Global Emergency Relief, Recovery & Reconstruction

10/29/2026

“I am not working in an unfamiliar community and then going home somewhere else. This is where I am from.”

One year after Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica, Tian Smith reflects on rebuilding her own home in Black River while helping other families rebuild theirs.

Tian joined GER³ shortly after the hurricane as our first local team member in Jamaica. Now a Lead Projects Officer, she shares how her own experience shaped her work, why local knowledge matters, and what it means to support recovery in the communities she calls home.

GER³’s debris and shelter programs in Jamaica were implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration - IOM Kingston

Read Tian’s story: https://www.ger3.org/latest/stories/how-hurricane-melissa-changed-my-life-and-led-me-to-help-others…

Tian Smith shares how she rebuilt her own home after Hurricane Melissa while helping families across Jamaica recover through GER³.

10/21/2026

Hundreds of homes repaired after Hurricane Melissa. Thousands of cubic meters of debris cleared. But nearly a year later, those numbers tell only part of the story.

In our latest Opinion piece, GER³ Program Manager, Nickles Saintil, reflects on what the response achieved, the people behind those results, and why the work in Jamaica is not finished.

Read Nickles’ reflections:

Nickles Saintil reflects on Hurricane Melissa recovery in Jamaica & what GER³ learned about community-led recovery and safer rebuilding.

09/29/2026

What does it take to turn a school basement into a safe bomb shelter in Ukraine?

From reinforced walls and specialist ventilation to evacuation routes, accessibility and complex construction approvals, each project requires careful technical assessment and design.

Our latest Insight looks at how GER³ engineers and technical teams transform existing school basements into safe, accessible bomb shelters for students.

Read the full Insight:

Inside the technical, legal and design process of transforming school basements into safe, accessible bomb shelters for students in Ukraine.

09/10/2026

On the first day of the new school year, GER3 Ukraine Country Director Anna Grace Calhoun and team visited two schools in Chernihivska oblast, including a GER3-rehabilitated school shelter in Bakhmach, where she was joined by Matthias Schmale, UNOCHA’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine.

In her latest story, Anna Grace reflects on the challenges schools continue to face and why investing in safe, accessible education infrastructure is an investment in Ukraine’s future.

Read the full story here:

See how GER³ is rehabilitating school bomb shelters in Ukraine so children can learn safely during air alerts & return to in-person education.

09/01/2026

Want to stay closer to GER3’s work?

Subscribe to our newsletter for updates from the field, stories from the communities we support, and a closer look at our relief, recovery and reconstruction work around the world.

Sign up here:

By entering your details and clicking “Subscribe,” you agree to receive email updates from GER³ about our programs, impact, and ways to support our mission. You can unsubscribe at any time.

07/24/2026

It may be summer, but in Ukraine our winter preparedness is well underway. Starting early means we can provide assistance before the cold becomes too intense.

Our first step is always to listen. To understand what’s truly essential for surviving the winter, we surveyed 146 households, held 2 focus group discussions and interviewed local leadership across targeted villages.

Then - data analysis, program design and registering people to receive support 🤝

07/22/2026

The work to build back better in Ukraine continues with our latest project supported by the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.

Essential repairs to homes, health clinics and water systems will provide over 22,000 people in Khersonska and Kharkivska oblasts with restored access to critical services.

Thank you to our national partners CO CF DISTRICT #1 and Громадська організація «Спільна справа для людей» for working alongside us to get the job done!

06/03/2026

A school bomb shelter can change a child’s future. Our new urgent appeal aims to help rehabilitate 10 school bomb shelters in frontline communities across Ukraine, because every child deserves the chance to learn safely.

Donate via the link in our bio.

05/18/2026

Through one of Ukraine’s most intense cold seasons, GER3 conducted another successful winterization project, working with partner .foundation to reach 2,657 vulnerable people with firewood and/or insulation support.

We piloted new approaches, allowing us to:

✅ Register beneficiaries in the summer, carefully identifying those most in need of assistance and purchasing firewood at lower off-season prices
✅ Deliver all firewood within the first 2 months of the project
✅ Compete our largest number of insulated homes to date, despite working between snow storms

The people we supported felt the difference, reporting high levels of satisfaction and emphasizing the program’s critical impact in keeping them safe and warm.

05/15/2026

This week, GER3 joined partner Spilna Sprava () to register people in need of humanitarian home repairs. To qualify, homes must:

1) Have war damage to their windows, doors and/or roofs.
2) Belong to vulnerable people, such as elderly people, internally displaced people and large families.

Assessments took place in Kharkiv oblast, where homes have been significantly affected by artillery and aerial attacks.

Without a safe, enclosed living space, people’s lives continue to lack stability, as they face day to day challenges with things like staying warm or keeping their homes dry inside.

For those who have already endured the many hardships of living through war - forced relocation, destruction of their homes, loss of loved ones - home repairs are a foundational step in the recovery process.