Hilton Prize Coalition Releases Film Highlighting Role of Development Organizations in Response to Nepal Earthquake

Heifer International is one of six development organizations featured in the Hilton Prize Coalition documentary, “On Shifting Ground.” The film highlights disaster relief efforts following the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015. The earthquake and aftershocks killed more than 8,000 people and injured nearly 21,000.

According to a release from the Hilton Prize Coalition, the film will premiere at Devex World 2016 in Washington, DC on June 14. Among those that mobilized staff and resources in the world’s response to the disaster were six Hilton Prize Coalition member organizations that were embedded in Nepal – BRAC, Handicap International, Heifer International, HelpAge, Operation Smile and SOS Children’s Villages. These organizations bridged the humanitarian divide between first responders and development agencies. Staff leveraged their longstanding history and roles in the impacted communities to achieve uniquely localized relief efforts, which helped to mitigate the long-term damage and loss of life.

Nine months after the disaster, these organizations came together under the Hilton Prize Coalition Storytelling Program to share their experiences both during and immediately following the earthquake. In February 2016, photojournalist and filmmaker Steve Connors traveled throughout Nepal to capture stories told by staff working on the ground. Supporting Mr. Connors was a crew comprised of individuals from the different Coalition member organizations. From this collaborative vantage point, the film provides a first-hand appraisal of the way these best-in-class development organizational structures stood up to disaster and brings attention to the issues around collaboration and the humanitarian-development divide.

The Coalition members conceived and produced the film in collaboration with one another. The process of storytelling itself revealed alignments between the participating organizations, which led to the initiation of a series of informal collaborations around program delivery and direct service. Post-production, the Coalition is now formalizing these efforts into a framework for collaboration between members that includes the placement of a Collaborative Fellow in Nepal to serve as a shared resource and the development of protocols for disaster relief and resiliency. As these collaborations develop, the Coalition will synthesize the lessons learned from both the disaster response in Nepal and the Storytelling Program to share with all its members as well as with the global NGO community.

If you would like to host a screening of the documentary, please contact Ann Canela at ann.canela@charity.org.

ABOUT THE HILTON PRIZE COALITION

The Hilton Prize Coalition is an independent alliance of the 20 winners of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. This network of best-in-class organizations works together to advance their unique missions and to realize significant collective impact in humanitarian assistance, human rights, development, education and health worldwide. The Coalition seeks to leverage the resources, talents and expertise of each of its members to better achieve their respective missions, to contribute experience and insight to the field through innovation, and to establish and document best practices and thought leadership to be shared with the global NGO and donor communities. The Coalition Hilton Prize Coalition An Alliance of Hilton Prize Recipients operates two Signature Programs: The Fellows Program seeks to develop a robust pipeline for future social sector leaders, while The Disaster Resiliency and Response Program seeks to create efficiencies and increase effectiveness in disaster response initiatives among Coalition member organizations. Governed by a Board comprised of the leaders of the Prize-winning organizations, the Coalition is led by the Executive Committee and Global Impact as its Secretariat. The Coalition receives generous support for operations from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

To learn more about the Hilton Prize Coalition, visit us at prizecoalition.charity.org, or contact prizecoalition@charity.org. Follow the Hilton Prize Coalition on Twitter and Instagram, or “Like” us on Facebook.

 ABOUT GLOBAL IMPACT

Global Impact is a leader in growing global philanthropy. The organization builds partnerships and raises resources that help the world’s most vulnerable people by providing integrated, partner-specific advisory and backbone services; campaign design, marketing and implementation for workplace and signature fundraising campaigns; and fiscal agency, technology services and integrated giving platforms. Global Impact works with nearly 450 public and private sector workplace giving campaigns to generate funding for an alliance of more than 120 international charities. Through strategic council and implementation support, Global Impact equips private sector and nonprofit organizations to achieve their philanthropic goals. The organization also serves as administrator for four of the world’s largest workplace giving campaigns, including the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA) and the Combined Federal Campaign-Overseas (CFC-O). Since 1956, Global Impact has generated more than $1.7 billion to help the world’s most vulnerable people. Follow us on Twitter. Like us on Facebook.

ABOUT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL

Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. For more than 70 years, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in about 30 countries, including the United States, to help families and communities become more self-reliant. Heifer’s Global Impact Goal is to help 4 million families achieve living incomes by 2020. For information, visit www.heifer.org, read our blog, follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @Heifer or call 888.5HUNGER (888.548.6437).