The Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce AC CVO, visited two Australian Government supported programs in Taguig City, Metro Manila as part of her State Visit to the Philippines earlier this month.

She met with women leaders and families who were affected by tropical storm Ketsana and the resulting floods that inundated Metro Manila in 2009.

Australia is deepening its commitment to disaster risk management in the Philippines through a new program entitled BRACE (Building the Resilience and Awareness of Metro Manila Communities to Natural Disasters and Climate Change Impacts).

The BRACE program is to be piloted in Taguig City, assisting urban communities ‘brace’ for the impact of natural disasters. BRACE will demonstrate that by ‘building back better’, the damage bill for future disasters—both in human and economic terms—can be significantly lessened.

State-of-the art hazard mapping technology will promote better understanding of disaster risks in order to drive effective land use planning on the ground. Families living in vulnerable areas will be relocated to safer housing.

The Governor-General also met beneficiaries of an Australian supported conditional cash transfer program at the city’s Gen Ricardo Papa High School. The program provides education and health grants to poor families as long as they meet conditions on school attendance, health checks and attend parenting seminars.

Australia is supporting the expansion of the Philippine Government’s social protection programs, particularly the conditional cash transfer program which aims to reach three million poor households by the end of 2012.

More information

Australia's aid program in the Philippines