ASoG joins assembly of community DRR practitioners

 

From September 5-7, 2017, about 50 participants representing 35 community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and academic and research institutions joined the 5^th General Assembly of DRRNet Philippines, a national tertiary formation of 43 civil society organizations (CSOs), communities, practitioners and advocates adhering to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and the World Humanitarian Summit, and implementing community-based disaster risk reduction and management (CBDRRM).
 
ASoG is one of the founding convenors of DRRNet Philippines and the CSO/academe representative to the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).   Dr. Mary Jean Caleda and Kriszia Enriquez reported the University’s and ASoG’s accomplishments in relation to our participation in the NDRRMC.  ASOG representatives to this General Assembly shared the organization’s efforts to contribute to the discussion on disaster risk governance and policy concerns such as the post-2015 DRR Framework preparatory to the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (3WCDRR), Sunset Review of RA 10121 and the proposed amendatory bill, through internal discussions and consultative meetings with the academia and research sector.  Among other initiatives reported were current activities in the ASoG-Harvard Humanitarian Initiative DisasterNet-Philippines project.  ASOG also asked the assistance of the network members in completing its landscaping study on academic and research institutions engaged in DRRM. The landscaping study hopes to contribute to our government and stakeholders’ data on who’s doing what on DRRM for appropriate partnerships and collaborations. 
 
The assembly concluded with the election of a new batch of convenors. ASoG was nominated but declined the nomination and instead opted to become a member of the Committees on Policy Development and Knowledge Management, whose tasks fit well with ASoG’s vision and strategic goals.