Vol 44-The 9th Meeting of The Governing Board of The AHA Centre

/ / AHA Centre Diary 3

THE 9th MEETING

 OF THE GOVERNING BOARD
OF THE AHA CENTRE

Putrajaya, Malaysia was the venue for the 9th Meeting of the Governing Board of the AHA Centre, held during the first week of October, 2018. Alongside representatives from the ten ASEAN Member States, the meeting was also attended by representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat and the AHA Centre. The meeting was chaired by Dato’ Mohtar Bin Mohd. Abd. Rahman, the Director-General of the National Disaster Management Agency of Malaysia (NADMA), who expressed his condolences and support to the communities affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.

During the meeting, the AHA Centre provided an update on its implementation of the AHA Centre Work Plan 2020 – having recently concluded the workplan’s mid-term review. This provided an opportunity to present the Governing Board with a number of key outcomes achieved by the AHA Centre in recent times, alongside progress updates on some new and innovative activities to increase the capacity and quality of disaster management in the ASEAN region. The presentation also highlights the implementation of the AHA Centre Executive Programme Phase II, the transformation plan for the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT), and the AHA Centre’s numerous emergency responses throughout 2018.

A key outcome achieved during these series of meetings was the increase of annual contributions to the AHA Centre Fund, which from 2019 will increase from USD 50,000 to USD 90,000 from each of the 10 Member States. This decision forms a key step to realising the sustainability of the AHA Centre into the future, and ultimately a stronger and more united ASEAN in the face of natural disaster. The 9th Governing Board meeting was held concurrently with a number of other key strategic events, including the 33rd Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), the 10th Meeting of the Joint Task Force to Promote Synergy with Other Relevant ASEAN Bodies on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), the 6th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM), and the 7th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response.

Written by : Dipo Summa, William Shea | Photo : AHA Centre