Case Study of Gotowi - Social resilience to threats

 

This will be a new part of my blog where we give an overview of organizations that are active in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, the Rio Conventions and the Sendai Framework.

It started because she wanted to feel safe

Agnieszka Kordalewska became interested in preparing for threats in 2014, when Russia initiated its military operations in Ukraine. It happened right on her doorstep, and escalation seemed only a matter of time.

Initially, in her preparations, Agnieszka often used websites of FEMA or ready.gov. At that time compendium of knowledge about threats did not exist in Poland.

Until one November evening in 2019, in a small room in the attic, the idea was born to create the first portal in Poland about preparing for disasters and threats. And then the need arose to share the portal and the acquired knowledge with others.

And so, almost 5 years ago, Agnieszka created the Gotowi.org Foundation, which she still manages. Shortly afterwards, the portal www.gotowi.org was created with a compendium of knowledge about all disasters and how to prepare for such situations and how to build one's resilience.

Social resilience to threats

From the beginning, the mission of the Gotowi.org was to prepare society for disasters and threats, and to build social resilience to emergency situations. After all, security is not given to us once and for all, although sometimes it seems otherwise.

Understanding global threats that result in local risks, Gotowi.org has been involved in cooperation with NGOs from around the world, as part of the GNDR, exchanging experiences and sharing knowledge.

In 2020 - 2021, with the support of the UNDRR office, Gotowi.org organized the International DRRDay, for the first time in Poland. Short presentations and thematic films about DRR were prepared. Gotowi.org reach approximately 1.2 million students in Poland with this message, in just 10 days. Thanks to this they know what threats may occur where they live, as well as how they can prepare for them.

In 2021, Gotowi.org established group of experts: officers, paramedics, sports coaches, educators, crisis management and civil defense specialists. In response to the needs of schools and local authorities in Poland, this team of Gotowi.org implements the educational program Preparedness Workshops and Decalogue of the Art of Survival. The projects are closely related to the funding obtained by Gotowi.org. To date, several thousand students, officials, educators, local communities have been trained, and recently, as part of the UNICEF project, also mothers and children of refugees from Ukraine.

At the end of 2021, the educational mission was completed by the design and production of the Emergency Backpack 17 (www.the17bag.com) - the idea of which was created back in 2017, also in a small room in the attic. Profits from the sale of the Emergency Backpack support our educational activities. However, often happens, that we work pro publico bono, we are happy to share our knowledge and experience with others, especially among children and young people.

In May 2022, Agnieszka with Gotowi.org joined 7th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) held in Bali, Indonesia, a conference organized by UNDRR. Agnieszka suggestion made there to move "From knowledge to action" is currently being implemented.

In 2022 and 2023, Gotowi.org organized the Central Preparedness Workshops. Each year, the event gathered over 1,000 participants in less than 5 hours. Practical workshops were organized on creating emergency plans, a safe home, self-defense exercises, medical rescue, emergency kits and safe use of weapons. The participants were older and younger, families with children and single people. Everyone was delighted and thanked us for the valuable workshops that were missing in Poland.

In 2023 and 2024, the Polish government appreciated the Emergency Backpack 17 and we co- created the Polish National Pavilion at DIHAD in Dubai. In April 2024, Emergency Backpack 17 was nominated by a group of independent experts, for the Teraz Polska award.

Agnieszka Kordalewska with Gotowi.org is not slowing down. Soon, in mid-May 2024, the first DRR Expo in Europe will take place in Frankfurt, to which Agnieszka was invited as a Keynote Speaker. This is where she will present 10 steps to building resistance to threats, an educational program of Gotowi.org.

Gotowi.org, thanks to Agnieszka involvement in GNDR and the UNDRR Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism (SEM) NGO Major Group, carries its mission to the world. Because the fact is, that we live in difficult times, and the geopolitical situation and the effects of climate change affect communities all over the world. It is difficult to change this fact. It is much easier to take matters into your own hands and prepare for possible disasters and emergencies. The best with Gotowi.org!

Agnieszka Kordalewska – expert in the field of finance, with unique 36 years of professional experience, focused on business security. Since 2014, he has been working to build resilience to threats. Since 2019, he has been a member of the UNDRR Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism (SEM). From January 2024, she was elected to the position of Co-Focal Point of the UNDRR SEM NGO Major Group, for a two-year term volunteer work.