Vol. 3, No. 2 June 1997

Editor's Corner


Theme


Duryog Nivaran


AUDMP - making cities safer


Upcoming ADPC training programs


IDNDR news


From the grassroots


Disaster News


Bookmarks


WWW Sites

AUDMP - making cities safer ...

Building networks ...

Ground-breaking strategies to make Asian municipalities safer were presented on April 28-30 at the second annual Working Group meeting of the AUDMP. The AUDMP is a regional initiative implemented by ADPC that aims to build the capacity of communities and local governments in targeted Asian countries to reduce their vulnerability to disasters. Only eighteen months into the program, it is still early to measure results, but it is clear from the Working Group meeting that the projects are well designed and positioned to develop and promote a rich diversity preparedness and mitigation strategies.

At the meeting, disaster mitigation advocates from the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka presented and discussed national demonstration projects with regional and international representatives of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and ADPC. For most, this was the first opportunity to meet other participants in the first and largest disaster mitigation project in Asia. At the close of the meeting, AUDMP Senior Manager David Hollister (pictured back row second from left) expressed the hope that the AUDMP partners will evolve into a strong network of 'movers and shakers'  that will spread greater awareness and acceptance of the need for disaster mitigation in their own countries.

... with local institutions

The AUDMP works with and through many types of institutions: old, new, big, small, public, and private. What they do have in common, though, is a commitment to improving the quality of life in local communities in their countries. Following is the first in a series of profiles of our diverse group of partner institutions implementing projects under the AUDMP:

The Philippines Business for Social Progress/The League of Cities of the Philippines

The Philippine Cities Disaster Mitigation Project, which focuses on floods, earthquakes and volcanoes, is being implemented by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) in conjunction with the League of Cities of the Philippines. PBSP is one of the oldest and most established non-profit NGOs in the Philippines. It was founded in 1970 as an expression of the corporate social responsibility of fifty leading businessmen. PBSP has supported more than 3,000 development projects and invested 1.5 billion Pesos in grants for social development. Its assistance combines both ÒsoftÓ and ÒhardÓ development technologies, and is focused on serving landless rural workers, marginal fisherfolk, indigenous cultural communities, the urban poor and disaster victims, among others. PBSP has also been involved in building the capacity of local governments since 1992, in partnership with USAID. In the area of disaster management, PBSP has actively helped catalyze the formation of national networks for disaster management as well as manage disaster relief and resettlement programs for major bilateral donors.

The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) is a formal national organization of city mayors. LCP was organized in 1988 to 'ventilate, articulate, and crystallize' issues affecting city government administration and secure, through proper and legal means, solutions to common problems. It promotes the interests of the cities and functions as a forum for discussion of policies and programs aimed to inform and improve the capabilities of its members. A main program of the League is the Cities Sharing Program, which enables participants to share practical solutions and approaches to problems commonly confronting local governments. The Sharing Program has helped the League evolve from a political gathering of city mayors to an effective source of information about city innovations. The current League President is Jesse Robredo, Mayor of Naga City (one of the AUDMP target cities).

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