The provincial government of Albay (PGA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Philippines, with support from the Australian government, on Wednesday inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build more resilient communities against climate change and disasters. The MOU signed by UNDP Philippines Deputy Resident Representative Edwine Carrie and Albay Governor Edcel Greco A.B. Lagman will provide a framework for the six-year Strengthening Institutions and Empowering Localities Against Disasters and Climate Change (SHIELD) Program. “What SHIELD is trying to accomplish is to build more resilient communities, local and provincial governments. The success of SHIELD is dependent on whether or not the can facilitate a higher level of resiliency for local communities. Preventing or diminishing the level of reversal in development gains that may hit the community because of a natural disaster,” Carrie said in the signing activity. He said Albay was selected for the SHIELD program because of its exposure to natural disasters. “I’m tempted to say that Albay selected itself because of its exposure to natural disasters but also because of the actual expertise and body of knowledge on the management of disaster already in the province. Not only do we see an opportunity for the SHIELD program to bring expertise, to bring capacity development into Albay but we are also keen on learning from your province. We are very impressed with the zero-casualty local plans you have in place. This is something I’m pretty sure most if not of all other provinces in the country are interested in learning on, and as your SHIELD partner we want to facilitate the exchange of learning,” Carrie said. Under the SHIELD program, the identified activities include building resilience to disaster and climate change by unlocking funding and implementing informed and inclusive resilience actions, designing and conducting capacity development programs to support local resilience building and establishing data ecosystems to support risk-informed planning, resource allocation and decision-making processes. Carrie also said the SHIELD program is a venue of options in terms of support that the program can provide to the province. “It will be up to the province to determine what are and how can SHIELD better integrated into the province’s priorities. We need to better understand your needs, what are your priorities so that we can support you. This is a climate change adaptation and mitigation program but its main objective is to help the province move the need of local development a bit higher and protect development gains in the face of disasters,” he said. Meanwhile, the governor ensured that the SHIELD program is anchored on the provincial government’s priorities and that the project activities are aligned with relevant policies and programs. “When a program like this comes we always welcome, to learn from this program and make this programs work in the province. We have signed this MOU and so from here, we can start with the technical work, to organize a technical working group to ensure that the SHIELD program will work in Albay,” Lagman said. Albay is one of the three LGUs in the Philippines (aside from Agusan del Sur and Northern Samar) chosen by UNDP Philippines for the SHIELD program, which is being implemented with the support of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, National Resilience Council, Philippine Business for Social Progress, and the United Nations Human Settlement Programme

Source: Philippines News Agency