Two months after the successful roll-out of the first batch of training of facilitators on Disaster Law in the Philippines in September, 21 Philippine Red Cross volunteers and officers from three local chapters received training on disaster law and advocacy to strengthen PRC’s internal capacity and use these skills for the benefit of the communities that they serve.

The local level Disaster Law Programme orientation and training is part of the Philippine Red Cross Disaster Law Programme’s thrust to capacitate local chapters and communities on disaster law, and serves as an important highlight of PRC’s role as a leading actor of community-based driven advocacy and action in the region.

The strength of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement lies in its people. This is true for Philippine Red Cross, whose strength lies in its vast network of volunteers and chapters around the country, all gearing to bring community voices to the decision-making table.

The training was held from 27-29 November, in Tacloban, Leyte Province. The 21 participants, volunteers and officers coming from Leyte, Cebu and Ormoc Chapters, were selected due to their experience in serving communities severely affected by Typhoon Haiyan and, in the process, relationships that they have built with local government and non-government stakeholders.  Some of the trainees were also newly recruited volunteers who have just started

The training used the module developed for the Training of Chapter Facilitators but with more focus on knowledge transfer rather than facilitation skills. Trainees were highly interested in understanding the legal mandate of PRC in the Philippine disaster risk management system, local planning processes, and basic advocacy skills that they can apply at the community level.

The training was supported by the Regional Resilience Initiative, and is the first among a series of Disaster Law trainings that PRC will offer to its Chapters. Lessons learned from this pilot roll-out will feed into the continuous improvement of the disaster law training module in the Philippines.

See the activity report.