In February, Paul Erik, Lykke and Christian traveled to Manila, Philippines. The goal was to end our joint partnership activities with our partner, Alterplan, which had been operating since April 2014. During the project period, we have worked among other things to strengthen DIB and Alterplan's competencies in relation to organizational structures, financial management, etc., and Alterplan has carried out a thorough screening process of possible partners to continue the project. The activities have contributed to the approval of a larger application, which we submitted in the fall of 2014. Our new 3-year project thus also had to be started, in continuation of the partnership activity, so there was plenty to address.
Meetings in Manila
We started off with a series of meetings with Alterplan in Manila in the first week, ending with a large presentation of Alterplan's updated version of the disaster prevention manual - focusing on the involvement of public organizations. It was a great presentation with the participation of the 4 new local partners, including representatives from both local NGOs, civil society organizations and local authorities. In addition, the network members PHILSSA and NFR were present as well as the national authorities at HUDCC and DILG.
Tour with site visit
Then the trip took off and we traveled from Manila onwards to the Philippines. The whole trip lasted almost three weeks, with both DIB and Alterplan visiting the cities of Cebu, Legazpi, Ligao and Ubay. During the visits to these cities, we held a large number of introductory meetings, with information about the project content, Danish development assistance, training on methodological approaches to research and activities and much more. These meetings were attended by local partners, local residents from selected slums, local authorities and the press. The trip around the Philippines, in particular, gave DIB the opportunity to see the new project areas to be worked on over the next three years and to meet the local partners.
It was a great experience to meet people from the slums and gain a greater insight into the challenges they face on a daily basis. It is our great hope that we will be able to continue to contribute to the development of disaster prevention and improvement of living conditions for the many poor and vulnerable people in the Philippines for many years to come.
