Children in Emergencies: Applying What We Already Know to the Crisis in Haiti

In early 2005, following the Tsunami, I collaborated with a cross-section of people at the organization where I work to put together a summary of lessons learned and some short guidelines for working with children and communities in emergencies. Continue reading at Wait... What's new website....

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Child Protection:  from Emergency Response to a Sustainable Mechanism

Ushahidi in Haiti: What's Needed Now

www.haiti.ushahidi.com

My main experience with disasters comes from working at an international development organization in El Salvador and happening to be the only senior manager who wasn't on annual vacation when a huge earthquake struck almost exactly 9 years ago, on January 13, 2001.  The rush to act was immediate, and it was a lot of learning by doing.  I got handed the responsibility by fate I suppose and didn't do such a bad job of it, if I do say so.  At that time we were pretty unprepared; something that has certainly changed since then in the organization where I work.  We now have country level disaster plans at hand and support a lot of disaster risk reduction and preparedness work with local communities and governments.  Continue reading here at Wait... What's new home!

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I saw the future of geovisualization... before lunch

I saw the future of geovisualization... after lunch

Is this map better than that map?

It’s not a black and white photo

Before I went to El Salvador in 1991 (read why in my earlier post here), I had never traveled outside the US. I had read lots of articles about the country’s Civil War and intense poverty in the LA Weekly, a lefty newspaper in Los Angeles where I went to school.  I imagined El Salvador as a somber, high contrast black and white photo, with some thick red paint dripping down it to represent the bloodshed and suffering of a noble people being crushed by US Imperialism.  (yeah, pretty dramatic)

To my surprise, El Salvador was more of a bright, animated 3-D movie with endless layers of depth and detail.  Continue reading ....

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The real story involves anti-social entrepreneurs and anthropology

The real story involves anti-social entrepreneurs and anthropology.

People often ask me 2 questions.  How did I end up spending the 90s in El Salvador and how did I get into NGO work?  I usually give the 140 character verbal version. But the turning point was 20 years ago this week. So here is the longer story.  continue reading....

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It's not a black and white photo