The Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA) project team went to visit the hub meetings of the Cordillera Network of Development NGOs and POs (CORDNET) and the Central Visayas Network of NGOs (CENVISNET) to conduct a short orientation on the BLAST DRRM, short for Blended Learning Approach to Strengthen DRRM Training course. The project entails using blended learning with a mix of face-to-face and online interactions to introduce staff and would-be DRRM champions to the complicated world of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. The orientation gave the project team time to level off with partner members who will be part of the pilot training and to get their commitments to taking the courses.

Project Coordinator, JJ De Guzman, discussed the overview of the project, it’s importance, and challenges that learners and the project team would face once the course is being piloted. The training program was met with excitement as member networks and base organizations were able to try and see the Linking DRR-CCA module of the training program that is already available on KayaConnect for testing purposes.

Learners were able to quickly finish the trial module, using less time than the project team anticipated. This means that the course is definitely efficient, fast to learn from, and enjoyable for the learners who were able to try it out. The full modules are still under development while the Pilot Training has been moved to July and August 2018.