Unicef, partners assess 鈥榊olanda鈥� response for building resilient communities

By: 10 years ago

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman. 蜜桃工作室 FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Eight months into relief and recovery after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated the Central Philippines,听Unicef, with听Galing听Pook听Foundation, recently hosted a Forum on 鈥楤uilding Better and Resilient Communities鈥� with participation from a wide range of partners and stakeholders.

Nearly 80 participants comprising of senior officials from different national government agencies, officials from Local Government Units (LGUs), Mayors, INGOs, CSOS, academia and donor agency representatives joined to assess post-Yolanda relief and rehabilitation efforts and recommended appropriate strategies to speed up support to help build resilient communities, disaster risk reduction measures and preparedness for future calamities.

Speaking on national response to Yolanda, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon听Juliano-Soliman听stressed on the criticality of Community Driven Development and Disaster Preparedness, 鈥淐ommunity driven development, reconstruction and disaster preparedness must be at the heart of resilience building, along with responsive government and active citizenry.鈥�

Soliman听added: 鈥淲hen communities know what to do while facing a disaster, the risk and the impact are significantly reduced.鈥�

Delivering her opening remarks, UNICEF Philippines Representative听Lotta听Sylwander听described UNICEF鈥檚 support to Filipino children and called on the Forum participants to, 鈥渟hare ideas to resolve bottlenecks experienced so far in the response, to strengthen partnership to deliver better results and to uphold accountability to affected populations and to the donors and ultimately find ways to 鈥榖uild back better, faster鈥�.鈥�

Followed by welcome remarks by听Marides听Fernando, Chairperson听Galing听Pook听Foundation, Christopher Sheen Gonzales, Mayor of听Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Edwin听Horca, Deputy Team Leader,听Programmes听of Save the Children, Assistant Secretary Tina Rose Marie听Canda听of the Department of Budget and Management, and Attorney Antonio听Oposa, Jr., also spoke in the inaugural session of the Forum.

The second part of the Forum was a workshop with mayors of LGUs, where they shared concerns on bottlenecks they were facing and also proposed insights and recommendations on how to speed up relief, rehabilitation and the resilient development of affected communities.

The mayors agreed that much remains to be done in the rebuilding process, and that stakeholders should pursue greater coordination towards more efficient, empowering and sustainable development of the affected communities.

The forum concluded with a commitment to find better and practical solutions to facilitate the ongoing response to the Yolanda and to any future disasters. They also proposed to hold a dialogue between mayors, cabinet secretaries, and Commission on Audit to resolve the bottlenecks and fast-track the response to Yolanda.