The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation recognized and awarded its partners and stakeholders for their contributions to the success of its 5-year community resilience initiative – Project Konek.
Project Konek, or Komunidad at Negosyo Tungo sa Katatagan, was started in 2017 by the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation in partnership with the USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance. The project aimed to build the disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) capabilities of communities and local government units (LGUs) in Makati and Quezon Cities through its three main components – (1) building the capacity of barangays (2) developing of public service continuity plan (PSCP) of the local government, and (3) strengthening public-private partnership between stakeholders.
PDRF recently held a closing ceremony to celebrate Project Konek’s milestones and achievements and recognize the contribution of partners and stakeholders to the success of the project. These include the Office of Civil Defense, Center for Disaster Preparedness, Philippine Geographical Society, Quezon City and Makati City DRRM Offices, and partner barangays. These partners have supported PDRF in the implementation of Project Konek activities such as the capacity building of barangays through workshops on evacuation camp management, participatory 3D mapping, contingency planning, and creating hazard maps.
“Taking all the three components of Project Konek together, we have created a mosaic of programs to prepare barangays, cities, and the Department of Energy as best we can for future challenges,” said PDRF President Butch Meily.
Through Project Konek’s PSCP Mentorship Program, Makati was able to develop its own PSC plan and became the first city in Metro Manila to complete and test its plan.
“The City of Makati is grateful to be one of the beneficiaries of Project Konek. With the PSCP as our guide, the city government will be able to resume operations faster and continue the delivery of essential services to residents and other stakeholders during emergencies,” said Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay in her opening remarks.
Quezon City has also followed suit and started developing its PSC plan and is continuously working with PDRF and its partners in improving and testing its effectiveness.
“Let us always remember that our greatest weapon in this battle is one person’s hand reaching out and the other person’s hand meeting it. We can call it the convergence of intention and action. Or we can just call it human connection: KoNek. Through our collective efforts, we can say that our goal of a genuinely resilient society is within reach,” said Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte during her speech at the event.
To learn more about Project Konek, visit www.pdrf.org/project-konek/
