PPP to bolster MSMEs' resilience to catastrophes launched

The government, business, and development sectors have agreed to collaborate on a two-year project designed to help Filipino micro-, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) improve their ability to plan for and rebound quickly from devastating calamities.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) led signing ceremonies on July 26 in Makati City for the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the project called "Strengthening MSME Disaster Resilience in the Philippines."

Besides DTI, seven other parties signed the MOU. They are the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management-Philippines (A-PAD), Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).

At the project launch, the participating groups noted the need to improve the awareness and capability of MSMEs to handle shared risks to the community and to business continuity arising from disasters. They said the pact seeks to fill that need by implementing different activities that will contribute to improving MSME disaster resilience.

The Philippines is visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year. In a study, the World Bank estimates that the country incurs about R15 billion in direct damages from disasters, equivalent to 0.7% of the annual GDP. These disasters not only impact public infrastructure but also private property and economic activities. When super-typhoon Yolanda hit the country in November 2013, damages and losses to the private sector amounted to R377 million. The most badly affected were the sectors of agriculture, trade, industry, and services.

For the project, agreed areas for collaboration include those on initiating business continuity awareness and capacity-building activities, and on knowledge and expertise sharing in business continuity management, especially in risk assessment and contingency planning.

Additionally, the groups will cooperate with other key stakeholders in the fields of MSME development and disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation to encourage the adoption of business continuity management by communities and small establishments.

They are likewise going to push for the "Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030" to be implemented in the Philippines. The framework-adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015-outlines seven targets and four priorities for action to prevent new disaster risks reduce existing ones.

The MSME disaster resilience initiative is one of the many activities the public and private sectors are implementing together to achieve the ultimate goal of crafting a roadmap for MSME disaster resilience.

The project will run for 24 months, from July 26, 2016 to July 24, 2018.

The agreement was signed by DTI Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya, OCD Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, PCCI president George Barcelon, PDR president Rene Meily, A-PAD Philippines cochair Lourdes Escandor, PhilExport president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr., ECOP president Donald Dee, and ADPC chair Krasae Chanawongse. (PNF)