What happens after a disaster?
Beyond tragedy, natural disasters provide communities with the unique opportunity to re-evaluate their natural and cultural environments and lifestyles. Such events present that rare chance to ‘start again.’
However, the need for immediate recovery and economic rehabilitation often outweighs the wisdom of long-term planning for inclusive and sustainable solutions.
An upcoming workshop at Concordia will look at ways to balance those two imperatives, while engaging the community, and youth in particular, in the process.
The workshop is organized by Concordia's Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies and will be run by Chris Henderson, who was lead facilitator at the international UNESCO Youth Forum titled "Looking Beyond Disaster."
Henderson lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, and is the education officer for Social Innovation, an organisation which offers creative and collaborative youth focused solutions to social and environmental challenges. He has been working with local youth to sustainably rebuild the city following its devastation after two major earthquakes.
At the workshop, Henderson will look at the idea of disaster as an event, natural or cultural, causing a degree of impact or devastation whereby communities are forced to redevelop their social and physical environments. The workshop will be of benefit to those working in community contexts vulnerable to natural or cultural disaster and in need of an effective, inclusive approach for enhancing youth engagement in the redevelopment process.
When: Saturday, January 14, 2012, 1 to 4 p.m.
Where: Room VE 225.01, Applied Human Sciences Building (7141 Sherbrooke St. W.), Loyola Campus
Cost:
- Standard rate: $35 CDN
- Community rate: $25 CDN
- Student rate (with ID): $20 CDN
- Group rate (3 or more): $15 CDN per person
Related links:
• Disaster Recovery and New Opportunity for Change: Engaging Youth (workshop information)
• Concordia's Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies