The new United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) will be launched tonight (February 24, 2011)

You can watch it from 6:30-8:00pm live on their website - link to UN WOMEN 

IIRR focuses its work on women and youth as key populations in the fight against poverty and applauds the creation of UN Women. 

We will be watching tonight and hope you will be too!

Click here to DONATE NOW in support of education and asset building for women

For more infomation, please visit IIRR's website 

NEW PROGRAM SPECIALISTS JOIN THE ASIA TEAM AT IIRR

signal the rebirth of the Regional Center for Asia

We are pleased to announce the appointment of the following new program specialists at the Regional Center for Asia!

 

SHEILAH S. VERGARA, Program Specialist, Training and Capacity Development 

Sheilah served a three-year stint with IIRR in 2006-09 as Project Manager, Community Agricultural Technology Project (CATP). Sheilah has 22 years of work experience in the government, corporate and non-government organizations. With 13 years focused on implementing and handling international development projects all over the Philippines. She served as Training Officer for the AP Renewables Inc. (APRI) (Power Generation), Makati City, mainly responsible for designing, directing and managing a company-wide process of organizational development through superior workforce development, key employee retention, organization design and change management; direct a process of organizational planning that evaluates company structure, job design and personnel forecasting throughout the company; evaluate plans and make recommendations to HR Manager and executive management; oversee development of training programs, contracts, and budgets; perform needs assessments of the types of training needed; determine the best means of delivering training; responsible for the entire learning process to ensure that the course meets its objectives;  and evaluate training courses to understand how learning impacts performance.

Sheilah has a Bachelor of Science degree in Development Communication major in Development Journalism, a Masters degree in Management major in Agribusiness Management and Ph.D. units in Environmental Science and Management from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. 

 

FERNANDO J. BALMACEDA, Program Specialist, Agriculture and Natural Resources Management 

Prior to IIRR, Ferdie was a Field Program Coordinator (Bicol Region) of the Millennium Development Goal Fund (MDG-F) Joint Program, focused on ensuring food security and nutrition for children jointly funded by the UNICEF, WHO, World Food Program (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ILO and the Spanish government.  Ferdie also served as a consultant to the Agrarian Reform Communities Project (ARCP2) of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and to Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Studies and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). From 2008 to 2009, Ferdie worked with Children International as Programs Manager, an international NGO focused on planning and implementing community-oriented initiatives on education, livelihood, health and nutrition.

Ferdie obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture, major in Plant Pathology from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He has Master of Public Administration units from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. 

The new hiring reflects the rebirth of the Asia team and the move towards a new and more dynamic program with our partners to overcome poverty and improve the lives of our learning communities.

The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and Lutheran World Relief-Philippines will be launching a new manual on 'Integrating Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) in Community Development and Local Government Planning'.

The Manual is a set of 3 books. Book 1 is all about"Concepts and Principles of CMDRR". Book 2 is focused on 'CMDRR in Community Development' and Book 3 is on 'CMDRR in Local Government Planning'.

Partners and Friends of IIRR are cordially invited!

February 22, 2011, 3:30pm at IIRR's YC James Yen Center, Jim Johnson Hall (in Silang, Cavite)

Guest of Honor - Ms Yoko Saito of UNCRD - Disaster Management Office, Hyogo, Japan

We hope to see you there!

Revision of United Nations Center for Regional Development's  User’s Guide on Community Based Disaster Management

(Silang, Cavite, Philippines) Selected Local Government Units and IIRR along with other Civil Society Organizations in the Philippines will be taking part in the revisions of the User’s Guide on Sustainable Community Based Disaster Management of the United Nations Center for Regional Development or UNCRD through a Consultative Workshop to be held on February 10, 2011 at IIRR's campus in Silang, Cavite, Philippines.

The last edition of the User's Guide was published in 2004 highlighting various tools, methodologies and case studies focused on Community Based Disaster Management. The overall goal of UNCRD's Community Based Diaster Management work is to achieve safety and sustainability of livelihoods for effective disaster mitigation, focusing on three key elements: self-help, co-operation, and education. 

Recently, UNCRD held an Expert’s Meeting in Kobe, Japan and agreed to update and revise the User’s Guide on CBDM. UNCRD recognized the need to integrate Climate Change Adaptation and new updates related to disaster risk reduction and management into the User’s Guide.

As a partner of UNCRD, the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction will take the lead in revising “Tools for Local Disaster Managers” and “Tools for Community Workers” sections of the User's Guide.

The Local Government Units who will be joining the Consultative Workshop includes the Province of Albay, Municipality of Dumangas in Iloilo, Tagaytay City, San Pedro City in Laguna, Municipalities of Silang, Noveleta, Naic, Bacoor and Rosario in Cavite and Makati City Government.
The CSO Sector will be represented by Care Nederlands, Center for Disaster Preparedness, Ecosystems Works for Essential Benefits, and Mahintana Foundation along with IIRR.

The Consultative workshop aims to present initial comments on and critiques of the User’s Guide while integrating climate change adaptation and highlighting best practices and case studies related to the Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.

A UNCRD Representative from Kobe, Japan will be arriving in the Philippines at the end of the month during the Validation Workshop to review the draft of the Revised User’s Guide.

 

For more on IIRR's Disaster Risk Reduction, please see:

Photo Album - Applied Learning of Disaster Risk Reduction in the community

Kobe, Japan Conference Participation, IIRR

Study on Impacts of Climate Change on Kenyan Pastoralists

IIRR highlights continued need for Disaster Risk Reduction

IIRR conducts Applied Learning (training sessions) for development professionals, community leaders, government officials and local leaders in Africa and Asia.

Please visit our Training Calendar to review upcoming sessions and to register - 

IIRR Training Calendar

IIRR leads a discussion on building community leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) International Disaster Management Symposium

Ms. Emily Monville Oro, IIRR Philippines Representative, presented case studies from IIRR’s community-focused work in Bicol, Philippines and led a discussion on Early Warning Systems and contingency planning within a Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction framework to more than 200 scientists and specialists at the UNCRD symposium in January 2011 in Kobe, Japan. Ms. Oro also participated in a roundtable that concluded Disaster Risk Reduction guidelines and toolkits must be revised with Climate Change Adaptation in mind. In response UNCRD has decided to revise its “Sustainable Community-Based Disaster Management Practices in Asia” to focus on India, Bangladesh, Fiji, and the Philippines. IIRR will be a contributor to the new publication, revising guidelines for community workers and local representatives. IIRR has also recently developed plans for a sourcebook on Participatory Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Methods and Tools to be aimed at local community leaders and local governments and is looking for partners in this potential writeshop.  

For more information, please contact Emily Monville Oro at IIRR, Philippines.