In April, GER3 was a finalist for the Innovative Island Research Award. The Island Innovation Awards, run in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, recognize individuals, organizations and projects driving positive change for remote and island communities globally. GER3 was recognized for its ash up-cycling work in St. Vincent: incorporating ash into organic compost and piloting the use of ash in concrete blocks. Learn more about the organic composting project here.
InterAction Forum
GER3 is connecting with the NGO community in-person at InterAction's Forum this week. We are grateful to participate in this powerful platform where we can engage with NGOs, foundations, governments, global industries, the U.N., and national civil society organizations. It’s a great opportunity for our sector to forge common solutions to pressing global challenges.
Ukraine Debris Removal
GER3 is supporting debris removal this week. At the request of the city, GER3 delivered PPE and tools to equip a crew of 110 local volunteers organized by the City Council of Kharkiv. Equipment includes construction glasses, construction bags, gloves, helmets, respirators, shovels, chisels, crowbars, and sledgehammers. The supplies will enable Kharkiv’s local volunteers to undertake essential debris removal in the coming weeks.
Ukraine Response
The GER3 team is operational in Ukraine in Lviv and Kyiv. The team began its assessment mission in early June, meeting with local and international partners and assessing where GER3 can best support those affected by the conflict. GER3 is currently focused on bringing early recovery efforts to communities outside of Kyiv.
New Project: Lewis Punnett Emergency Shelter and Geriatric Facility
GER3 is excited to announce a new project that continues our work helping St. Vincent recover from the volcanic eruption last April: the Lewis Punnett Retrofit Project. Funded by the Government of Japan and USAID - via the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) - the IOM-administered initiative will retrofit an abandoned building to serve as an emergency shelter and geriatric facility for displaced persons in the Red Zone of the island. Working with the Government of St. Vincent, IOM, and other stakeholders, GER3 will manage the retrofitting of the facility along with capacity building and community engagement activities.
The video below (from St. Vincent’s Agency for Public Information) provides additional information on the project and our partners.
Up-cycling “Waste” into Organic Compost in St. Vincent
Over the last two months, GER3’s team in St. Vincent has led an innovative organic composting workshop alongside Luke Punnett of Chatoyer Gardens and St. Vincent’s Richmond Vale Academy. The workshop included practical lessons on the science and technique of organic composing paired with hands-on, guided demonstrations using locally-available inputs.
The initiative grew out of GER3’s commitment to sustainable, green recovery practices, one of which seeks to repurpose and, when possible, up-cycle materials and resources that otherwise would be discarded. In addition to conventional composting inputs – detritus from the forests, leftover plant material from agriculture, and manure from local farms – GER3 incorporated volcanic ash and sargassum – a type of seaweed – into the compost in a novel approach tailored to the specificities of St. Vincent and the Caribbean. In doing so, the workshop aims to shift how volcanic ash and sargassum are viewed in St. Vincent – not as nuisances to be burned or buried but as resources with positive value.
Throughout the 18-day composting cycle, the team collected data and closely monitored the progress of each pile, which varied in terms of the ratios of inputs. Samples of the rich soil produced by the composting process are now being analyzed to assess the optimal compost blend for the local climate and available resources. In harnessing the power of technical research methodologies and local knowledge, we can innovate towards more sustainable, greener recoveries.
Generous Donation from M.I.A.’s OHMNI Foundation & St. Vincent-based Carib-Beans Superfoods Coffee House
“I wrote my first song in Bequia,” wrote M.I.A. on twitter, and “these places have been my island away from my island for the past 20 years. The devastation is unbearable.”
Global Emergency Relief, Recovery & Reconstruction has received a generous donation from M.I.A.’s OHMNI Foundation& St. Vincent based Carib-Beans Superfoods Coffee House to support GER3’s recovery efforts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano.
Having just completed Phase I: Ash Cleaning, Phase II: Homes Repairs is about to begin in Sandy Bay. Its main focus will be rehabilitating homes owned by vulnerable community members, but it will also include capacity building events such as a workshop on upcycling organic compost for farmers, a training on hurricane resistant construction techniques, and a cash-for-work program for practicing construction work.
The community needs much more than what we can currently support. We are actively looking for donations to scale up the homes repair program, to replicate the upcycling compost workshop for farmers and to ensure that the hurricane resistant structures training can reach as many members of the community as possible. We are also looking to upgrade the existing latrines to toilets and we are looking for funding to be able to build the needed septic tanks.
M.I.A. is a British-born, Sri Lankan rapper, singer, record producer and activist who wrote her first song on Bequia, the largest of the St. Vincent Grenadine islands. She launched an online fund-raising campaign to aid volcano-ravaged St. Vincent and the Grenadines. All of M.I.A.’s fundraising is going directly to the recovery effort.
CARIBBEANS: During the April 9th volcanic eruption, Carib-Beans Superfoods coffee house quickly sprung into action using the space as a base for packing supplies to shelters island-wide. The coffee house also raised funds to assist with daily shopping for the shelters. With the work done by JD and Eniye, Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. and her team reached out to them to work together in affecting more positive change during the very difficult time.
Abaco Housing Rehabilitation
Over two years after hurricane Dorian, GER3 remains active in the recovery effort in the Bahamas. Rebuilding homes in Abaco remains a critical part of recovery going forward, with many vulnerable homeowners still left with badly damaged or destroyed homes. In October, GER3 began a new housing project, funded by Discovery Land Company Foundation's Abaco Relief Program, that will focus on the rehabilitation of 18 homes and will continue to build local capacity. Having recently completed another vulnerable housing project funded by Templeton World Charity and Templeton Religion Trust, GER3 is well connected with the communities and homeowners and is committed to supporting them to get back into their homes.
We are also continuing to expand our local team, engaging a number of local cash-for-workers, local contractors and project managers. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue supporting the Bahamas to build back better.
Update - St. Vincent Community Recovery Project
GER3 continues to support recovery efforts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano last spring. After two months of on-the-ground work, the impacts of GER3’s recovery programs are visible throughout the Sandy Bay area.
Over forty five homes have been cleared of ash and debris, allowing residents to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. In the process, over seventy people from the Sandy Bay community have received temporary income for their work on cash-for-work teams, providing livelihood support to a local economy that was decimated by the eruption. In addition, GER3’s home rehabilitation program is progressing though the final selection phase and will soon begin work on a number of homes.
Luke Punnet of Richmond Vale Academy discussing organic composting techniques with farmers.
GER3 has also launched programs targeting local farmers, whose livelihoods were severely disrupted. Though six months have passed since the eruptions subsided, farmers remain unable to sow their mountain-side plots due to unsafe access and inhospitable soil conditions, precluding even subsistence-level activities. In response, GER3 – in partnership with Luke Punnet of Richmond Vale Academy in St. Vincent – launched an organic compositing program that will draw upon local knowledge as well as the latest scientific research to teach and to learn about organic composting methods using locally available resources like volcanic ash and sargassum. This program thus converts local resources of no or negative economic value (ash and sargassum) into fertile soil without the use of chemicals or fertilizers, while providing livelihood support to local farmers.
GER3 team members in Sandy Bay.
Notwithstanding the great progress of GER3 and its partners, much work remains and GER3 will continue to help Sandy Bay and St. Vincent build back better.
St. Vincent Community Recovery Project
“It disrupted our livelihoods. We were displaced. We were moved. Our homes were damaged. So, help is needed…help so that everyone can get back to a sense of normalcy, because right now it is not normal.”
– Hazel Ann Lavia, Sandy Bay resident and cash-for-work team supervisor.
Recovery efforts are under way in Sandy Bay, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the La Soufrière eruption thanks to funding from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the tireless work of our local team and partners. Cash-for-work teams comprised of Sandy Bay residents are rapidly clearing volcanic ash and debris, allowing people to return to their homes and rebuild their community while also providing income to affected people.
The La Soufrière volcano erupted explosively on April 9, 2021, blanketing northern St. Vincent in ash, displacing over 20,000 people, and damaging hundreds of homes. Heavy rains following the eruption caused lahars – violent volcanic mudslides – further damaging and destroying homes in vulnerable areas. Only in the last month has northern St. Vincent been deemed safe enough for residents to return home from emergency shelters and begin recovery efforts.
One month after launching the Sandy Bay Community Recovery Project, GER3’s cash-for-work teams have cleared ash and debris from 20 houses and provided income that will benefit not only the workers but also the broader community. As Phase I ash and debris removal work continues, we are also starting Phase II of home rehabilitation for Sandy Bay’s most vulnerable residents. We look forward to continuing our work to help St. Vincent build back better!