Right before the start of the enhanced community quarantine I had the chance to go on a trip with the CorDisRDS-team for the INCREASE project. Normally the trip was going to take 2 weeks and we would visit 4 barangays in two different municipalities but because of the Covid 19-virus, the trip was shortened to one and a half week and 3 barangays. Luckily in that period I got a clear view on what the INCREASE-project is about.
The INCREASE project is a project with CARE Philippines in association with local partners. For the Cordillera Administrative Region, CorDisRDS is the partner. It is a two years program that runs from 2019 to 2021. The project aims to increase the resilience of communities to natural hazards and the effects of climate change. The goal of the project is to strengthen the disaster preparedness and risk reduction capacities of vulnerable barangays and municipalities. They do it by improving the capacities of the communities and vulnerable groups such as women, farmers, … through Integrated Risk Management. “I have given the knowledge about different kinds of disasters and how to adapt to it and how to respond on it.” That is one of the reactions that was given on the INCREASE-project.
In the one and a half week that I could go on the road with the INCREASE-team of CorDisRDS, I learned a lot about them and how they work. I saw a team that is very motivated to tell their narrative and works long days to be well prepared. The team is like a good oiled machine, they help each other and fill in each other where one needs it. They give feedback in a respectful way and implement it in the next lesson or workshop. I also learned a lot about the Cordillera region, the natural hazards and human-caused disasters in the Cordillera. But most of all I experienced and saw the beautiful nature of the Cordillera.
In the one and a half week that I could go on the road with the INCREASE-team of CorDis RDS, I learned a lot about communities and met a lot of friendly people. One thing they all had in common is that the communities in the Cordillera are very hospitable. In one community there were more people during the workshops than in other communities, but they were all very motivated to learn new things. In some of the barangays I met the officials and they were very cooperative and were really involved on the project. But in other barangays I didn’t see them and it’s a pity because it is such an opportunity to learn about disaster risk reduction and how to adapt and mitigate to these risks. This is one of the reactions of a participant: “For the workshops I feel great, it was very interesting, very knowledgeable, I learned a lot from it.” All of the participant were very involved on the lessons and the content of the workshops. This provided the INCREASE-team with good data and information, what allows them to well prepare the next workshops and lessons from the Increase-project.
“I hope there are continuous trainings and workshops that will be held here.” That is one of the reactions of the participants. Hopefully the enhanced community quarantine will be over soon, so the team can get back to work and do their core-business. It is so important what they do for the communities, for the society, for the future generations.
by: Elissa De Coker, a Belgian student who is currently doing her internship with CorDisRDS.