Building Resilience of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines
The provision of Information, Education and Communication (IEC), capacity building and data back-up storage facility as one of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies to SM's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will enable them to bounce back after an occurrence of any disaster.
Description
The Philippines places third out of 171 countries ranked according to their ‘risk score’ or their exposure to hazards such as earthquakes, floods and storms, drought and sea level rise as reported by the World Risk Index Report 2017. The ranking can be attributed to the county’s geographical location, being situated in the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, and the existing environment. The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the development of Philippine economy. They provide valuable service to large businesses as providers of goods and services. However, they are considered vulnerable to said disasters due to their lack in coping mechanisms with no business continuity plans, limited access to insurance or credit. To ensure their ability to recovery immediately after an occurrence of a disaster, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPH) aims to increase awareness on disaster risk reduction and provide capacity building as well as a data back-up storage facility for their insurance and operational documents. This commitment will be conducted with various partners from the academe, non-government organizations, private and public sectors.
Did the Sendai Framework change or contribute to changes in your activities/organization? If so, how?
Yes. The Sendai Framework contributed in the alignment of SMPH's disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives and efforts especially in our ARISE commitments as well as our three (3) main themes on Education and Training, Urban Risk and Resilience and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Strategies.
What led you to make this commitment/initiative?
What was your position before making this Voluntary Commitment / prior to the Sendai Framework?
The Philippines is very vulnerable to disasters and it is the company's responsibility to take care of its tenants, business partners and communities where the company is located.
Our commitment aligns with the Sendai Framework calls for the promotion of cooperation to develop new products and services to build resilient societies, in particular those that could help low and middle income countries and their private sector. These solutions should include “business continuity, into business models and practices through disaster-risk-informed investments, especially in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises." Moreover, actors are encouraged to engage in: awareness-raising and training for their employees and customers; support research and innovation, as well as technological development for disaster risk management; share and disseminate knowledge, practices and non-sensitive data; and actively participate, as appropriate and under the guidance of the public sector, in the development of normative frameworks and technical standards that incorporate disaster risk management.
