Introducing a Regenerative Approach to humanitarian settings

Welcome to this introductory course on Regenerative approaches to Humanitarian work. It is the first in a series of modules on what working regeneratively means in a humanitarian context, particularly in relation to climate and conflict displacement. If you have made it this far we believe you are interested in a different, more environmentally aware approach to managing and averting displacement due to climate or conflict in your region.

Re-alliance supports community practitioners working within the humanitarian sector and responding to the impact of climate and conflict displacement.  As a global network we work with and learn from our partners to share simple technologies around food growing, shelter construction, water retention, WASH interventions, trauma response and settlement design. This course includes five modules that provide some basic techniques in each of these areas that you can implement without extensive specialist support or large budgets. They are all designed to be implemented in emergency contexts but durable in the longer term. The course includes videos, short readings, reflective exercises and quizzes to test your knowledge, with recommendations for more extensive reading at the end. 

This first module introduces you to some key terms and concepts around regeneration, showing how, even after disaster, lands and communities can be managed to ensure that both will thrive and regrow. At Re-alliance we believe it is vital to ensure that when forced to move,  communities retain some control over their new environment, their housing and their food, and are able to rebuild their lives. 

We expect this first module, will take you around 4-6 hours to complete, but you can progress at your own pace on a computer or mobile phone. There is a glossary of key terms that can be accessed here which you might like to download and keep to hand, along with a pen and paper to make notes as you go. If you would like to be connected to other participants for exchanging ideas online please email us at  🔗juliet@re-alliance.org and 🔗james@re-alliance.org letting us know where you are based and your areas of interest or work. We will do our best to connect you. 

After completing this first module you can take the others in any order, but on completing the final one and taking an online test, you will be able to download a certificate with credits towards your Kaya portfolio.

We hope you will enjoy it and find it useful. 

Course Objectives

By the end of this introductory module, you will be able to:

• Identify different 'regenerative movements' (like Agroecology, Regenerative Design, or Permaculture) and related fields (such as nature-based solutions, or climate mitigation and adaptation)

• Understand key differences between sustainability and regeneration

• Apply the three core ethics of Permaculture to your work: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share

• Use nature-inspired principles to inform a community based response, recognising the importance of community action in humanitarian work

• Work with simple design approaches, such permaculture's SADIM method, or Re-Alliance's 6 AMDIRA stages.

• Know where to find and use existing support materials: from Re-Alliance, the Global Ecovillage Network, The Sphere Handbook and Sphere's Nature-based Solutions for Climate Resilience in Humanitarian Action.

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