Our priority areas will change over time—your ideas are very welcome. Send us an email at: usgdra@gmail.com if you would like to participate. Please put the working group in the subject line and include your contact information.

Campaigns are sustained areas of action to which different members of GDRA plan to contribute in different ways. These may include specific action such as responses to events or advocacy of different kinds. Our outreach to women along the Gulf Coast following the oil spill is an example.

Working Groups are how we organize activity in different areas. Working Groups undertake specific projects, make policy recommendations, organize discussion and collaborative activities, and seek funding as needed to achieve the goals of the working group. “Eating the elephant one bite at a time”…..and sometimes acting quickly, too.

Working Group Updates: We currently have six Working Groups, each still developing so please send along your ideas or let us know if you would like to participate at: usgdra@gmail.com.

WG on GDRA Organizational Development

This group works on organizational development including developing outreach and information materials, seeking funding for basic GDRA activities, and coordinating activities.

Activities:

• FAQ and other awareness materials for the website
• Poster competition
• Short GDRA video
• Identifying funding opportunities

WG on Communications

This group takes responsibility for responding to GDRA email, updates and manages the listserv, coordinates outreach through the listserv to other groups, and develops and maintains the website.

Activities:

• Developing more and different materials for the website
• Further developing the website functionally
• Coordinating and managing the listserv
• Promoting awareness and use of the listserv perhaps to include regular updates/newsletters

WG on Outreach and Partnerships

This group seeks and promotes natural partnerships, identifies opportunities for collaboration, and regularly exchanges information (postings, links) with other networks whose vision aligns with ours. We have a particular interest in outreach to recent immigrant women and to historically marginalized women of color. 

Activities:

• Looking for partnerships with NGOs/networks of immigrant women living in USA. Starting with immigrants from Latin America
• Gathering information available on immigrant women affected by disasters  resources, links, initiatives, programs, support groups, etc.)
• Identifying key individuals and reaching out to them with personal invitations to join GDRA

WG on Women Building Disaster Resilience

Activities: Currently we are framing grant proposals and identifying possible funders, as well as consolidating existing materials for distribution.  This is a 3-year national campaign involving GDRA and  EMPOWER as well as other partners to be identified. It will develop over time in these phases:

• Phase 1: awareness building (resource development and distribution building on what we already know)
• Phase 2: skills development (training and teaching initiative for practitioners/EM educators)
• Phase 3: networking & knowledge exchange ( e.g. Katrina women's "lessons learned" shared with grassroots women put at increased risk of disaster in other regions and contexts)
• Phase 4: capacity building (resources and support for emergency preparedness in women's grassroots organizations and community groups working with high risk girls and women)
• Phase 5: demonstration projects (1 year, 3-5 sites selected for their diversity, holistic gender mainstreaming initiatives led by community women and networked with local government and emergency management)

WG on Violence Prevention 

This group will work towards forming relationships with the state/national coalitions and with grassroots anti-violence against women organizations.  This will enable us to apply for collaborative grants and funding for proactive projects to assist women and girls in protecting themselves prior to, during, and in the immediate and long-term aftermath (such as recovery/rebuilding phases) of natural and man-made disasters.

Activities:

• Develop grant proposals for outreach and awareness to help prevent or reduce gender based violence, e.g. in the aftermath of Katrina/Rita and the BP oil spill
• Collaborate with private and public partners in seeking funding for a web-based emergency preparedness guide closely focused on domestic violence/sexual assault programs
• Construct a GDRA webpage with resources on gender-based violence in US disasters–prevention, intervention, response, support

WG on Women and Climate Change in the US

This working group strives to stay updated and informed on issues of climate change as they relate to gender, equity, and their impacts at the global and US levels.We are working on a basic format for the website to include recent policy decisions, news specific to gender, links to reports or articles, and general information on women and climate change.

Activities:

• Create a new GDRA webpage on climate change 
• Recruit new members, and reach out to potential partners and allies

WG on Women and Emergency Health Planning

The Working Group takes a practical approach to the essential health needs women and girls face in disasters, bringing lessons learned internationally home to the US. Our approach to health is broad and holistic, with attention to physical and reproductive health, mental health issues, maternity care and breastfeeding support, violence prevention, food security and nutrition and related issues.

Activities:

• Identify ways to partner with experts and advocates to enhance and protect the reproductive health of women and men in emergencies
• Outreach to women's health networks in the US

Looking Ahead

Working Groups and Campaigns are proposed, organized and  led by interested members of GDRA, including individuals, groups, and organizations. Groups we would like to support in future include:

• Working at the grassroots on sustainability and racial justice
• Working with policy makers & practitioners toward gendered emergency management
• Working with researchers, educators and students to build knowledge and reduce risk
• Women of differing ability building safer communities
• Women, children & disaster resilience

Email us at usgdra@gmail.com for more information and to get involved! We appreciate your interest.