Date: December 25th 2006

As I write this, my fellow Malaysians in the south are facing severe floods with more than 60,000 displaced - a large number considering Malaysia is not as disaster prone as many countries in the region. Our colleagues in Philippines are also challenged by the recent typhoons, the people of North Sumatra in Aceh are now facing a terrible flood in the wake of the anniversary of the tsunami, security issues plague the world and many innocent men, women and children live in dire straits.

In the spirit of the festive season - Christmas, Eidul Adha and the New Year, let us reflect upon the challenges we as organisations and individuals need to face and how as a network we should support each other so that we can be of better service to the communities we aim to serve.

In light of our plans to increase capacity for the network members, we are planning an active year with many training programs. The forthcoming EHP training in Kuala Lumpur has already generated much interest and we will have to select in batches who should participate. The priority will be for those organisations that are RESPONDERS, providing relief in disasters. In the pipeline are training programs on accountability, community based disaster preparedness and others. We also hope that organisations can have cross fertilisation through attachment programs and organisations share their expertise.

We urge all of you to also increase the membership by recommending your fellow NGOs to apply to become a part of the network. We should grow in strength with time and a critical mass (number) of members is necessary to sustain the network. We also urge you to share your field program reports with the network by submitting them to our webmaster - jyotika@seedsindia.org as well as our coordinator Ms. Mackinnon.

The network is only as good as its members - our commitment and dedication to see it evolve into an active network to improve our practices, ethics and performance.

On behalf of the steering committee - I wish all of you an enjoyable holiday season and a Happy New Year. May 2007 see a renewed spirit of commitment, friendship and partnership.

With warm regards
Jemilah