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Duryog Nivaran
AUDMP - making cities safer
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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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