JAKARTA, 3 December 2021 – The ASEAN Secretariat in the collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) East Asia and Pacific organised the “Workshop on Financing Responses to Disasters and Shocks: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges in Disaster Risk Financing and Disaster Responsive Social Protection in Southeast Asia” on 1 December, via videoconference.
The objective of the workshop was to share findings from a regional landscape analysis — undertaken by UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific — on disaster risk financing and shock responsive social protection in ASEAN, and to discuss ways to operationalise policy recommendations to strengthen financing mechanisms for resilience building and disaster response in Southeast Asia.
The research is part of the The Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission (ECHO) supported ASEAN-UN joint project ‘Scaling up Forecast based Financing/ Early Warning Early Action and shock responsive social protection’.
Speaking on behalf of Co-Chairs of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management Working Group on Prevention and Mitigation, Director Susana G. Juangco of the Philippines’ Office of Civil Defence, opened the workshop and stressed on the discussion’s core contribution to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Plan 2021-2025 and the implementation of the ASEAN Guidelines on Disaster Responsive Social Protection to Increase Resilience.
Representatives from various sectors of ASEAN Member States, such as Disaster Management, Health, Finance and Insurance, and Social Welfare and Gender, as well as the ASEAN Secretariat further contributed in enhancing the research findings.
The workshop concluded that the existing financing gap between large-scale disasters and smaller but more regular shocks was the most pressing challenge in ASEAN. The compelling need to establish an efficient and pre-arranged Disaster Risk Financing, Public Finance Management and Shock Responsive Social Protection mechanisms, was also highlighted by the participants.
The improvement of disaster risk financing for social protection in ASEAN requires strong pre-existing core social protection systems, as well as striking a balance between national social protection instruments and local delivery and financing.
It was also agreed that social protection, public finance management and risk analytics agendas are priorities for ASEAN to pursue.
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