The UP Resilience Institute (UPRI) remains steadfast in its commitment to empowering communities toward resilience by partnering with organizations from various sectors, ensuring a whole-of-nation and whole-of-society approach. In this regard, UPRI collaborates with the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) through the Philippine Preparedness Partnership (PhilPrep), a multistakeholder partnership dedicated to humanitarian action that also includes the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF). PhilPrep is part of a broader regional partnership in South and Southeast Asia called the Asian Preparedness Partnership (APP), which includes similar multistakeholder partnerships in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Cambodia.
The Launching of the Philippine Localisation Lab is a groundbreaking initiative to shift the power to create a fair, equitable, and dignified aid system for countries in the Global South. The event is spearheaded by grassroots organizations, with support from NEAR (Network for Empowered Aid Response) and CDP. It provides a crucial platform to empower local grassroots organizations and drive sustainable, impactful development at the community level.
As CDP’s academic partner, UPRI contributed to bolstering and identifying strategies to achieve the Localisation Lab’s objectives. These include:
- Movement building – initiate and foster a cohesive and vibrant network of Global South actors, united by a shared vision of transformative change.
- Common ground – cultivate an environment of shared values, collaboration, and shared decision-making among diverse stakeholders in the humanitarian and development sectors
- Solutions lab – generate innovative, locally-driven approaches to address unique challenges in the Global South.
- Learning and sharing – build evidence to promote knowledge exchange and capacity sharing among actors, with strong focus on fostering a learning agenda that is driven, facilitated, and owned by actors from the Global South.
The establishment of the Philippine Localisation Lab is a significant step in furthering the localization agenda and strengthening grassroots leadership in humanitarian endeavors. The UPRI’s active participation is in line with its commitment to resilience-building and support of local initiatives. This undertaking aims to reshape the humanitarian landscape to make it more inclusive, locally driven, and equitable.
Posted by UPRI Education Division on May 22, 2024