Donation For Philippines Typhoons Disaster Relief Permaculture Alternative

2024-11-08 08:23:39 News & Society

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Donating money to permaculture aid is a long term, effective alternative to regular donations for typhoon victims in the Philippines according to expert on the ground Steve Cran.

More information is available at http://goo.gl/js791p.

One of the problems faced by large charitable organizations is the cost of raising money. Fund raisers for a charity may take from 20% to 90% of the money they raise in costs of advertising, fund raising workers and administration.

Then the charity organization itself will take another 20% to 50% of the money they receive in various administration costs before that money reaches the ground where it's needed. In the worse scenario it can take up to $20 to get just $1 on the ground.

Steve Cran of Green Warrior Permaculture Aid says the numbers turn out to be even worse than that because many large charitable organizations have no plan for helping the people who are the victims of a disaster build resilient, self sufficient communities that won't require aid the next time the same type of disaster hits.

The biggest problem with most aid is it creates communities in the effected areas who are aid dependent. Cran says a far better option is to use resources effectively and undergo training for the locals and give them the tools they need so they can create communities themselves that are self reliant and self sufficient.

Cran is speaking from experience. He has worked in a wide range of different locations from rural Aboriginal communities in Australia to East Timor after the civil war to Aceh and Indonesia after the tsunami in 2005.

He worked in Uganda overcoming the problems of aid dependence caused by 40 years of food aid which had led to endemic poverty and armed conflict. In 2011 he worked in Ethiopia teaching the locals a self sufficient, ecologically friendly system of self reliance using a combination of locally available resources and good design practice (permaculture).

Cran is now working in areas of the Philippines that have been severely effected by typhoons and says the same pattern emerges everywhere disasters happen. Well meaning charities move into an area and start giving out food.

But there is no transition from simply giving out food to helping the locals start growing food effectively themselves using long term sustainable methods. This results in the locals becoming dependent on food aid and the loss of self reliance.

Cran says having an integrated plan to support and help people in these disaster prone areas to grow their own food, provide for their own needs and build extra incomes with tertiary products they create and sell is an effective long term solution.

His organization Green Warrior Permaculture Aid is working on the ground in the Philippines and for several years has achieved great success teaching their system of design. Every dollar that is donated to Green Permaculture Aid goes directly on the ground where it is used to help buy tools and train locals in becoming self sufficient.

Donations can be made at this URL http://www.greenwarriorpermacultureaid.org/donate/.