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Re-Alliance is a global network of regenerative practitioners working in the humanitarian and development sectors. Find out more about us. About Re-Alliance Re-Alliance is a coalition of field practitioners, policymakers, educators, community leaders and humanitarian and development workers, sharing skills and experience to grow the influence and impact of regenerative development in the humanitarian field. Its work focuses on regenerative development and its response to disaster and displacement. We ask the question, how can we create long-term resilience and abundance while responding to immediate humanitarian crises? Profiled work showcases the restoration and revitalisation of social and ecological systems which integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature. Through the solidarity of valuing and elevating the existing regenerative practices of its membership, the alliance seeks to share and develop knowledge and extend awareness beyond the group to stimulate further practice. It aims to increase the expertise of the independent members by sharing learning between researchers and practitioners, and to build a collective voice for cross-sector influence and impact. Re-Alliance was registered with the UK Charity Commission as a charity in April 2020 and its charity number is 1188936. History During the 2018 Lush Spring Prize , a group of judges and practitioners facilitating innovative projects identified a desire to unite practitioners across the field of regenerative development and integrated humanitarian response. Talking and researching further, gaps were identified for making this work more effective. The gaps concerned the collection of evidence for this pioneering work; the possibility to influence and give legitimacy to this approach with funders and policy makers and; the capacity for transformation at scale. There are many good examples of effective methods being applied across the globe, which use regenerative approaches to humanitarian and development work but, to date, these have not entered the mainstream. We are committed to taking a coordinated and systematic approach to recording evidence and influencing funders and policy makers that impact large scale humanitarian and development interventions. Groundbreaking practitioners are successfully working in the application of regenerative development in the humanitarian and development fields. As pioneers, they often have limited time to record evidence; have limited resources to scale; and a limited platform to share their innovations. To address these limitations, there is a need for mutual support, learning and collaboration, as well as a need to build the evidence base, unlock funds, and communicate powerful stories of regenerative change. This pioneering work then becomes visible and legitimate both at the grassroots level and within the establishment, which enables the growth of its influence and impact. Our Mission Our mission is to strengthen a coalition of field practitioners, policy makers, educators, community leaders, and development and humanitarian workers, sharing skills and experiences to grow the influence and impact of regenerative development in the humanitarian field. We do this by: - Providing an environment for mutual learning and support amongst those active on the field, - Building a body of evidence and stories to communicate the effectiveness, authenticity and value of regenerative work, - Leveraging support and funding from large relief organisations toward regenerative groups and practices, and, - Focussing on the intersections between disaster and displacement, sustainable and innovative community-led regeneration. Our working principles include: Affected communities first Ensuring that profiled work is of benefit to people experiencing disaster and displacement, the surrounding communities and the natural environment in which the work is being undertaken. We have a small team with lean administration costs, aiming to direct any funds we accumulate toward maximum effectiveness. Integrity Ensuring integrity through use of sociocratric principles which enable robust, defensible and inclusive decision making. Openness, transparency and sharing All of the work we do is promoted openly, in order to grow the legitimacy of regenerative practices. Support Embodying care and support for all those in contact with Re-Alliance.

Support Re-Alliance Help Re-Alliance to showcase a new, regenerative vision for the Humanitarian and Development sectors Donate Contact us Thank you very much for your interest in supporting Re-Alliance. With your donation, we can continue our integral work of convening, supporting and showcasing innovative regenerative solutions to humanitarian challenges and development interventions. We work through four interconnected core areas: The Learning work-stream supports the creation and sharing of practical, accessible learning resources. These materials are made in partnership with our members with lived experience of the issues, and are designed to serve both community-based practitioners and humanitarian organisations. Through guides, courses and peer learning learning spaces, we help regenerative approaches become more widely understood, trusted and applied in crisis and recovery contexts. 📖 Support the Learning Fund, here . The Innovation work-stream enables practitioners and communities to trial, research and refine regenerative practices in humanitarian contexts. Working alongside our partners, we support the experimentation and reflection from implementing small or larger scale innovations, always with in integrated regenerative perspective. Through the Innovation work-stream, we showcase how locally-rooted solutions can inform wider systems and policies. 🌀 Support the Innovation Fund, here . The Storytelling work-stream supports grassroots practitioners to share their stories in participatory and meaningful ways. Through our network of community correspondents and media spaces, we help ensure that the voices, experiences and wisdom of those most affected by crisis are heard, valued and able to help influence change. 🎥 Support the Storytelling Fund, here . Alongside these core areas of work, we have a support and facilitation circle which focuses on nurturing the movement. This includes supporting peer connection, growing partnerships, and holding the facilitation of Re-Alliance. We see this as tending to the soil of Re-Alliance, which allows our programmes and partnerships to grow. It's essential work, but often underfunded. If you would like to support us in a flexible and unrestricted way, please contact us or donate through our flexible fund here. 🤝 Support the whole of Re-Alliance's work, here . Feel free to contact us if you would like to transfer directly into our bank account, or for larger donations. Re-Alliance is an international network, and is registered as a UK charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number: 1188936) . Donate Contact us Organisational Sponsorship Are you part of an ecologically minded for-profit organisation? We would love to discuss sponsorship and partnership opportunities with you. We offer training and webinars on Permaculture, regenerative design and other topics for staff of organisations who sponsor Re-Alliance. Sponsors will also receive invitations to our invite-only bi-monthly webinars. We are also grateful to organisations who choose to recommend Re-Alliance on a staff Payroll Giving or pay-as-you-earn donation scheme. Please contact us for more information. Other ways of supporting Re-Alliance Re-Alliance and our members gratefully welcomes other support and volunteering. Re-Alliance works with writers, researchers, film-makers, artists and many others to collate and present high quality information about regenerative design in the humanitarian and development fields. We would be happy to work with you. Re-Alliance is also able to work with Masters and PhD researchers, and many of our members are happy to accommodate with research work. Thank you again, and we look forward to partnering with you. Donate Contact us

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Create raised beds with capillary-fed watering systems, for water-stressed or drought-prone regions. < Back Wicking Beds Create raised beds with capillary-fed watering systems, for water-stressed or drought-prone regions. Donate to Re-Alliance Stay updated with our newsletter Download for free: English عربي Swahili Español Português Français

< back Date of completion: 1 Jan 2023 Lime-Stabilised Soil Building in Cox's Bazar Disaster resistant eco-buildings made from locally sourced materials in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Re-Alliance founding member and natural building specialist Bee Rowan, collaborating with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and a group of refugee Rohingya peoples living in Cox's Bazar, undertook a Lime-stabilised Soil building project. Lime-Stabilised Soil (LSS) is a sustainable, eco-friendly building material composed of a mixture of soil, lime, and other natural materials. LSS building is a low-carbon and cost-effective strategy, making it an effective, locally sourced solution for many displacement contexts. In Cox's Bazar, prone to disasters such as flooding and fires, LSS buildings are shown to be more resilient to fires, floods, and extreme heatwaves. To test Lime-stabilised Soil technology’s effectiveness compared to conventional building materials like cements, the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, was chosen as the test site. This area frequently faces crises of monsoon floods, cyclones, fires, and heatwaves. Existing shelters often fail to withstand these climate-related disasters, leaving the camp community highly vulnerable. The team created effective Lime-stabilised Soil mixes using local subsoil collected from 11 different camps. Using this new material, a fire resilience test was conducted to explore its potential as a fire-resistant material. The results were positive. While a traditional shelter burned down in just five minutes, the LSS-plastered shelter remained intact after 20 minutes of direct fire exposure. This experiment demonstrated the material’s effectiveness as a firebreak in a real-life scenario. Beyond fire resistance, LSS has also shown superior compressive wet strength and thermal performance, which helps shelters cope with heavy rains, flooding, and intense heatwaves. The efforts to showcase LSS technology quickly gained support, leading to wider scaling and adoption. IOM received additional funding to build over 2,000 LSS shelters across the camp. Also, large agencies including UNHCR and Caritas adopted the technology, resulting in a pilot of 51 LSS shelters. Moreover, this project has received approval from the Bangladesh government to increase the use of LSS in the camp. Lime-stabilised Soil has strong potential as a future technology for shelters in displacement contexts worldwide. Already, approximately 300 Rohingya refugees were trained in shelter construction and have begun training groups. Continued interest and commitment to Lime-stabilised Soil building will help reduce reliance on conventional, unsustainable materials, providing safer and more resilient shelters in vulnerable communities globally. For more information, visit this blog .

Regenerative Camps and Settlement Projects for Refugees and IDP communities following disaster and Displacement Current Project: Regenerative Camps & Settlements Great oaks from little acorns grow: from pilots to system-change. A £191,000 project over 3 years aiming to increase the impact and influence of regenerative solutions to disaster and displacement. Over the next three years, Re-Alliance will be working on our ‘Regenerative Camps and Settlements' project. The project will pilot regenerative interventions within formal and informal camps for refugees and IDPs. The learnings from the projects will inform our wider research into regenerative responses to disaster and displacement and create content for further learning materials and knowledge sharing aimed at promoting grass-roots, community led interventions and influencing mainstream INGO activities. 1 st Funding round May 2022 41 applications received 8 projects selected In May 2022, we held our first round of funding and selected eight projects from the 41 applications received. A second round of funding is planned for 2023. The local partners selected have begun implementing change-making regenerative programmes to trial innovations which benefit local communities and the natural environment. The projects aim to enhance multiple systems, increasing the health of social, ecological and economic systems together. These projects aim to work in an integrated way to break down the traditional silos between sectors. We will have a second round of funding in 2023 when we intend to fund projects focusing on energy and communication. This round of projects include: 3 Integrated Sanitation Projects (Nakivale Uganda, Lebanon and Kakuma Kenya) Although the concept of dry and compost toilets is now understood and has been adopted in some camp settings, widespread uptake is limited because, in part, the benefits of resource creation are not understood and therefore systems are not maintained and valued. We have partnered with local groups with a focus and understanding of soil health, nutrient cycles and food growing. By integrating various designs of composting toilets with amending soils for plant growth we aim to create projects which thrive at the intersection between WASH and Livelihoods creating multiple benefits to both areas. 3 Urban Agriculture (Cameroon, Gaza and Athens) Urban agriculture increases access to healthy, affordable, fresh food and gives communities a chance to learn about nutrition and growing food. More than this, it gives people who have been uprooted from their homes purposeful, therapeutic activity. By growing and cooking favourite foods, a taste of home can be created in a new place while tiny green spaces enrich the environment and biodiversity of cities. Reducing the amount of food families have to buy increases resilience and reduces the amount of food that needs to be imported into cities at high carbon costs. The projects supported also integrate the use of upcycled and recycled materials and seed saving to reduce inputs and create regenerative cycles. Lime Stabilised Soil construction (Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh) If concrete was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of CO2 in the world. Lime Stablised soil is a viable alternative to concrete with similar cost, strength and adaptability benefits but with a fraction of the carbon footprint. Following disasters, huge rebuilding programmes often utilise concrete for rapid rebuilding, but lime stabilised soil has been shown to have greater benefits as it allows for the use of on-site materials (soil) and reduces the need for imported materials. It therefore minimises costs, carbon and resource demands and reduces construction traffic by avoiding transport of excavated and imported materials. Lime stabilisation is established practice with a proven history of successful use internationally but cement is still the first choice by many engineers in part because of the knowledge gap of use. Lime Stablised soil could be particularly useful in projects in Cox’s Bazar, because the use of concrete is often prohibited by the authorities for political reasons. Lime could be a viable alternative to concrete without compromising on strength and safety and help the Rohingha communities build durable paths and settlements, 1 Camp Composting (Nakivale: Uganda) Closing the nutrient cycle by converting food waste into compost is a fundamental tool in turning human activity from an extractive to regenerative process. This project works at the intersection between waste management, livelihoods and health. Composting schemes such as this reduce waste management costs, enrich soils to enable healthy food to be grown and increase the health and biodiversity of the soil. Healthy soils sequester more carbon, absorb more water during heavy rainfall and facilitate organic food growing due to increased nutrient content. Anchor 1

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Join the Re-Alliance membership to access a vibrant network of regenerative thinkers from around the world. As part of our network, whether a grassroots practitioner or a policymaker in a big international NGO, you will have access to dynamic knowledge, a vibrant and active community of experts, and a wealth of opportunities for collaboration. Joining Re-Alliance's Membership Contact us Request to join Re-Alliance is a coalition of field practitioners, policymakers, educators, community leaders, and humanitarian and development workers. Our mission is to advance and showcase regenerative practice across the sectors of humanitarianism and development, particularly in the context of development, disaster and displacement. We work with our members to build an evidence base showcasing regenerative projects, to create mutually beneficial connections, to facilitate peer to peer knowledge sharing as well as influencing larger scale agencies and big, international NGOs (BINGOs). While our website and social media channels share information that is fully open to all, Re-Alliance members have exclusive access to a network of experienced practitioners working on the ground in a variety of capacities, as well as a variety of members-only materials. Become a member of Re-Alliance As part of our network, whether a grassroots practitioner or a policymaker in a BINGO, you will have access to dynamic knowledge, a vibrant and active community of experts and a wealth of opportunities for collaboration. Our membership is open to all, the only requirements are interest and expertise in regenerative design, experience in the humanitarian and/or development sectors, and a willingness to comply with our code of conduct and policies. Member benefits include: The ability to connect with a global network of regenerative specialists Exclusive access to learning opportunities Inclusion of your organisation’s details on our website Exclusive member communications Access to invite-only meetings and webinars The opportunity to host webinars or propose topics Eligibility for members-only funding opportunities Consultancy and collaboration opportunities Having your work featured in our growing evidence base of regenerative design Please note that we are a networking and learning organisation, not a funding organisation. We cannot accept request for funding. Request to join form View membership request form

A study looking at the impact of new and previously established gardens in Cox's Bazar refugee camps on people's well-being and nutrition, as well as the costs and benefits of the different approaches used. < Back Growing in Crisis: The costs, benefits and transformative potential of food growing in Cox's Bazar A study looking at the impact of new and previously established gardens in Cox's Bazar refugee camps on people's well-being and nutrition, as well as the costs and benefits of the different approaches used. Donate to Re-Alliance Stay updated with our newsletter Download for free: English

< Back Juliet Millican Coordinator Juliet is an educationalist who has worked for 25 years in international development, humanitarian response and the field of conflict and peacebuilding. She is committed to the facilitation of transformational change in individuals, communities and societies to enable us to live in ways that respect the integrity of nature and the broader eco-system of which we are a part. She has worked in academia, in NGOs and in the design and management of action oriented research, and is concerned to make knowledge accessible and to bring together different forms of academic, practitioner and community knowledge to address the pressing problems of our time.

< Back Ansiima Casinga Rolande Correspondent and Regenerative Settlements Storyteller Ansiima Casinga Rolande is committed to nurturing a culture that regenerates both people and the planet. With a background in community education, permaculture, and regenerative project design, she works at the intersection of peace, growth, systems change, and cultural transformation. Based in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda, Rolande founded FOLONA (For the Love of Nature), an initiative rooted in ecological learning, intergenerational storytelling, and women’s empowerment. Her work explores how compassionate communication and local knowledge can reconnect communities with the Earth and with each other. At Re-Alliance, she focuses on sharing regenerative stories from throughout the network, and especially the Regenerative Settlement in Nakivale.

< back Date of completion: 1 Jun 2023 Regesoil: Community Composting Collective community composting sites in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. Unidos Projects, led by Paulinho Muzaliwa, work in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. With Re-Alliance, they established a community composting project aimed at collectively composting food scraps using traditional composting as well as vermicomposting. Collective composting sites mean that communities can come together to cycle their organic waste, turning it into nutrient-rich compost. Not only does this reduce waste, but it also enhances soil quality on Permaculture food growing sites throughout Nakivale. Unidos hosted educational workshops and hands-on training sessions, empowering residents with knowledge on composting techniques and the benefits of organic waste recycling. This work built community involvement and partnership, empowering residents to actively participate in the maintenance and operation of the composting sites.