RISE Benguet project launched to support BLISTT communities

RESILIENCE, INNOVATION, SUSTAINABILITY, EMPOWERMENT. (left photo) RISE Benguet project manager Levy Gutierrez gives an overview of the three-year project which is focused on capacitating civil society organizations toward a resilient community during disasters, chronic shocks, and stressors, during the project launch on March 7, 2023, at the Ion Hotel in Baguio City.

CEREMONIAL SIGNING. Itogon Municipal mayor Bernard S. Waclin, Tublay Municipal Mayor Armando Lauro, and other LGU leaders and representatives sign a pledge of commitment and assure support to the RISE Benguet Project during the project launch on Tuesday at the Ion Hotel in Baguio City. Photo by: Merriam del Rosario

BAGUIO CITY – On Tuesday, March 7, 2023, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the Center for Development Programs in Cordillera (CDPC), and the Jaime Ongpin Foundation, Inc. (JVOFI) launched RISE Benguet, a three-year consortium project aimed at supporting local government units (LGUs), civil society organizations (CSOs), and government line agencies in the Baguio City, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tublay, and Tuba (BLISTT) communities.

The project, which stands for “Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, and Empowerment,” was introduced during a launch ceremony at the Ion Hotel, here.

The event was attended by representatives from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Local chief executives of the BLISTT, together with sector representatives from various CSOs, including women, youth, farmers, and persons with disabilities, also participated in the project’s launch.

The RISE Benguet launch intends to gather and inform the stakeholders of its goals, objectives, and activities, as well as to seek their support and commitment to forge partnerships with the Consortium throughout the three-year implementation of the project.

It also hopes to serve as a multi-stakeholder platform to strengthen the linkage and collaboration among CSOs, LGUs, and the implementing agencies of disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) and climate change adaptation and mitigation (CCAM), towards a better disaster and climate risk governance.

The project aims to improve the resilience of at-risk communities to manage the disaster risks, adapt, and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change by strengthening CSOs’ engagement in public decision-making processes, social accountability, DRRM, and CCAM.

“Our interviews with LGUs in the BLISTT area admitted a relevant need to address the resilience aspect of DRRM-CCAM, but it is limited with technical competency. Meaningful participation of our CSOs in local development bodies also remains a challenge due to internal governance weaknesses and low recognition of their capacity in decision-making, hence, underperformance in participatory local development bodies,” RISE Benguet project manager Levy Gutierrez said.

“These are the circumstances which the RISE Benguet Project hopes to address,” Gutierrez added.

The project will be implemented within three (3) years in the BLISTT communities and will offer capacity building to the CSOs on community-based DRRM and CCAM, local governance processes, and organizational development and strengthening activities.

The capacity development package will enable them to effectively push for DRRM–CCAM reforms in local development councils and eventually access increased funding for gender-sensitive and inclusive resilience projects for their respective communities.

“The project will also grant funding for potential resilience projects to be proposed and managed by the communities. This way, we encourage community ownership of DRRM-CCAM-related projects, which is a way to sustain the initiative even after the project ends,” Gutierrez said.

RISE Benguet is expected to benefit about 500,000 individuals in the BLISTT, including farmers, indigenous peoples, women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

The European Union has awarded a grant of EUR 620,000.00 to support the RISE Benguet project. # Merriam del Rosario // FNS