Philippines: Iligan city strengthen DRR capacity to implement community-based flood risk preparedness actions
Local communities are the drivers of disaster resilience. Hence, it is crucial to build community capacity so they could be more involved in decision-making and disaster planning.
The Climate Change Commission, the implementing agency of Project Climate Twin Phoenix in Iligan City, will be conducting a training for trainers as part of its IEC on the climate-adjusted flood hazard maps generated under the project. The activity will be held from 16 to 17 of October in Tagaytay City.
“Within the framework of the project, it is our priority to create mechanisms aimed at strengthening partnerships for resilient communities,” says CCC Vice Chairperson, Secretary Lucille Sering. “This means, foremost, implementing a bottom-up approach in empowering local governments to enable them to exercise great leadership capacity and resilience in the face of extreme weather changes such as storms and floods”.
With the theme, Empowering Iligan City Barangays toward Disaster Preparedness and Management, the two-day capacity building activity is expected to familiarize trainers with the flood hazard maps. It is meant to build a foundation of understanding for the trainers by learning how local flood risks have been measured and assessed and what their implications are in terms of improving a community’s preparedness, response, and resilience to flooding and flood-related disasters.
The participants of the training include Barangay Captains from 28 barangays, members of the Iligan City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, and cluster heads, all from Iligan City. As trainers, they are expected to replicate the IEC activity for the purok leaders in their respective barangays.
“In fostering local communities’ ownership of the process affecting them, we will be able to see a community which uses local knowledge and skills, combines these with the expertise gained from (these) training, and draws-up their own programs for reducing disaster risks and vulnerability”, adds Sering.
The training involves lectures, map reading exercises, actual creation of community flood contingency maps, group discussions, and presentations. The maps for baranggays Hinaplanon, Santiago, and Tubod were utilized for the IEC.
The training will be held in the framework of the Climate Change Commission program “Enabling the cities of Cagayan De Oro and Iligan and the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental to cope with climate change” implemented by Project Climate Twin Phoenix to put in place a long-term capacity development programme for cities and municipalities, addressing disaster risks from climate change and other related natural hazards. Project Climate Twin Phoenix is assisted by the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Australia.