• Home
• Training & Models
• featured INITIATIVES
• Projects & News
• About HISG
• Donation portal
• Welcome to HISG
• Training|
• Models|
• HIST Model|
• IDR Model
• Starfish Community|
• IDRN|
• BDIN|
• Let's Save One|
• Orphan Care|
• Darfur Initiative|
• HRN
• HIST Projects|
• IDR Projects|
• News|
• Photos|
• Videos|
• Partners & Links|
• Pulse Report
• History|
• Directors|
• Staff|
• Offices|
• Purpose and Vision|
• Internship|
• Contact Us|
• 10th Anniversary|
• Recommended Resources
• Donate

Pulse Report January 5, 2010

Children in Africa

2010 Road Ahead - Africa

People are seeing that dependency (on overseas aid) is unhealthy, and they are desperate for a way out. You would not believe some of the lengths that people go to in order to be a part of the training. A few months ago in Africa, people were traveling long distances through dangerous territory to attend a training event because they were so hungry for a solution. They are leaping at the chance to learn an alternative to what they have always been taught. I met with the national leader from an organization in Ethiopia, and he wants to take his entire staff through our training and revamp their whole approach to follow our model. I don't say this to boast, only to point out that the proof is in the changed lives, across Africa and into the Middle East. We want to take these kinds of results and see them not just added to, but multiplied.

2010 Road Ahead - Asia

We've seen partnerships and collaboration taking place in a wonderful way. The past year witnessed multiple disasters in Southeast Asia, many of them just days apart. We saw that the network that is being established enabled the private sector to respond to all of these disasters on multiple levels. The collaboration and teamwork between various organizations created a significantly greater impact than could have been accomplished with each organization going individually. The impact of these different organizations in local communities has opened the doors in people's hearts and encouraged them to look for ways to rebuild their communities in new, self-sustaining ways. Also, because our models in community development have been successful, local and regional governments have opened the door for increased collaboration with the private sector. One mayor of even gave us a key to his city. We are excited to build on these solid foundations in the coming year.

A Look Back at 2009

At the beginning of this new year, I want to take a few minutes to look back and reflect on how far we've come. What a fruitful year this has been! We've solidified our internal infrastructure in many ways and launched a number of new and very powerful initiatives to serve our partners around the world. Here are just a few of the amazing highlights:

We were able to mobilize over $1,000,000 in project funding!

We launched the Business Partners Alliance. We are currently working to finalize our first business venture creating jobs in a poor community in Bosnia.

Shipped containers to Mali, Niger, Syria, Kenya, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.

Began teaching in the International Diploma on Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA) course. This program is well-known around the world, and the invitation to HISG to teach in it is a validation of HISG's innovative and proven solutions.

Held our first annual Starfish Community Expo event with live webcasting and 150+ participants from 20 different countries.

Launched the www.StarfishCommunity.net platform connecting the global Starfish Community.

Launched the www.IDRN.INFO platform to help people share and find information during disaster response.

Trained over 1,000 people on the sustainable development and disaster response models.

Responded to natural disasters in Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Conducted two global exercises of the International Disaster Response Network with hundreds of participants from dozens of countries.

It has been a great year and I want to thank you for supporting HISG. We could not do it without you. Your support is touching thousands of lives and countless communities around the world. We look forward to the challenges and the possibilities that lie ahead in 2010, and we are grateful that you have chosen to partner with us. It's going to be a very good year!