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…

 

Vulnerable groups – particularly women – suffer most from natural and man-made hazards. Now more than ever, there is a need to account for their needs and interests in public decision-making spaces to ensure that community-based disaster risk reduction (DRR) mechanisms and governance structures are effective, inclusive, and are sustainably adopted. Providing women with the opportunity and ability to actively participate in DRR planning and solutions not only amplifies their voice in decisions that affect their lives but also harnesses their potential in leading community DRR work.

Aimed at increasing the resilience of small-scale farmers, fisherfolk – with focus given to female headed-households and women collectives in its partner communities, Project INCREASE sought to augment its women engagement activities and advocacy work through (1) piloting the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) action research model in its activities, and (2) drawing insights from the Rapid Gender Analysis on Power (RGA-POW) conducted in nine crisis-affected barangays in Mapanas, and Palapag, Northern Samar, Philippines that are covered by the project.

This RGA-POW provides information about the different needs, capacities, and aspirations of women – with a focus on the structural and relational barriers to, and opportunities for women’s leadership and public participation during and after emergencies, as well as relevant information on the local context from previous studies (e.g. post-distribution monitoring reports, rapid gender analyses, etc.).

Apart from demonstrating that women do have power and exercise this with other women, the report also outlines underlying reasons for limited public voice and decision-making for different groups of women and identifies potential resistors and risks, as well as presents opportunities and actions that can address observed barriers. Thus, providing promising directions for WLiE in INCREASE.

 

View and download a full copy of the document by clicking here.

The INCREASE Project has committed to holding four (4) learning exchanges engaging local implementing partners and partner communities across provinces to share DRR CCA / IRM good practices, ideas for sustainability and upscaling, innovations, and evidence from which these are based.

Similarly, the project has also committed to producing four (4) research briefs/communication materials, or case stories, from DRR CCA / IRM good practices and innovations documented to be published through RILHUB.

This partner-level learning exchange is the second part of the INCREASE Cross-Learning Platform for Resilience-Building Session 3. The learning questions raised to partners are the following:

  1. How is community members’ participation in DRR and CCA programs and activities changing?
  2. How are community members being included in the design and delivery of these risk reduction programs and activities? What role do women’s organizations, women CSO leaders, and local champions play in facilitating inclusion?
  3. How is the project influencing LGUs to be gender-responsive and risk-informed?
  4. From the perspective of a local planner, why is there a need for gender-responsive and risk-informed planning? What benefits can one get from mainstreaming IRM? Any evidence as to why local governments need to be more flexible to change (i.e. integrating IRM, gender lens in their plans), etc.?

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

 

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.

On September 22 and 24, theINCREASE Project, in collaboration with RILHUB and its community partners, held the third installation of the Cross-Learning Platform for Resilience-building (CLPRB) via Zoom.

The first part was a capacity-building session Gender Mainstreaming in Community Resilience on September 22 while the partner-level learning exchange on September 24 provided an avenue for partners to reflect and share best practices on the meaningful participation and decision-making of women in resilient livelihoods.
This session focuses on INCREASE’s learnings and experiences in increasing women’s participation and decision making in resilience building, as well as in ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in longer-term development plans. In support of integrated risk management principles focused on inclusion and participation, this session highlights how women-led activities in livelihoods and in preparedness activities not only build community resilience but also their individual and collective confidence, and more cohesive relations among peers and within formal and informal groups and actors in the community.
  
CLPRB is the manifestation of the project’s commitment to holding four (4) learning exchanges engaging local implementing partners and partner communities across provinces to share DRR-CCA and/or IRM good practices, ideas for sustainability and upscaling, innovations, and evidence from which these are based. Similarly, the project has also committed to producing four (4) research briefs or communication materials, or case stories, from DRR-CCA / IRM good practices and innovations that have been documented; these are to be published and disseminated through RILHUB.
The final installation of the INCREASE Cross-Learning Platform for Resilience-Building will be held in October 2021.

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:

 

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.

The Moving Urban Poor Communities in Mindanao towards Resilience Project (MOVE UP Mindanao) is an urban resilience project which aims to contribute to the resilience building of urban poor populations to withstand and manage the impact of disasters. It aims to strengthen urban disaster preparedness, response, and management capacity of the national, sub-national, and local government units (LGUs), and other stakeholders through the adaption and/or replication of tested urban resilience strategies. 

MOVE UP- Mindanao project advocates, among others, the strengthening of shock responsive social protection mechanisms to help reduce vulnerability and support timely recovery in the event of shocks and stresses.  

In partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government – Local Government  Academy, the project aims to share its lessons learned, good practices, and innovations gathered and tested from its experience in working with urban poor communities to contribute to the large-scale resilience-building effort. 

MOVE UP- Mindanao is implemented by a consortium of international non-government organizations which includes Plan International Philippines, Action Against Hunger, and  CARE Philippines with its local partner ACCORD Inc. Funded by the European Civil  Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the project is currently implementing in  9 LGUs in Mindanao.

 

BACKGROUND OF THE SESSION

Effective social protection is critical to reduce vulnerability and support timely recovery.  However, to date, national systems have been too underdeveloped or not flexible enough to allow them to expand before or during emergencies.  

This webinar will discuss the basic concepts of shock-responsive social protection and the  MOVE UP projects strategies in its goal to help LGUs strengthen their social protection mechanisms to respond to and recover from shocks and stresses. 

This webinar will also share some good practices at the local level in implementing anticipatory action strategies in the context of disaster risk reduction and management.

This session was aimed at the following objectives:

1. Provide an overview on the basic concepts of shock-responsive social protection; and

2. Share good practices in implementing Disaster Risk Reduction and Management strategies in the context of social protection from local experiences.

 

 

These presentations used during this learning session are as follows:

  1. The Urban Resilience Model and Basic Concepts of Shock-Responsive Social Protection
    by Mr. Roger Cabiles,     Head of Project and Consortium Manager, MOVE UP-Mindanao Project, Action Against Hunger Philippines

    This presentation describes the MOVE UP project’s Urban Resiliennce Model, its tried and tested model for disaster resilience developed through years of working with urban poor communities and local government units. It also explores the basic concepts of shock-responsive social protection, its difference to social protection, basic social services, disaster response, and the legal bases and frameworks which support its implementation. Moreover, the interconnectedness of these two strategies is also explored.To access a copy of this presentation, please click this link.
  2. BREADY Project Presentation
    by Mayor Melchor Llego Mergal, Municipal Mayor, Salcedo, Eastern SamarThis presentation shares the inspiring and good practice of Salcedo, Eastern Samar in the implementation of its pre-emptive cash transfer program with the help of the BREADY Project by Oxfam and Plan International Philippines. Mayor Melchor Mergal shares the processes they’ve undergone to implement the program, including their realizations and challenges. 

    To access a copy of this presentation, please click this link.

  3. SRSP Synthesis
    by Mr. Arnel Sanchez,     Social Protection Specialist, MOVE UP – Mindanao Project, Plan International PhilippinesThis presentation summarizes the points raised during the webinar and highlighted certain challenges in the implementation of shock-responsive social protection projects in the Philippines.To access a copy of this presentation, please click this link.

To learn more about the MOVE UP Project, you can also check out www.rilhub.org/move-up/ .

This session of the Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series (RKES) aims to disseminate the results of the post-project sustainability (PPS) evaluation of the Women Enterprise Fund initiative (WEF-PPS). The study findings, learning, and recommendations seek to enhance the gender responsiveness and sustainability of livelihood recovery in humanitarian-development nexus programming.

The WEF initiative was one of CARE’s largest women-targeted disaster response and recovery projects. A total of 929 women entrepreneurs from six provinces were assisted in the project to restore their household livelihoods devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. WEF’s supported the women’s microenterprises towards the development of more sustainable livelihoods that could rehabilitate or diversify household income sources to secure their access to basic needs. CARE, together with local partners, implemented three key interventions: the infusion of financial capital, capacity-strengthening activities, and linkage to relevant supply chain actors and service providers.

The WEF-PPS study assessed the women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and resilience outcomes that were sustained among WEF-supported women entrepreneurs four years since the completion of the WEF initiative. It not only explored the unintended and emerging impacts of the WEF project but also identified contributing factors to sustainable outcomes. The study also looked into the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on women’s livelihoods to determine their resilience.

In this study, sustainability is defined as the achieved state and benefits of women’s economic empowerment and resilience are maintained, and WEF beneficiaries continue adapting their situation to evolving conditions while achieving economic well-being. The CARE gender equality (GE), WEE and resilience frameworks guided the design of the evaluation. The harvested WEE and resilience outcomes were classified, analyzed and interpreted based on five WEE and resilience domains of change: economic advancement, access to skills development and job opportunities, access to assets, services and other support to advance economically, decision-making in different spheres, and reducing drivers of risks.

 

This WEF-PPS session of the RILHUB Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series is aimed at reaching the objectives below:

1. Share the findings of the study – what outcomes and benefits were sustained or have emerged four years after the WEF project closed.

2. Share evidence on WEE and resilience outcomes to support advocacy initiatives.

3. Inform future programming strategy and call for actions based on learning and recommendations

4. Acknowledge the successes of WEF entrepreneurs and the contributions of partners

This presentation on the WEF-PPS outcomes was created and presented by the research team composed of Ms. Maria Teresa Bayombong, Ms. Caitlin Shannon, Ms. Maria Adelma Montejo, and Ms. Tzuhsuan Peng. 

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

The Moving Urban Poor Communities in Mindanao towards Resilience Project (MOVE UP-Mindanao) is an urban resilience project aimed at contributing to the resilience building of urban poor populations to withstand and manage the impact of disasters. It seeks to strengthen the urban disaster preparedness, response, and management capacity of the national, sub-national, and local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders through the adaption and replication of tested urban resilience strategies.

In partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Local Government Academy (DILG-LGA), the project intends to share its lessons learned, good practices, and innovations gathered and tested from its experience working with urban poor communities, municipalities, and provinces to contribute to the large-scale resilience-building effort. 

MOVE UP Mindanao is implemented by a consortium of international non-government organizations which includes Plan International Philippines, Action Against Hunger, and CARE Philippines with its local partner ACCORD Inc. Funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the project is currently being implemented in nine (9) local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao.

The Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series (RKES) Session covering this topic was held on May 27, 2021 which aimed to :

  1. Share the experience of CARE and ACCORD regarding their IRM mainstreaming work;
  2. Provide guidance on how to implement mainstreaming using the recently-published Mainstreaming Integrated Risk Management: An Accompanying Guide to Planning; and
  3. Serve as an introductory session and a preparation for more detailed, comprehensive IRM mainstreaming sessions in the future. 

 

This presentation on Mainstreaming Integrated Risk Management in the Local Government Units’ Planning System was created and presented by Ms. Sindhy Obias, Executive Director, ACCORD, Inc.

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

The Moving Urban Poor Communities in Mindanao towards Resilience Project (MOVE UP-Mindanao) is an urban resilience project aimed at contributing to the resilience building of urban poor populations to withstand and manage the impact of disasters. It seeks to strengthen the urban disaster preparedness, response, and management capacity of the national, sub-national, and local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders through the adaption and replication of tested urban resilience strategies.

In partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Local Government Academy (DILG-LGA), the project intends to share its lessons learned, good practices, and innovations gathered and tested from its experience working with urban poor communities, municipalities, and provinces to contribute to the large-scale resilience-building effort. 

MOVE UP Mindanao is implemented by a consortium of international non-government organizations which includes Plan International Philippines, Action Against Hunger, and CARE Philippines with its local partner ACCORD Inc. Funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the project is currently being implemented in nine (9) local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao.

The Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series (RKES) Session covering this topic was held on May 27, 2021 which aimed to :

  1. Share the experience of CARE and ACCORD regarding their IRM mainstreaming work;
  2. Provide guidance on how to implement mainstreaming using the recently-published Mainstreaming Integrated Risk Management: An Accompanying Guide to Planning; and
  3. Serve as an introductory session and a preparation for more detailed, comprehensive IRM mainstreaming sessions in the future. 

 

Invited offices from the Malabon LGU (City Planning and Development Department, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and City Environmental and Natural Resources Office) presented their institutional mandates and their engagement with CARE’s and ACCORD’s projects in the past. They also described their practice in mainstreaming DRR and CCA in their local plans before working with CARE and ACCORD. Furthermore, these offices shared Integrated Risk Management (IRM) value in their local plans and planning processes.

These presentations on Mainstreaming Integrated Risk Management in the Local Government Units’ Planning System in the context of Malabon City were created and presented by Ms. Ma. Lina Punzalan, Mr. Roderick Tongol, Ms. Elizabeth Gutierrez, and Ms. Mariedel Barbin, respectively.

To access a soft copy of the CPDO presentation, please click here.

To access a soft copy of the DRRMO presentation, please click here.

To access a soft copy of the CENRO presentation, please click here.

To access a soft copy of the presentation from Brgy. Potrero, please click here.