UN Philippines chief briefs development partners on new initiative for revamped humanitarian response

Manila, 12 July 2023 — United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez met today with representatives from development partners for a briefing on the Enhancing Resilient Communities (ERC) Flagship Initiative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The briefing was participated in by representatives from the embassies of Australia, Canada, Colombia, the EU, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, among others.

"The ERC Flagship Initiative is an opportunity to develop a new paradigm for humanitarian assistance by enabling countries to adapt to the changing and more unpredictable nature of global crises, and to address issues raised by affected populations on the current model of humanitarian response," said Gonzalez..

The ERC Flagship Initiative will improve the coordination, delivery, and financing of humanitarian action through a new model that will empower crisis-affected people to engage with country-level humanitarian leadership, local organizations, and donors for the development of context-specific solutions.

A resilience-based approach will be taken, focusing not only on vulnerabilities and needs, but also community assets and expertise, and how capacities for risk adaptation can be developed before and after a disaster.

Furthermore, a mechanism for aid localization will be set up, allowing funding to be directly channeled to local non-government organizations.

"The ERC Flagship Initiative is a both an avenue by which donors can provide financial support, and a platform where they can share knowledge and expertise on best practices in humanitarian response," Gonzalez explained.

The ERC Initiative will be piloted in four countries (the Philippines, Niger, Colombia and South Sudan), and each country will be sharing its initiatives in order to develop approaches that can be scaled-up, replicated, and adapted to other contexts.

The Philippines was chosen as a pilot country because it ranked first among 193 countries in the 2022 World Risk Index and has faced devastating loss of life and assets due to natural disasters.

The ERC Flagship Initiative will be formally launched in November this year.