On May 24, 2018, the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) was invited to be part of a panel with the Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), and the Provincial Government of Cebu. The panel was chaired by the Partnerships Brokers Association and aimed to show best practices in multi-stakeholder collaborations.

CODE-NGO was there to share their experiences with their current partnership with HLA. The partnership entails a pilot of mixed learning courses on Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction Management and the conduct of a Service Continuity Planning Workshop for three sub-national DRRM hubs of CODE-NGO located in Benguet, Cebu, and CARAGA. The project is aptly called Blended Learning Approach to Strength DRRM or BLAST DRRM.

CODE-NGO is the largest coalition of CSO Networks comprised of 6 National Networks and 6 Sub-National Networks. Our member base is comprised of around more than 1,600 base NGOs, people’s organizations and cooperatives across the country. Yet, we wouldn’t have been as big nor effective in our operations if not for the cornerstone of our organization which is our collaborative partnership with our member networks and base organizations, and partners in development.

A challenge for Philippine CSOs not only in the field of DRR, is capacity building and knowledge exchange. The Philippines, with its beautiful archipelagic islands, faces the challenge in logistics, resources and social and cultural differences. This is where our partnership with HLA takes shape and adds value to our DRR initiatives. Our organization has now changed gears in capacity building since last year to put focus on strategic ways to promote innovation and excellence in our capacity development, research, communication and advocacy work. HLA has been a valuable partner in realizing these efforts. With HLA supporting our BLAST Project, we have been able to shift our training delivery and introduce new ways of learning with effective use of technology.

Partnerships like the one fostered by HLA with our organization has given us ways to experiment and find innovation. This month marks a year into the partnership and I have nothing but good to say with the people I have worked with together in HLA. On a personal note, I am the part of a generation which you would call a “Millennial”, a term that is ever popular nowadays. We have been known much for being the ones most quick to adapt to technology and have the eagerness to think outside the box. CODE-NGO as an organization has never failed to support my non-traditional take on things and my favor to journey into the new and experiential. The Humanitarian Leadership Academy as a partner fueled these innovative methods we presented and gave us a way to use a different approach in preparing and taking disasters head on. Working with HLA is unlike working with a new set of people with different goals, we were able to harmonize by finding what we can contribute to achieve a common objective. During numerous collaborations under the project, I’ve never felt discriminated due to age or experience, especially since I am quite new to the DRR Sector. The team instead encouraged me to bring out my ideas on instructional design to create the blended learning modules we will be using on the project.

CODE-NGO encourages more partnerships like these to be extended to CSOs in the Philippines — partnerships wherein there is genuine belief in a shared goal and one that encourages not only the completion of a project but also avenues for sustainable growth and innovation.

John Joel De Guzman is the Project Coordinator of the BLAST DRRM Project.