PH hosts global webinar on disaster preparedness

The Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF) shows collaborative private sector preparedness for and recovery from disasters in the Philippines: (L-R) PLDT Chairman and PDRF Co-Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, PDRF President Rene S. Meily, IBM Philippines President and CGM Mariels Almeda Winhoffer, Ayala Corp Chairman, CEO and PDRF Co-Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, NCC Co-Chair and PDRF Advisor Guillermo Luz. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will host a global webinar this Wednesday night, November 26, on building disaster management partnerships.

Hosted by the Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the live online event is scheduled at 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Philippine time.

Rene “Butch” S. Meily, President of Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF), will share the efforts and successes of Philippine businesses in responding and helping in times of calamity, especially during the onslaught of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” and during the recovery and rehabilitation phase of disaster-hit areas.

Meily will be joined by Samantha Penabad, a strategy consultant with Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) and Stuart Reid, co-founder of The Partnering Initiative (TPI).

The resource speakers will discuss the importance of partnership across sectors to support preparedness, response, and recovery during calamities.

They will look at various models and leading practices in the Philippines, in the Asia-Pacific region, and globally.

The interactive discussion will also look at both challenges and opportunities, and seek to collect best practice and lessons learned from a wide audience.

The webinar is part of the World Humanitarian Summit consultations on “The Power of Business in Emergencies. ” The online event will take place a week before the Asia Regional Business Consultation in Bangkok on December 2.

The webinar will explore and capture private sector perspectives on how the business community can coordinate itself to engage more systematically in support of emergency preparedness and response, in complement to and in partnership with governments and humanitarian organizations.

Key points from the online discussion will be brought to the table at the Asia Regional Business Consultation in Bangkok on December 2, which will be co-hosted by PDRF, ADP, and OCHA.

“PDRF was born as a public-private partnership and our whole focus has been on building partnerships among international agencies, the national and local governments, NGOs and the private sector, said Meily.

Organizers said interested parties may register at https://www.phap.org/26Nov2014/register.

Webinar event schedule: Wednesday, November 26, 2014,

New York        10:00 – 11:30

Geneva            14:00 – 15:30

Bangkok          20:00 – 21:30

Manila             21:00 – 22:30

The event will also be live stream at phap.org/26Nov2014/watch .

You can take part in the discussion before, during, and after the event on Twitter by following @PHAPforum and use hashtag #ReShapeAid.

(Webinar direct link: https://bit.ly/Nov269pm or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGrIO540xsE)