With funding from the Citi Foundation, Habitat for Humanity has launched a pioneering three-year savings program in disaster prone areas of the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Through partnerships with local savings institutions that will offer specially designed savings devices, the program will enable 3,000 low-income homeowners to save a total of $2 million to use towards home improvements and reducing their vulnerability to natural disasters. Participants will also have access to financial education and construction technical assistance. The long-term potential of this project is to develop scalable and sustainable savings models that can make significant impact in reducing risk in disaster prone areas.

The Citi Foundation supports the American Red Cross’ Annual Disaster Giving Program, which provides disaster preparedness, relief and reconstruction efforts in communities throughout the United States. This program allows the American Red Cross to provide immediate shelter, health services and other emergency and reconstruction assistance to those affected by the 70,000 disasters the institutions responds to each year. The program also enables the American Red Cross to build its internal capacity and those of its 700 locally supported chapters to respond effectively.

Since the May 2008 China earthquake, the Citi Foundation has partnered with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) to develop and implement a program that would rebuild the local economy and provide families with a sustainable livelihood. Through an innovative model addressing economic, social and environmental issues, the program helps low-income individuals to set up sustainable microenterprises that make use of the region’s bamboo resources, which have proven to be more earthquake-resistant and less expensive than traditional construction materials. Funds were targeted to Beichuan County, one of the hardest-hit areas near the earthquake’s epicenter. In 2009, a Bamboo Processing Center was established, providing 500 adults with training on bamboo processing technology, enterprise development and employment services. Over the last four years, the Citi Foundation has continued to support this initiative, which has now trained over 1,500 bamboo farmers in sustainable management practices and has built a bamboo training center to support the development of the local bamboo industry. The success of the program has won local and international recognition, and other regions are interested in replicating the model for post natural-disaster rehabilitation and recovery, as well as economic revitalization.