Philippines: Enhancing Resilient Communities - Flagship Initiative Newsletter, May 2024

Flagship Initiative team conducts stocktaking exercise to enhance humanitarian coordination

The Flagship Initiative team and the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG) conducted a comprehensive Stocktaking exercise on 14 May, bringing together HCT clusters, NGOs and CSOs to reflect on and further the progress of the Flagship Initiative's implementation. Global Flagship initiative evaluator also joined the exercise.

This event aimed to address system-wide opportunities and challenges and outline next steps to improve people-centered responses ahead of the upcoming typhoon season.

Participants shared insights, perspectives and findings from approaches conceptualized and implemented in 2023, identifying key issues and potential solutions.

Current approach to coordination The exercise commenced with a detailed walkthrough of the current humanitarian coordination tools used in the Philippines and provided a platform for participants to reflect on realities of the humanitarian sector.

Key points for improvement included better coordination with the government, ensuring clear distribution of responsibilities and funds to enhance sustainability, accountability and result-sharing.

Another is to address the gap between information collected at the community level and the generalized responses often implemented.

Meanwhile, participants also recommended the inclusion of marginalized groups such as pregnant women, persons with disabilities (PWD), LGBT individuals, indigenous people and other sectors, especially in disaster management planning.

Feedback from joint listening sessions: What are people telling us?

Facilitated by two Flagship Coordinators, the second session focused on harvesting feedback regarding the RebCPA tool used in community engagement listening sessions.

Recommendations were enabling interoperability and information flow both top-down and bottom-up to avoid gaps and duplication, shifting from a needs-based to an asset-based approach, emphasizing diverse local approaches and better synchronization with government coordination efforts.

Viewing the community as partners, not just recipients, to foster a collaborative dynamic in humanitarian efforts was also emphasized.

ECOWEB (ECOSYSTEMS WORK FOR ESSENTIAL BENEFITS) NG(Non-Governmental Organization), one of the participants, stressed the importance of enabling communities to lead their initiatives based on their unique vulnerabilities and intersectional identities.

Translating People’s needs, humanitarian priorities and assets The final session looked at recalibration of humanitarian coordination tools. Participants identified several gaps, including: the need for meaningful participation of communities in a consistent manner; practicing the humanitarian principle of independence; and addressing challenges in preparedness that impact response efforts.

Ensuring data collection and sharing are effective at the local level to reinforce community capacities was also emphasized.

Other gaps include overcoming limited accessibility of response tools and community engagement activities for vulnerable populations, particularly PWD and enhancing local government units' (LGUs) participation in community-engagement activities.

Meanwhile, solutions proposed focused on ensuring genuine participation, accountability, and transparency, and emphasizing localization and inclusion in humanitarian responses were also recommended.

Lewis Sida, Co-Director, Humanitarian Learning Centre, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex University, UK and team leader for the Flagship Independent Learning Initiative said that the “main takeaway from the stocktaking exercise is that you can use these kinds of very community based and community focused approaches really soon after the initial disaster response.”

“You need the disaster management system to be deployed when disaster strikes. This is a very standardized, well-rehearsed, logistic heavy response – it must be to deliver the best response quickly. The cluster system of the government is excellent for this. It provides predictability and everyone knows what they are doing. Search and rescue immediately, medical, lifesaving and life sustaining services,” he said.

“But as soon as danger has passed and people are over the initial shock, they want to get back to normal. Get back to work, patch up where they can and start planning the recovery,” Sida added.

“This is where you can deploy these participatory, joint, community-based planning-and-action approaches. That allows for consensus on priorities, everyone to use their assets, experience, skills. And for the international system they can then support these efforts, as in fact can the government. It has the potential to be powerful, leverage resources, and speedup recovery.”

The Flagship Initiative team's stocktaking exercise underscored the necessity of collaborative, inclusive, and well-coordinated efforts to improve humanitarian responses.

As a next step, the ICCG will revise the HCT’s typhoon preparedness contingency plan to better reflect community-based planning-and-action approaches once the initial shock is over.

By addressing identified gaps and implementing the suggested solutions, stakeholders aim to build a more resilient and responsive system for the upcoming typhoon season and beyond.