
The Case for Building Start Network’s Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) System in the Philippines: Webinar Presentation Decks
Start Network started piloting disaster risk financing (DRF) approaches to move from reacting to crises, to proactively managing risks, so that we can ensure faster, more efficient, and more effective locally-led humanitarian action. Disaster risk financing as defined by START Network (2021) integrates the elements of science-based risk modeling, contingency planning, and pre-agreed financing to prompt humanitarian funding in situations that meet the threshold. This session was conducted with the aim of achieving the following objectives:
- Introduce the DRF system build work for the Philippines;
- Share the outputs of completed DRF research studies to a public audience; and
- Ensure that START Network members, local CSO partners, and other stakeholders have a common understanding of the current baseline for the build-up of the DRF system in the Philippine context.
Background of the Sessions during the Webinar
Start Network supports inclusive locally-led structures to own, develop and implement financing strategies and systems in their contexts. In the Philippines, Start Network conducted studies to collect baseline information needed to establish a DRF system that is appropriate for the Philippine context. In this meeting, the outputs of three research studies on disaster risk management (DRM) financial flows, impact, vulnerability analysis, and gender mainstreaming will be shared to Start Network Members and local CSO partners in the Philippines.
- Financing Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines: A Three-Year Snapshot, 2018-2020
This study by a research team from the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute mapped the flow of funding for DRM in the Philippines from 2018 to 2020 to determine the gaps that can be addressed by developing a DRF mechanism. This study identified financing gaps geographically and hazards-wise and explored the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on DRM funding. Tracking the sources of annual financing to deal with disaster risks, both ex-ante and ex-post, allows for a better understanding of the scope of actionable DRM strategies by both government and non-government actors, especially for anticipatory action. - ‘What suits one may not suit the other’: A Vulnerability and Impact Analysis on flooding and severe winds caused by tropical cyclones
START Network members in the Philippines have identified severe winds and flooding caused by tropical cyclones as the most impactful hazards that have hit the country. This Vulnerability and Impact Analysis by a team from the Research Institute for Mindanao Culture identified the following: (1) the geographic and socio-economic extent of impacts of severe winds and flooding due to tropical cyclones in the Philippines; (2) the vulnerability factors and cross-sectoral issues related to tropical cyclones and (3) the existing community-based coping mechanisms that the humanitarian sector can leverage on. Through their analysis, three vulnerable areas (one each in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) were selected as focus study areas where the DRF Project can potentially be piloted. - Mainstreaming Gender and DRF: Experiences of Marginalized Gender Identities in Disasters in Rural/Urban Communities in the Philippines
In developing DRF models, it is important to highlight the need to mainstream gender and other intersectional identities in the planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluation process. Ensuring gender equality in DRF requires looking into its gendered dimensions with respect to intersectional identities. This research report by Practical Action Consulting on mainstreaming gender and disaster risk financing (DRF) documents the lived experiences of women, men, and other gender identities on disasters and their intersectional impact on their access to information, preparedness, and early action. It delves deep into their marginalized status and how the existing disaster risk reduction measures reach them and how these could provide opportunities for disaster risk financing. In these gendered dimensions of disaster risk financing, the study identified entry points on opportunities where gender can be effectively mainstreamed. - Start Ready
Start Ready is a new financial infrastructure recently launched by Start Network that will house a range of innovative crisis financing mechanisms, enabling faster, more efficient, and more effective global humanitarian action. Through risk pooling, it can provide predictable triggered funding at scale for foreseeable crises using innovative risk analysis, collective planning, scientific modeling, and pre-positioned financing.
Start Network is made up of more than 50 aid agencies across five continents, ranging from large international organizations to national NGOs. Together, our aim is to transform humanitarian action through innovation, fast funding, early action, and localization. Through the START Network, members and partners can quickly access funding for projects to save lives before a disaster strikes.