About GRDP

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

GRDP President Chris Hills meets with village members and elders in the Darfur region of Sudan to discuss critical community needs.

We live in an increasingly complex global environment and face seemingly insurmountable needs in the wake of poverty, disaster, and conflict. Historical models of charity and aid have become ineffective, while at the same time our post-9/11worldview have rapidly transformed. With the media and Hollywood spotlight on human suffering around the world, the public has become more attentive to complex humanitarian issues like never before.

We have also witnessed growth in the humanitarian field as numerous non-profit organizations and for-profit construction and engineering companies compete for government funding to rebuild devastated lives and communities. In the United States alone, billions of tax dollars are poured into such efforts with mixed results. The non-profits who understand community-based programs and seek to serve beneficiary needs have grown to rely on government funding… many times losing sight of their mandate and struggling to maintain their organizational infrastructure through unpredictable funding cycles. Large for-profit companies have applied their efficiencies and business capacities to large-scale reconstruction projects, but without any knowledge of cultural relevancy and without the interest of the vulnerable at the forefront of their work. Both approaches have come up short, with critical service gaps, tax dollars wasted, and the public left thinking there is no solution.

I am convinced that we must bridge these gaps between humanitarian organizations, private businesses, governments, funding angencies, and beneficiaries. How can we build strategic and creative partnerships among these players to more effectively utilize limited resources while truly serving the needs of affected communities? Can we connect the efficiencies and innovations of the business world to the community-based hearts of humanitarian agencies? How can we take all of these resources and truly empower communities devastated by poverty, conflict, and disaster to rebuild their own lives with sustainable solutions?

Finding practical answers to these questions is the very reason we launched GRDP as a non-profit consulting agency. My team and I are committed to reshaping the humanitarian aid paradigm through building capacities, establishing innovative partnerships, and bridging the gaps among all the players. I am truly interested in sitting down with you to discuss how GRDP can partner with you as we tackle this worthy challenge.

Regards,

Chris Hills

President