The briefer aims at familiarizing INCREASE target communities with the definition and characteristics of Integrated Risk Management (IRM). It also contains the CARE IRM Framework and the elements in increasing resilience. The content was written in local language for easier understanding of community members. This will be printed in a flyer and distributed as supplementary information material for INCREASE activities.

Click on images in the gallery below to enlarge and download this resource.

INCREASE or “Philippines – Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards” aims to increase the resilience of 45,00 women and men small scale farmers and fishers, including 720 extremely poor female-headed households, to natural hazards and the effect of climate change. The project will run from 2019-2021 in different parts of the Philippines, namely 36 barangays across 8 municipalities in the provinces of Cagayan, Mt. Province, Northern Samar, and Surigao del Sur. Its project components and activities include early warning systems, alternative livelihood, and climate and disaster governance.

Among the key activities of INCREASE Project is the farmer field business school (FFBS). To aid local partners in implementing the FFBS, this briefer was created to summarize the definition, characteristics, elements, and step-by-step process of FFBS. It is hoped that through this briefer, the women and men farmers will know the basics of FFBS and will be able to also use it to further inform other farmers in their community..

Click on images in the gallery below to enlarge and download this resource.

INCREASE or “Philippines – Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards” aims to increase the resilience of 45,00 women and men small scale farmers and fishers, including 720 extremely poor female-headed households, to natural hazards and the effect of climate change. The project will run from 2019-2021 in different parts of the Philippines, namely 36 barangays across 8 municipalities in the provinces of Cagayan, Mt. Province, Northern Samar, and Surigao del Sur. Its project components and activities include early warning systems, alternative livelihood, and climate and disaster governance.

Research Background

In the Bangsamoro region of the Philippines, FGM/C is commonly called ‘pag sunnat’ (‘sunnat’ refers to the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, that constitute a model for Muslims to follow) or ‘pag Islam,’ connoting that the practice is deeply connected to the Islamic faith. In Moro (Muslim) communities in the region, the procedure is typically performed on females between 3-4 years old or before their first menstruation (menarche).

It is usually initiated by an elderly, female TBA or ‘panday’. In other areas, she may be a ‘pakil’, a respected woman who cleanses Muslim women’s bodies before the final burial takes place and recites Qur’anic verses during the rituals.

The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, 200 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM/C, and each year, an additional 3 million girls are at risk.4 FGM/C has no health benefits, and may even result in serious immediate and long term harm. Adverse effects on women and girls’ health include, but are not limited to: pain, hemorrhage, infection (including HIV spread through using the same instruments in multiple FGM/C operations), sepsis, shock, urinary and menstrual problems, sexual dysfunction, psychological trauma and even death. Reproductive health complications include a heightened risk of obstructed labour causing obstetric fistula or postpartum hemorrhage, both of which are major contributors to maternal mortality.

There are four types of FGM/C:

1. Removal of the prepuce/clitoral hood, and/or removal of the clitoris
2. Removal of the clitoris, labia minora and/or labia major
3. Removal and appositioning of the labia (e.g. suturing shut leaving only a small opening for menstrual blood, urine and sexual intercourse), with or without the removal of the clitoris
4. All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes; for example, pricking, pulling, piercing, scraping, incising, and cauterizing.

The most common form practiced in Bangsamoro is Type 4.

In general, there is very little research that explores the issue of FGM/Cs and its impacts on the well-being of girls and women in the Philippines. There is a dearth of information, experiential accounts, and ultimately, formal research on FGM/C in this particular geographic area and community. FGM/C is not well known nor widely acknowledged in the Philippines, and learning more about the practice (and its relation to traditional religious beliefs) is critical in understanding the beliefs associated with it. A 2009 study found that women are only considered to be truly “Islamic” or a Muslim when they are ‘circumcised’ or cut. However, research by Islamic scholars elsewhere challenges such connections to Islam and strongly condemns FGM/C in all forms. ch 8 A descriptive study on the Yakan, an ethnolinguistic group settled in the province of Basilan (in Bangsamoro), focused on the procedural aspects of FGM/C.

This study is an exploratory action research on the controversial practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in the Philippines in the predominantly Muslim, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao. Despite limited research on the practice and a lack of awareness among international and national stakeholders on the occurrence of FGM in the Philippines, the study confirmed that the practice is still widespread in Bangsamoro. Alternative, non-harmful practices are gradually replacing FGM in a few areas, as driven by local leadership.

Methodology
Exploratory action research is a participatory form of qualitative research that engages communities to devise solutions to challenges they identify. The study used focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) to surface the perspectives and experiences of girls, traditional birth attendants (TBAs), Moro Muslim religious leaders (MRLs), traditional and local leaders, health workers, and social workers. A total of 458 individuals (413 females and 45 males) from three municipalities of five Bangsamoro provinces participated in the study. These provinces were: Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi; with a municipality in the province of Sarangani as a pilot study. The study was conducted from March to November 2020. The Research Team applied thematic and content analyses to the participants’ responses.

View and download the full document here.

Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development, Incorporated or ACCORD is one of four founding members of the Resilience and Innovation Learning Hub. As a non-profit civil society organization, ACCORD works in partnership with the least-served, most vulnerable communities in the Philippines on resilience-building activities. Working hand-and-hand with poor communities, people’s organizations, local governments, and other civil society organizations, ACCORD works to harmonize approaches to climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and environmental protection. ACCORD has a long history of jointly developing and implementing projects together with CARE.

Last March 9 marked ACCORD’s 11th year of implementing development and humanitarian projects and programs across the country. Through conducting and implementing over 50 different projects, over 4 million Filipinos were reached in the past decade, a feat that contributed to strengthening communities across the nation, most especially those who belong to the most vulnerable sectors of society.

RILHUB’s reactivation in 2020 was greatly contributed to by partners and colleagues from ACCORD through the coordination and implementation of projects such as Partners for Resilience (PfR) and Moving Urban Poor Communities toward Resilience (MOVE UP). ACCORD has also contributed largely to the production of various knowledge and learning materials produced by RILHUB or available on the different RILHUB platforms.

On their official Facebook page, ACCORD shared a heartfelt, albeit short message of gratitude to who has been and is a part of their journey — be it from far-flung areas and communities, local agencies and government units, non-government organizations, and donors.

by INCREASE

Cagayan Province, where two INCREASE municipalities (Amulung and Cagayan) are located, have been heavily devastated by a series of typhoons—Category 3 Typhoon Molave, Category 5 Super Typhoon Goni, and Category 4 Typhoon Vamco in a span of three weeks. This has brought the worst flooding the province has recorded for the last 40 years. The lost lives, livelihood, and shelter exacerbated the already difficult situations of the communities whose mobility and sources of income have been limited because of the pandemic.

Before the disaster

Before the onslaught of the disasters, INCREASE field team has been deployed to conduct community risk assessments and community-based disaster risk reduction and management trainings in Amulung and Gattaran. In such activities, farmers and fishers, along with women, the elderly, youth, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable persons provided valuable insights on sector-specific hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities in their communities. The barangay captain from Brgy. Annabuculan, Amulung, Cagayan expressed his newfound appreciation for how preparedness measures should be conducted. He appreciated the Community Risk Assessment conducted by INCREASE in their barangay, saying “the information [we] learned were useful and helped us realize the importance of assessments and conducting early action in order to mitigate the disaster.” This has proven how important such activities in building the capacities of the communities in responding to disasters. In addition, information materials such as primers on hazards and evacuation measures were also distributed to community members to help them prepare for the typhoons. The team also coordinated with the barangay DRRM council and monitored and disseminated information from PAGASA so it can be shared with community members.

The team has also proceeded with household selection for resilient livelihood activities. During which, they have identified the evolving needs of the community. Because of the pandemic, community members are restricted to travel and need to secure food sources within their area. Together with the local government, the team will help them establish communal gardens which can help sustain the food needs of the community while also diversifying their source of income. Organic farming orientations promoting sustainable farming techniques were also implemented in the area. As farmers and community members are used to synthetic farming, the orientations helped them gain knowledge on natural farming practices that do not cause harm to the ecosystem.

Emergency Response

During the flooding disaster, the team has also been present on the ground. It helped in the facilitation of resource mobilization for emergency response and aid delivery, through conducting assessments in INCREASE areas and participating in the joint Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (RDANA). Its visibility increased the local government’s trust and support for the project.

The team has also seen this as an opportunity to lobby for the mainstreaming of integrated risk management in local development plans, since the disaster was caused by the inter-linkages of disasters, climate change impacts, and ecosystem degradation. It has also initiated landscape-wide early warning systems to be established.

INCREASE or Increasing the Resilience to Natural Hazards aims to increase the resilience of 45,000 women and men small-scale farmers and fishers, including 720 extreme poor female-headed households, to natural hazards and the effects of climate change. The project is supported by the SKala initiative. SKala is driven by the German entrepreneur Susanne Klatten in partnership with the think tank and non-profit consultancy PHINEO.

by INCREASE

Recognizing women’s collective power

Bayanihan—the Filipino trait of communal unity, work, and cooperation to achieve a particular goal—has been present in INCREASE Project areas, Mapanas and Palapag, Northern Samar. Charita, 40, a woman farmer of Mapanas, said, “Ang prinsipyo na dinadala ko dito sa brgy., nangunguna ako sa paglilinis sa simbahan, pati sa mga kalye lalo na kung maulan, nililinis naming yung kanal kasi bumabaha. Ginagamit ko ito sa mga nangangailangan na mga tao, lalo na sa pagtutulungan sa mga gawain sa barangay, yan yung ginagawa namin, nagbabayanihan kami dahil sa hirap dito. (I bring the principle of volunteering and leading especially in cleaning our [public spaces] church, streets, and canals when it’s raining because it causes flooding. I apply this principle to those in need and during the implementation of community activities. This is what we do—we enforce bayanihan [we help each other] because we’re poor.)” While bayanihan is innately incorporated in Filipino culture and evident in low-income communities such as Mapanas and Palapag, both communities don’t have an active women’s organization. According to CARE Philippines Rapid Gender Analysis on Power (RGA-POW) (2020), women in Mapanas only come together to organize the annual municipality-wide “Women’s Day”, while only one barangay in Palapag has a non-accredited livelihood association of women.

With INCREASE Project taking in place, community members, especially women, have another chance to get together, while maintaining minimum health protocols, learn, and realize their capacities and vulnerabilities in facing natural hazards. Women’s participation in community risk assessments, disaster risk reduction and management, and contingency planning activities has increased their existing knowledge to make informed decisions in emergencies. This space has allowed them to use their voice and be heard by other community members. Maria Rose, 34, a barangay health worker in Mapanas, mentioned, “Importante ang pakikiisa ng mga babae sa mga gawain para maging lider ng komunidad kagaya ng pag-attend ng meetings. (It is important for women to participate in community activities so they can become community leaders, like attending meetings.)” Women, therefore, realized the importance of their participation in building their leadership skills and strengthening women’s voices.  Along with this, they have also identified knowledge gaps. On the RGA-POW, a woman leader from Palapag said, “Para madagdagan ang impluwensiya ng kababaihan ay kailangan din ng karagdagang edukasyon para sa kababaihan sa usapin ng [kanilang] karapatan. (To increase women’s influence, knowledge and capacity building activities and women’s right education are needed.)”

Incorporating another project, Women Lead in Emergencies, in INCREASE, has also allowed these women to work on a project to solve a community problem they have identified together. These efforts have provided women with a venue to see and harness their collective power. It has resulted in women actively expressing their desire to organize. In focused group discussions conducted for RGA-Pow (2020), “the women have expressed their confidence in lobbying for rights or providing feedback to power-holders when they are part of a collective.” In addition, they have also confirmed that they will be formalizing their organizations in the future.

Resilient livelihoods encourage women’s participation

In RGA-Pow (2020), it is stated that “women’s influence in public life and decision-making is closely associated with women’s economic power especially during emergencies. Critical to increasing women’s influence on formal decision-making spaces is helping them gain and have control over their own assets and income and to have equal say in decisions about household finances.” KIIs conducted with women community members of Palapag and Mapanas “highlight strong community perceptions that in public decision-making spaces, motions forwarded by economically empowered women are treated with respect and have better chances of being taken into consideration by the community or decision-makers. Such insight is not to discount persons with less influence; rather, enabling women to engage in sustainable livelihood activities increases their control of resources, which in turn enhances their influence and boosts their capacity to support members of the community during emergencies.”

During the last quarter of 2020, INCREASE provided livelihood trainings to selected female-headed households. Sustainability measures were also put in place to ensure that women in the community benefit in the longer term.

INCREASE or Increasing the Resilience to Natural Hazards aims to increase the resilience of 45,000 women and men small-scale farmers and fishers, including 720 extreme poor female-headed households, to natural hazards and the effects of climate change. The project is supported by the SKala initiative. SKala is driven by the German entrepreneur Susanne Klatten in partnership with the think tank and non-profit consultancy PHINEO.

by Rya Ducusin and Leigh Fuentes

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of lives in various ways. Globally, there are more than 90 million confirmed cases and 2 million deaths. Among these are half a million Filipinos that are confirmed cases and nearly ten thousand deaths. Apart from the health crisis it brought, COVID-19 has also disrupted livelihoods, social services, government programs, among others.

Almost a year after the COVID-19 lockdowns began in the Philippines, scientists and experts from different parts of the world have come up with a vaccine to slow down the spread of the virus – shedding light on possibilities of returning to normal. The Philippine government developed the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan for an efficient and effective vaccine deployment and delivery to the Filipino people. 

While the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan is more of an overview of the steps of the national government, there is an urgent need to localize these plans and be adapted at the LGU level.

A new strain has also been recently discovered and severe side effects from the vaccine have been reported globally, causing panic and fear among communities. The government is also taking extra steps to address these doubts through various information dissemination activities and education campaigns.

Having said this, last March 4, the Resilience and Innovation Learning Hub (RILHUB) conducted the first Resilience Knowledge Exchanges Series (RKES) of this year. Launched June last year, RKES is a monthly or bi-monthly webinar series that invites key actors and various community members to learn, reflect, and share best practices in relation to timely and resilience-related events and programs.

During this implementation, RILHUB was joined by selected guest speakers to share their expertise, experiences, and for the representatives from local government units, their best practices in relation to planning their COVID-19 Vaccination plan.

Ms. Ma. Arlene Arbas, Division Chief of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Media and External Relations Division, presented the agency’s National Vaccination Plan as well as the timeline or estimated rollout of vaccines. Through her presentation, some foreseen and commonly asked questions were directly addressed even before the open forum portion of the program.

Local Government Units (LGUs) with approved local COVID-19 Vaccination Plans were also invited to share their experiences and best practices in planning and approval. For the local government of Pasig City, Mr. Joseph Emilie Juico, Co-Chair of the Quezon City Task Force Vax to Normal, presented the city’s plans while Dr. Angelo Saquitan, Rural Health Physician presented the plans of the City of Pasig.

After all presentations, the floor was opened for questions during the open forum portion of the program. This provided a good opportunity for all attendees and stakeholders, which were comprised of both private, public, and civil service organizations, to raise any concerns, clarifications, and inquiries. A majority of questions were answered live, while a select few were answered through Zoom’s Q&A feature.

Check out the recorded Facebook live stream of the session here.

View the Department of Health’s presentation here.

View the City of Pasig’s presentation here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of lives in various ways. Globally, there are more than 90 million confirmed cases and 2 million deaths. Among these are half a million Filipinos that are confirmed cases and nearly ten thousand deaths. Apart from the health crisis it brought, COVID-19 has also disrupted livelihoods, social services, government programs, among others.

Almost a year after the COVID-19 lockdowns began in the Philippines, scientists and experts from different parts of the world have come up with a vaccine to slow down the spread of the virus – shedding light on possibilities of returning to normal. The Philippine government developed the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan for an efficient and effective vaccine deployment and delivery to the Filipino people. 

While the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan is more of an overview of the steps of the national government, there is an urgent need to localize these plans and be adapted at the LGU level.

A new strain has also been recently discovered and severe side effects from the vaccine have been reported globally, causing panic and fear among communities. The government is also taking extra steps to address these doubts through various information dissemination activities and education campaigns.

The Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series Session covering this topic was entitled, “How Local Government Unit’s Prepare Their COVID-19 Vaccination Plans”, and was held last March 04, 2021 and was co-implemented by CARE, ACCORD, the MOVE UP Project, and the START Network.

This presentation on the national COVID-19 vaccine program was made by the Department of Health and presented by Ms. Ma. Arlene Arbas, Division Chief, Media & External Relations Division, Department of Health

To access a soft copy of this material, please click here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of lives in various ways. Globally, there are more than 90 million confirmed cases and 2 million deaths. Among these are half a million Filipinos that are confirmed cases and nearly ten thousand deaths. Apart from the health crisis it brought, COVID-19 has also disrupted livelihoods, social services, government programs, among others.

Almost a year after the COVID-19 lockdowns began in the Philippines, scientists and experts from different parts of the world have come up with a vaccine to slow down the spread of the virus – shedding light on possibilities of returning to normal. The Philippine government developed the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan for an efficient and effective vaccine deployment and delivery to the Filipino people. 

While the National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan is more of an overview of the steps of the national government, there is an urgent need to localize these plans and be adapted at the LGU level.

A new strain has also been recently discovered and severe side effects from the vaccine have been reported globally, causing panic and fear among communities. The government is also taking extra steps to address these doubts through various information dissemination activities and education campaigns.

The Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series Session covering this topic was entitled, “How Local Government Unit’s Prepare Their COVID-19 Vaccination Plans”, and was held last March 04, 2021 and was co-implemented by CARE, ACCORD, the MOVE UP Project, and the START Network.

This presentation on the development of Pasig City’s localized COVID-19 vaccination program presented by Dr. Angelo Saquitan, Rural Health Physician, Local Government of Pasig City.

To access a soft copy of this material, please click here.

Despite the wealth of data about disasters in Metro Manila, no dedicated study has holistically examined the risks associated with the Malabon-Navotas-Tullahan-Tinajeros river system (MANATUTI), especially in an urban landscape perspective. A pilot risk assessment of the river system was conducted using the integrated risk management, landscape, and urban resilience 190 approaches. Document analyses, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and field visits were done to identify and analyze the hazards that pose threats to the communities along MANATUTI, especially the urban poor, and how vulnerabilities aggravate and capacities mitigate these risks, especially in the socio-economic, environmental, infrastructural, institutional, and governance aspects of the river system. Communities in the river system face severe risk to compound hazards such as flooding exacerbated by ground subsidence, sea-level rise, and storm surge, fire and liquefaction resulting from earthquake, and public health outbreaks made favorable by increasing temperature, environmental pollution, and congestion, among others. These are worsened by extreme poverty and the powerlessness of the greater population and the highly fragmented urban planning and risk management efforts in the landscape. Nevertheless, the inclination of the communities toward collaboration and transformation, alongside expansive rooms for improved governance, are important capacities that may enhance their resilience to disaster. A formal, well-supported, landscape-wide, inter-community governing institution that practices equitable distribution of responsibilities and resources is deemed essential to realize a comprehensive and effective disaster risk reduction and management in the river system in the face of rapidly changing climate and environment.

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