March 5, 2019

We must do more than put people at the centre following a disaster

by Sandra James in Social Recovery

The recent commemorations for the 22 February earthquake are always a time for reflection and remembrance for Cantabrians. 

It takes us back to that heart-breaking day when so many precious lives were lost, and many others were changed forever. It’s good to remember, to pay our respects, and to stand with the families and friends of those who were affected from our neighbourhoods and much further away.

This year I also reflected on the Canterbury Earthquake Symposium held in November 2018, where I presented. The one message I heard loud and clear was that ‘we must put people at the centre of recovery’. 

Seem so simple, doesn’t it?  Common sense, you’d say?  But what does it mean?

For me, it means not just putting people at the centre of recovery but doing it before we even have a disaster.  We must continue to find ways to enable, empower, open doors and make it easy for people to connect into community (civic) life. 

Not everyone is a leader or has the confidence or ability to start a project or a cause. But everyone, and I mean everyone, has ideas, strengths, assets, gifts, and things they’re good at, that can contribute to building great neighbourhoods, towns and cities . We’ve just got to discover that greatness and connect people so that they can get together and talk about what they’d like to see in their neighbourhoods, towns, cities and what it would take to make that happen. We witnessed it after the earthquakes when goodwill was at an all-time high – people got involved and made a difference for their fellow citizens. 

The magic will happen if we get this right and work together. The buzz word for that is ‘Collective Impact’. It’s a process where people come together with common goals, and work out how they can realise these goals collectively while negotiating and most importantly genuinely respecting differing needs and expectations. We need to do more of this.

Good idea? Tell me what you think!  #connectingpeople

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