Disasters and climate change disproportionately affect women more than men due to less access and control over resources and opportunities that can lead to more resilient lives and livelihoods. Social and cultural gender norms and expectations may also affect their level of participation in formal spaces where decisions are made on community disaster preparedness and management. (Robles et al., 2019)

Disaster risk management programs and interventions may also not address the gender-specific needs and capacities of the community, which may reinforce gender inequalities and increase the vulnerabilities of women. Increasing women’s participation and leadership in disaster risk planning and management ensures that their capacities are considered, and their needs are addressed.

One of the goals of the Philippines: Increasing the Resilience to Natural Hazards (INCREASE) project, is to strengthen the disaster preparedness and risk reduction capacities of communities through creating resilient livelihoods for poor female-headed households. It aims to help women gain social recognition and increase their involvement in decision-making processes in the community. The project is guided by CARE’s Gender Equality Framework (Figure 1) which posits that in order to improve gender equality, interventions should aim to build the agency of women, change the power relations through which they live their lives, and transform social, political, and economic structures that affect their lives. (CARE, 2020)

The INCREASE Project, led by CARE Philippines, was implemented with local partners Agri-Aqua Development Coalition Mindanao (AADC Mindanao), Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development, Inc. (ACCORD), Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDis RDS), and Leyte Center for Development, Inc. (LCDE). INCREASE is also guided by the Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Framework which combines strategies from Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), and Ecosystem Management and Restoration (EMR) to increase community resilience.

This research brief presents the INCREASE Project’s key strategies, challenges and lessons learned in promoting women’s meaningful participation and leadership in managing livelihoods and community resilience-building.]

View and download the full document here.

Floods, typhoons, and other extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change and the deterioration of natural environments. These hazards can turn into disasters which have devastating impacts on at-risk communities especially those whose livelihoods are dependent on natural resources like those in the agriculture and fisheries sector (FAO, 2011).

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR, 2017) defines disaster as “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.”

Correspondingly, CARE determined that disaster risk depends on the likelihood and severity of the hazard, vulnerability of people and assets, and the capacity of individuals and communities (Figure 1) (Dulce et al., 2020). Disasters can reduce a community’s capabilities and assets to maintain their livelihoods by destroying their physical, human, financial, natural, and social capital. They often cause destruction of infrastructure, such as roads, irrigation facilities, and docks, that negatively affect economic activities. This is often exacerbated in poor communities where cheap and less durable construction materials, like recycled wood or corrugated galvanized iron sheets (yero), are used. Disasters also lead to decreased human capital through death, injury, and disease. (Jacobsen et al., 2011)

However, it is important to understand that not all hazards result in disaster. Hazards turn into disasters when:

1. It affects the majority of a community’s population.
2. It affects a vulnerable community and disrupts their daily activities and livelihoods.
3. A community does not have enough capacity to recover on its own and requires external aid. (Dulce et al., 2020)

Research brief 2 Incorporating Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Sustainable Livelihoods

This Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) material was used during the COVID-19 Emergency WASH Assistance to Conflict and Earthquake Affected Communities in Mindanao funded by USAID.

To view and download the full document in TAGALOG, please click here. 

To view and download the full document in MARANAO, please click here. 

INTRODUCTION

Gender equality matters for both the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the Open Government Partnership (OGP). All citizens have a right to participate in the public life of their society, but different groups of citizens face different barriers to doing so. Women, non-binary individuals, and LGBTQIA+ actors historically faced systematic exclusion from public decision-making processes and continue to be widely under-represented across the world. Further, women, non-binary individuals, and LGBTQIA+ actors often have different needs and experiences of government and public services, and therefore may prioritize different things from their governments and service providers. Intersectionalities across gender, sexual identity, age, race, ethnicity, ability, location, and access can further discrimination and limit voice and access to vital services.

However, the important priorities and needs of these communities are often poorly understood and under-supported. Diverse, substantive participation in governance processes like OGP and its action plan co-creation processes strengthens both the legitimacy and effectiveness of these mechanisms, truly broadening the base of participation.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) that work across gender equality and equity issues are an important democratic mechanism for aggregating, representing, and applying pressure to secure the interests of women, non-binary individuals, and LGBTQIA+ actors. OGP coordination bodies need to actively facilitate a range of these CSOs and social movement actors to participate in the co-creation of OGP action plans, if it is to harness the ideas and expertise of diverse citizens, and be relevant to their needs and priorities.

The Feminist Open Government (FOGO) Initiative was created to generate research, data, and practical tools to support OGP members in better using OGP as a mechanism to advance gender equality. This Gender Toolkit was produced based on several pieces of research that started under the FOGO Initiative and has continued within OGP’s broader gender and inclusion efforts.

The use of the tools can be facilitated by an OGP government or civil society stakeholder, a third-party facilitator, or a resource person with gender expertise. A third-party facilitator may be best able to explain concepts to participants, ask probing questions to prompt deeper thinking, moderate the discussion to surface different points of view, and facilitate consensus around actions to be taken after the tools are used.

Note that this toolkit will reference women, girls, non-binary individuals, and LGBTQIA+ actors as specific stakeholders to engage and consult throughout co-creation and implementation. This will also appear as “gender equality actors” for shorthand. These categories are not comprehensive, and there are overlapping identities and intersectionalities within and across these groups that greatly impact voice, agency, and access. None of these groups are a monolith, and diverse consultation is needed across identities and experience to better ensure open government approaches serve a diversity of citizens.

To view and download the full document, please click here. 

Plan International Philippines, Action Against Hunger, and CARE Philippines, and its local partners ACCORD and Nisa Ul Haqq Fi Bangsamoro continue to build resilience among the urban poor communities and local government units in Mindanao through the adoption, consolidation, dissemination, and handover of urban resilience strategies developed under the past four (4) phases of the European Union Humanitarian Aid-funded MOVE UP projects. The project builds on its constantly evolving urban resilience model through AlternativeTemporary Shelter System, Resilient Livelihood, and shock-responsive social protection by integrating Anticipatory Action and Rapid Response Mechanisms.A strong advocacy component at all levels of administration will support the replication and scaling up of these strategies.

Read and download the full project briefer here.

ABOUT THIS PROCESS MANUAL

BACKGROUND
The MOVE UP 4 Mindanao Project with the help of various stakeholders, carried out two closely linked studies as stated hereunder:

1. Review of Vulnerability Criteria and Indicators in Targeting the Most Vulnerable and At-Risk Urban Poor in LGUs’ Social Protection Programs in Mindanao.
2. Assessment of Shock-Responsive, Resilient, and Sustainable Livelihood Options and Modalities for Urban Poor Households in Mindanao.

These studies were able to uncover various
international standards, national and local policies, plans, principles and practices on livelihoods and livelihood interventions. The two studies reaffirmed claims of various studies the intersections of vulnerabilities from various risks faced by the livelihood ecosystem in Mindanao. The landscape in all the areas covered are characterized by being volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). Also, it was pointed out that in all areas, there is still a low level of capacity across the livelihood stakeholders in promoting and strengthening shock-responsive, resilient, and sustainable livelihood options despite the existence of international and national, and local players investing huge resources and implementing various interventions. The persistence of “disabling” livelihood coping mechanisms and strategies of the primary stakeholders are manifestations of such low capacity.

PURPOSES OF THE PROCESS MANUAL
This Manual is consisting of four (4) interrelated chapters: I. Introduction to Livelihoods and MSMEs; II. Profiling and Calculating Livelihood Risks and Hazards; III. Livelihood Assets and Market Assessment; and IV. Livelihood Resilience Development and Management. Chapter I provides the most straightforward and important concepts and frameworks for understanding livelihoods and MSMEs, and the necessity to blend the two technical concepts as instruments for addressing or reducing vulnerabilities of urban communities. Chapters II to IV provide frameworks, principles, and steps in promoting and strengthening livelihoods as enterprises and livelihood interventions going beyond integration into local governance processes.

Specifically, the purposes of this manual are the following:

1. To ensure that livelihoods and livelihood interventions are risk-informed, culturally appropriate, conflict-sensitive, and are adequately targeting the most vulnerable and at-risk urban population.
2. To adopt modern and innovative approaches that are usually applied in complex and chaotic contexts.
3. To guide all the livelihood stakeholders in a detailed manner emphasizing the mutuality of their roles in every stage of livelihood development and management.

INTENDED USERS
The simple ‘how-to” guidelines described in this manual are the results of careful selection and amalgamation of various international, national, subnational, and local frameworks and standards. Amalgamating these frameworks and standards was geared towards considering a wide range of intended users, especially the primary stakeholders and LGUs in Mindanao. The Manual is a multidisciplinary tool. Therefore, the tool could be more useful if a team with multidisciplinary background is co-owning the complex vulnerability issues towards cocreating innovative solutions pointing to shock-responsive, resilient, and sustainable livelihoods.

View and download the full document here.

MOVE UP- Mindanao is funded by the EU Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid and is implemented by a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which include CARE Philippines, ACCORD Incorporated, Plan International Philippines, and Action Against Hunger Philippines.

The MOVE UP Resilient Livelihood Full Module is composed of 9 modules on various topics to help urban poor communities build more capacities. The modules were written based on the project’s wide experience in community-based enterprise development.

View and download the full document here.

Held last 21st December, the Gabi ng Pasasalamat 2021 is a partner appreciation awards night by the Local Government Academy where the Moving Urban Poor Communities toward Resilience (MOVE UP) Mindanao Project, among other distinguished organizations, received a Partner Appreciation Certificate under the NextGen CapDev Accelerator Award at the Manila Hotel.

In recent months, the DILG-Local Government Academy capacity development initiatives such as webinar executive sessions for newly elected officials (NEO WES) and L!stong Ugnayan Sessions have served as avenues for the MOVE UP Mindanao Project, in collaboration with the Resilience and Innovation Learning Hub, to build capacities and advocate tested urban resilience strategies among local governments and other stakeholders.

This video was created as a part of the event’s virtual tour available to online attendees.

This video will be presented during the Pacific Resilience Meeting 2021 in a session that aims to share insights around the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the Pacific and to trigger reflection on recent research initiatives that look at where are biggest challenges and opportunities are across policy, legislation and community practice.

Mariedel “Dhel” Barbin is the Secretary of Barangay Potrero in Malabon City, Philippines. Barangay Potrero is a project area of the Moving Urban Poor Communities toward Resilience (MOVE UP) Project and the Partners for Resilience Project funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid. Read more at https://rilhub.org/2020/09/29/communi…