Monthly Archives: October 2010

IIRR’s 50th Anniversary Celebration!

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This week, IIRR staff, alumni, supporters, and local people’s organizations gathered for 3 days of celebration in honor of founder Dr. James Yen‘s ideals of rural reconstruction and the 50th Anniversary of IIRR’s establishment in the Philippines.

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While we celebrate the change we have inspired and pioneered in people-centered, community-led development, we also face increasing poverty, population growth, climate unpredictability, and need around the world. As we begin the next 50 Years, IIRR staff have re-dedicated ourselves to our Credo-

Go to the people,

Live among them,

Learn from  them,

Plan with them,

Work with them,

Start with what they know,

Build on what they have,

Teach by showing,

Learn by doing,

Not a showcase, but a pattern,

Not odds and ends, but a system,

Not piecemeal, but an integrated approach,

Not to conform, but to transform,

Not relief, but release.

Please join us in fighting poverty by inspiring and empowering people to take action and improve their lives by donating today – Click here to support IIRR’s work.

Attend this event! Examining the Politics of Democracy in South East Asia

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This panel discussion looks really interesting!

David Merrill is a former US Ambassador and a former USAID Director, but also worked for Enron AND Halliburton!? WOW. The other key speaker is Professor David Denoon, Director of the NYU Center on U.S. – China Relations and Professor of Politics and Economics. He too worked for USAID, and also was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. These guys are going to have some interesting perspectives. They will be discussing democracy in the region of South East Asia – What does it mean in practice? How might it be affected by terrorism? and What does this mean for US foreign policy? 

The event is sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Student Alliance (APASA) of NYU’s Wagner School.

  WHEN: Friday Oct 29th

  WHERE: Rudin, Second Floor of Puck Building

  TIME: 4:30-6:00 pm

RSVP REQUIRED!  You can RSVP here –  OCT 29th EVENT

More event info here – APASA EVENTS

IIRR Trustee to lecture with the Center for African Education Tues 10/19

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Jane Boorstein, long-time IIRR Trustee and Director of the Partnership for Families and Sustainable Communities at Columbia University, will be lecturing about the Learning Our Way Out (LOWO) Program. Her innovative ideas were funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and were implemented in 15 villages in Ethiopia in partnership with IIRR.

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Her lecture will focus on images of daily life in rural Ethiopia, the environmental and social challenges of family planning and population growth, and her own experiences in visiting and working with the men and women in these isolated villages.

RSVP required

When: Tues, Oct 19th 4-5:30pm

Where: Columbia University, Gottesman Libraries, 305 Russell

More information here: LOWO Lecture

 

You can make a difference on International Day for Disaster Reduction!

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Today, October 13, 2010 is International Day for Disaster Reduction.

Click here to read the statement from United Nations Secretary General to mark the occasion – International Day for Disaster Reduction

All around the world, we are increasingly seeing natural and man-made disasters (and some that are a bit of both). We all despair the homelessness, disease, death, and destruction in the wake of these disasters. But how can we get in front of these disasters and do something to PREVENT or reduce the impact from disasters?

We have an idea! You can make a difference by supporting IIRR’s life- and livelihood-saving work in Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction. Our projects bring communities together to elect a council of leadership that will oversee an in-depth community reformation – detailing their assets and potential risks, the skills available and needed, and how they can prevent or reduce the impact of potential natural or manmade disasters that affect their village. The community itself is empowered to decide what they need and how they can best achieve those outcomes. The results we have seen to date include – safe water access points, irrigation systems, erosion control, road or bridge repairs, access to health clinics, small business and agricultural trainings, and creation of dams/catchment systems all done by and for the community.

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IIRR has also created training courses for other international NGOs and local government officials that teach the techniques of organizing a community to undertake a Disaster Risk Reduction process and be able to manage and sustain it locally.

Our next courses are -

Health and Disaster Risk Reduction – Strengthening Health Systems for Resilient Communities (Nov 29 – Dec 3)

Community Based Integrated Watershed Management (Dec 6 – Dec 17)

IIRR needs your support to continue this important work. If you are interested in sponsoring some of our inspiring Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction projects, please contact me at Lara.Crampe <at>  iirr  <dot> org  or donate online by clicking here.