INCREASE Archives - Page 2 of 5

The Natural Farming System Guidebook promotes reducing dependence on off-form inputs to women and men farmers in INCREASE areas. It offers practical guide to make bio-organic inputs that have much potential in terms of food production and environmental conservation. Moreover, food security is increased and additional incomes are generated.

An excerpt from the material:

Ang patuloy na tumataas na gastos ng hindi organikong pataba ay hindi mapipigil sa mga darating na taon ng produksyon. Tinitingnan ang pananaw na ito na ang magsasaka ay kailangang maghanap ng isang alternatibong hakbang upang mapanatili ang kanyang pagsasaka na may kakayahang kumita.

Ang likas na pagsasaka (natural farming) ay mas mura, mas epektibo, at mas ligtas. Wala ng hihigit pang ligaya sa pamilya na ang pagkaing pinagsasaluhan ay tunay na makapagbibigay lakas at nakakapagpahaba ng buhay. Isang alternatibong pamamaraan sa pagsasaka na makakabawas sa gastusin ng magsasaka. Isang alternatibong paraan na epektibo at maka “kalikasan”. Higit sa lahat, isang alternatibong pamaraan na walang maidudulot na kapahamakan sa kalusugan at sa kapaligiran.

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

The first week of July marked the implementation of the first session of the INCREASE Cross-Learning Platform for Resilience-Building, an initiative that aims to bridge the gap among INCREASE partners and knowledge-sharing, particularly because of the restrictions brought about by the pandemic.

Climate change and ecosystem degradation place new demands on disaster risk reduction approaches. Philippines: Increasing the Resilience to Natural Hazards (INCREASE) Project, leveraging on the decade-worth of learnings from the PfR programme and other projects implemented by CARE and partners, advocates to mainstream Integrated Risk Management (IRM) as an enhanced, holistic approach to increase community resilience by integrating disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and ecosystem management and restoration.

Following INCREASE’s commitment to place at-risk and vulnerable communities at the center of resilience building, we aim to engage our partner communities not only in the design and development of early warning systems, early action protocols, and emergency procedures in the process of developing their contingency plans, but more importantly, in working with their local DRR committee members, as they jointly test these actions and systems through community drills, among other simulation exercises.

Conducting community drills have been proven effective in testing whether community members are able to interpret early warning information correctly and duly execute operational procedures for evacuation and protection of their households and livelihoods. Further, DRR committee members are also tested whether they are able to work closely with community members, provide timely information, evacuate and rescue affected persons, and consider targeted support for vulnerable persons, following different scenarios (e.g. worst case, amid a pandemic, etc.)

However, the feasibility of conducting community drills amid a public health emergency where social distancing protocols are enforced, as well as in conflict-affected areas with mobilisation restrictions, still remain to be seen and are presently put on hold in many areas.

Thus, considering alternative approaches to conducting drills through mixed modalities (i.e. virtual, face-to-face, or a hybrid of both), and how effectiveness can be strengthened with other activities (i.e. household- and community-level IEC campaigns) is a forward-looking approach DRR practitioners can look into.

This session was aimed at achieving the following objectives:

Reviewing key characteristics of an effective tabletop exercise (conducted in lieu / or in support to community drills);
Going through the three main phases conducting remote tabletop exercises, referring back to main steps discussed in Part 1
Conducting a sample simulation exercise testing the capacity of INCREASE barangay / municipal DRR committee partner participants
Demonstrating participants’ familiarity of a contingency plan (based on the sample CP) and how it translates to actual actions
Gathering feedback on participants’ experience from the simulation exercise, and identifying areas that need further localization and adoption
Sharing key learnings on community inclusion and participation in DRR activities

With over 90 participants from Cagayan, Mt. Province, Surigao del Sur, and Northern Samar, INCREASE conducted the first virtual, Remote [Mock] Tabletop Exercise or RTTX which is an adaptive measure to ensuring the continuation of resilience- and capacity-building for DRRM in lieu of face-to-face community drills. Some attending partners participated in the session through mixed modalities, facilitators virtually present while the participatns from the same local government attended as a group.

The Cross-Learning Platform for Resilience-Building is set for three more sessions until October.

To learn more about INCREASE, click here.

In the time of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many of the resilience- and capacity-building efforts of different organizations and programs have been hampered by existing and constantly changing logistical restrictions and health protocols such as travel and face-to-face meeting prohibitions.

In lieu of earthquake drills, in what other ways can we simulate unprecedented risks in our community? In what ways can we continue incapacitating our local governments, our leaders, and our community members to be able to efficiently and aptly respond to emerging risks and disasters?

Tabletop exercises are one way that CARE and ACCORD projects have been training their stakeholders. To learn more about how to conduct this exercise remotely as an adaptive measure to the pandemic, you may check out the Remote Mock Tabletop Exercises brief introduction below.

To access a soft copy of the said material, please click this link.

Gender equality and social inclusion are cross-cutting themes that are central to CARE’s emergency and development programming. In this IEC material, CARE’s Gender Equality Framework and Theory of Change were reintroduced in this IEC material to inform community members of these concepts, and along with INCREASE interventions, modify behaviors and change social conditions.

INCREASE or “Philippines – Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards” aims to 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.

INCREASE recognizes the key role that local communities play in preparing for disastrous events. Hence, it conducts community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) training sessions to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen people’s capacity to cope with hazards. As a supplementary material, this tarpaulin was created to remind local communities of the features of CBDRM.

INCREASE conducts contingency planning workshops along with local actors and vulnerable sectors to enable timely, effective, and appropriate response in the event of a disaster. The characteristics of a good contingency plan were summarized in this IEC material so community members and leaders can recall the concepts and apply them accordingly.

With resilient livelihood as one of the core activities of INCREASE, promoting sustainable agriculture principles to women and men farmers in the project areas help in ensuring livelihood diversification and strengthening strategies are being implemented. This tarpaulin will be placed in strategic areas especially in demo farms to familiarize community members with elements of sustainable agriculture.

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.

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.

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.

INCREASE areas in Amulung and Gattaran were severely affected by Typhoon Vamco.

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.