empowered collaboration
At the heart of the experience of displacement is the sense that one is without a place to be. The reconstitution of order depends on the reestablishment of a health-promoting habitat and affirmation of each person’s sense of belonging to that place. Success in accomplishing these tasks can be measured by the following criteria: 1. People live in a “good enough” place; 2. People feel settled in home, neighborhood and region; 3. People contribute to caretaking of the personal and shared portions of the environment; 4. People know their neighbors and interact with them to solve problems. To achieve these goals a series of steps a required, a strategy called empowered collaboration. At the outset, people must conduct a detailed assessment of the environment. On the basis of that assessment, they can create a list of priorities to guide the assignment of resources. Where displaced people lack sufficient resources of their own, negotiations with unaffected communities should be initiated. The next step is for people to start working together on rebuilding activities of all kinds. While the rebuilding is going forward, people must also attend to emotional needs to mourn the lost place and to bond to the new place. Rituals from the old place, as well as rituals from the new place, are essential to this process. (Fullilove, 2013, 56)