This past September marked the third anniversary of the pair of devastating earthquakes across central and southern Mexico. Much has changed since that time, including the current realities thrust upon the world by the COVID-19. What hasn’t changed is the dedication and hard work of the dozens of GlobalGiving’s local, community-led nonprofit partners in Mexico that continue, day in and day out, to meet the long-term recovery needs of communities impacted by the earthquakes.
Thanks to your incredible generosity and support for our Mexico Earthquakes Relief Fund, our nonprofit partners still lead the way on the long journey to recovery. Here is a snapshot of how your donation continues to help communities in Mexico impacted by the earthquakes of September 2017:
All of this critical work has been made possible by your donation. From everyone at GlobalGiving, thank you for joining with more than 18,000 people to drive long-term recovery in Mexico. We will be back in your inbox early next year to update you further about how your donation is making a difference in support of local, vetted nonprofit organizations.
With gratitude,
Chase + the GlobalGiving Team
It’s been a tough few months for the entire GlobalGiving community, from our nonprofit partners working in areas still struggling to recover from recent disasters to our staff grappling with the impacts of a devastating virus and ongoing fight for racial justice in philanthropy. In response to the current COVID-19 crisis, GlobalGiving has continued to support community-led relief efforts by providing flexible grants to nonprofits in over 30 countries through the Coronavirus Relief Fund and the Hardship Microgrants Initiative.
Whether it’s an earthquake or a global pandemic, our incredible partners are experts in listening and responding to the unique needs of their communities. Your generous support of the Mexico Earthquake Relief Fund has enabled our team to distribute flexible, emergency-response grants to our trusted partners. These emergency-response grants increase our nonprofit partner’s capacity to continue critical rebuilding and fight against COVID-19.
Take a look at a few of the ways our partners are responding:
While communities around the world continue to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, thank you for your commitment to local, vetted organizations that are working to protect and heal their communities before, during, and long after a disaster.
With gratitude,
Andrea + the GlobalGiving Team
While natural disasters are inevitable, their long-term impacts are often amplified by pre-existing inequalities, marginalization, and environmental degradation. When crisis-stricken communities have the power to make decisions at the local level throughout the recovery process, there is the opportunity to build resilience to the impact of future disasters. Now, almost three years after the devastating September 2017 earthquakes in Mexico, GlobalGiving’s locally led nonprofit partners continue to lead long-term recovery efforts by focusing on new models of collaboration, perspectives on gender roles, and interaction with the local environment.
Thanks to your generous support of the Mexico Earthquake Relief Fund, GlobalGiving made a new series of grants at the start of 2020. Here are a few highlights of how our partners are already hard at work:
Stabilizing Livelihoods through New Economic Opportunities
Ecological Resilience
Holistic Infrastructure Recovery
Thank you for your generous support of a community-led, long-term approach to disaster recovery.
Sincerely,
Andrea + GlobalGiving Team
This past August, GlobalGiving’s Mexico Field and Evaluation Team traveled around the country to visit with our nonprofit partners and to experience firsthand the revitalization of communities affected by the 2017 Mexico Earthquakes.
These visits, conducted by our incredible team of eight field travelers, were an invaluable opportunity to explore the progress achieved by our nonprofit partners in the two years since the disaster. All reports pointed to measurable successes made possible through recovery funds raised by GlobalGiving donors like you.
From learning about the economic importance of traditional ovens in the Afro-Mexican community of Pinotepa Nacional to walking down a street filled with freshly-painted murals breathing life back into the earthquake-stricken Huejotengo, field travelers were met with stories of resilience in each location that they visited. Here’s what they’d like you to know about the project you’ve funded:
Centro de Accion para el Desarollo CODICE, Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca
Current Project: Engaging the community in sustainable land-management practices, and recuperating economic losses after the earthquake through agroforestry production.
“At first, the local women I met with were reluctant to comment on the success of the program. As we began to visit the dozens of homes that were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, the evidence of reconstruction was everywhere from wall reinforcements to complete home restoration. In this community, it is considered impolite to be self-congratulatory, and they preferred to let the tour of the completed work speak for itself.”
AYOK A.C., Huejotengo, Morelos
Current Project: Strengthening women’s economic empowerment post-disaster through furniture building workshops and a new entrepreneurship program designed to market avocados as the main economic good.
“I was very impressed with the confidence and empowerment that AYOK has achieved in the community of Huejotengo. They have given hope to many that it is possible to prevent future destruction and recover from an event such as the 2017 earthquake.”
Manos que Reconstruyen Oaxaca, A.C., Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca
Current Project: Preserving the Zapotec culture and revitalizing the local economy through the creation of neighborhood murals and organizing traditional crafts workshops in marginalized communities.
“Community members come together to complete service projects around the community, like cleaning up the local river. Service credits can then be used to learn skills and complete activities at the community center (like hammock weaving and pottery). While the organization is relatively new (formed after the earthquakes), it is well-run and is well-respected by its constituents.”
Promotora de Servicios para el Desarrollo, S.C., Zacatepec Mixe, Oaxaca
Current Project: Risk mapping to reduce vulnerability to future disasters; diversifying and improving family income through cultivating a variety of crops.
“My visit to PRODER turned into a class immersed in the culture, geography, ecology, and tourism of the upper region of the Mixe mountain range. The knowledge that Fernando (Program Director) has to share and his rich, local expertise made this site visit an incredible experience.”
Thanks to your support of GlobalGiving projects like these we can fuel long-term recoveryof local communities affected by a disaster. That is why two years after the earthquake, with your help, we continue to build the capacity of our nonprofit partners in Mexico through grants, convening opportunities, knowledge sharing, and disaster preparedness workshops.
Many thanks for your support,
Andrea Osorio + the GlobalGiving Team
In the aftermath of the Mexico earthquakes that struck almost two summers ago, donors like you rushed to provide support to a region rocked by tragedy. While the funds raised came from all around the world, the recovery work of our partners is homegrown.
Fundación Tosepan: Tamakepalis is Nahuatl for “mutual aid”. For many of the indigenous tribes in Oaxaca impacted by the earthquake, traditional values of community members helping one another are vital in the long-term reconstruction of their societies. Faced with the severe lack of government assistance after the disaster, and located in a mountainous region that is not easily accessible to large aid organizations, community leaders are taking a local approach to rebuilding. These attitudes are reflected in decisions made by consejos de barrios (neighborhood councils) on the upcoming timeline for the reconstruction of partially damaged homes.
Now in the long-term recovery phase, Fundación Tosepan continues to work with neighborhood councils, university students, and local masons to rebuild homes using traditional adobe and seismic-resilient techniques.
Manos Que Reconstruyen Oaxaca: One of the primary goals of rebuilding after a disaster is to ensure the economic reactivation of a community, an objective this nonprofit hopes to achieve through its traditional craft and agricultural production. Workshops focused on preserving the art of high quality shoe-making with recycled materials, and teaching families techniques for self-sufficient community gardens, all contribute to an economy that is bouncing back stronger than before the earthquake.
Cooperación Comunitaria: After rebuilding 154 traditional ovens vital to the income of many women in the Isthmus de Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Cooperacion Comunitaria took a community feedback approach to better assess the continued unmet needs 20 months after the disaster. Its findings proved that the spirit of communal work groups continue to underline the recovery process. In May, the women of the community organized a tequio (traditional work group) to host a celebration of local construction workers who worked incredibly hard to rebuild homes and centers of gathering.
This is just a snapshot of the amazing projects shaping the long-term recovery of regions affected by the 2017 earthquakes. Donations like yours continue to support local organizations in their mission to be led by traditional communal values, an approach that allows all members of the community to rebuild together.
With gratitude,
Andrea
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser