CELEBRATING A DECADE OF SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION, WHILE LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
This year, still in the midst of the pandemic, the AHA Centre turned 10. A young age, but the Centre has gone through challenges in the past decade and transformed into a strong ASEAN regional organisation. To commemorate its 10th anniversary, the Centre hosted a virtual Partnership Forum on 26 November 2021. This event was designed to celebrate the partnership that has been forged over the years and to express appreciation to all partners and stakeholders for their support for the Centre and the region.
Attended by 195 participants from national disaster management organisations (NDMOs), Dialogue and Development Partners and partners of the AHA Centre, the Forum also provided an opportunity to the participants to learn more about the outcomes of their support through an exhibition of the AHA Centre Work Plan 2025.
Secretary-General of ASEAN H.E. Dato Lim Jock Hoi highlighted several significant achievements of the AHA Centre in the past 10 years, including the establishment of the ASEAN-Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT), the Disaster Emergency Logistics System of ASEAN (DELSA), and the ASEAN Village in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. “I also appreciate our close collaboration in responding to several major disasters, especially in helping alleviate the difficulties faced by the people of ASEAN through effective coordination with internal and external stakeholders,” said Dato Lim Jock Ho, who is also the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator (AHAC), during his opening remarks.
He also particularly acknowledged the role of the AHA Centre in the implementation of Point Four of the Five-Point Consensus agreed by the ASEAN Leaders Summit in April this year. Through the stewardship of and collaboration with the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) on the ground, medical supplies and ASEAN relief items have been distributed to the People of Myanmar. “This is testament to the AHA Centre’s successful and transformative role beyond its usual mandate,” he added.
Chairman of the Governing Board of the AHA Centre, Commissioner Eric Yap from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), mentioned that most recently the AHA Centre had also supported several ASEAN Member States in their COVID-19 response through the delivery of relief items from the ASEAN stockpile and donations from partners. “Partnerships play a vital role in the success of the AHA Centre. Cooperation with the ASEAN Dialogue Partners and international organisations has strengthened the operational function of the AHA Centre,” he emphasised.
The main item on the agenda of the Partnership Forum was the AHA Centre’s workplan exhibition. During this activity, the participants were directed into several breakout rooms, designed based on Priority Programmes (PPs), and had the opportunity to interact and comment through online tool Padlet. Each breakout room was facilitated by designated AHA Centre staff.
Executive Director of the AHA Centre Mr. Lee Yam Ming highlighted that the Partnership Forum was a platform to communicate with all partners who have been supporting the Centre, as well as potential new partners. “We’ve hosted this [Partnership Forum] as we regard our partners as important stakeholders in our efforts to achieve regional resiliency against disasters,” he said during his opening remarks. This year’s Partnership Forum, said Mr. Yam Ming, took on an additional important meaning as the AHA Centre turned 10 years old.
The establishment of the AHA Centre, he continued, reaffirmed ASEAN’s commitment to counter natural disasters through the mechanisms of regional cooperation under the guidance of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM). “The Centre has achieved a lot of things through provision of assistance, the development of systems and mechanisms that have contributed to the further enhancement of disaster resiliency in the region, and facilitating learning and knowledge exchange,” he concluded.
During the Partnership Forum, the AHA Centre also launched the Story of the AHA Centre video, which captured the journey of the Centre from the inception stage to the current era of transformation. Greeting videos from the ACDM, dialogue and development partners, and partners of the AHA Centre were also played during the event.
BREAKOUT ROOM
1) PP 1 on Risk Assessment and Monitoring and PP 2 on Prevention and Mitigation
- Under these priorities several participants expressed their interest in supporting forecasting and monitoring capacity for climate-related hazards, especially slow-onset disasters such as drought and the strengthening through partnership with relevant institutions of regional tsunami early-warning capacity.
2) PP 3 on Preparedness and Response and PP 4 on Resilient Recovery
- Participants provided their comments on and interest in the issues of human-induced crises, joint action plans with NGOs, civil society organisations and private sector entities for inclusion into standby arrangements under the AJDRP, as well as the development of ASEAN-ERAT.
3) PP 5 on Global Leadership
- Under this priority, participants discussed potential projects, including development programmes aimed at disaster management leaders and practitioners in ASEAN.
4) PP 6 on Corporate Governance
- In this breakout room, the discussion focused on open collaboration between partners and the AHA Centre by offering an approach to smarter, green, more effective and efficient organisation of the AHA Centre.
Written by : Yuniarti Wahyuningtyas, Moch Syifa | Photo Credit: AHA Centree
THE 15TH GOVERNING BOARD (GB) MEETING:
NEW TEAM, SAME DETERMINATION
This year’s AHA Centre Governing Board (GB) meeting was held online on 8 October 2021 and was chaired by the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF). It was the first GB meeting for Mr. Lee Yam Ming as the AHA Centre’s new Executive Director. The meeting discussed activities for the period of June to September 2021, as well as updates on the AHA Centre’s 10th Anniversary, the agenda for which was endorsed by the GB members.
Within the reporting period, the AHA Centre facilitated the procurement of DELSA relief items to support the COVID-19 response in three ASEAN Member States namely Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam with funding support from Direct Relief. The relief items were valued at USD 62,000 for each Member State. Malaysia received ICT equipment for hospitals and personal protective equipment, Thailand received personal hygiene kits for infants, elderly and disabled people and Viet Nam received medical face masks and thermal scanners.
In line with ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar the AHA Centre, as the operational lead facilitated the first delivery of COVID-19 assistance to the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS). This assistance was contributed by the Governments of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey, and Temasek Foundation International in the form of medical supplies and equipment worth USD 1.1 million. There were also cash contributions from the Philippines (USD 100,000); Singapore (USD 100,000) and Thailand (US$ 200,000), which were utilised to procure medical supplies.
In May the concept note of the third edition of the ASEAN Risk Monitor Report and Disaster Management Review (ARMOR 3) was approved by the AHA Center Working Group. The provisional theme of ARMOR 3 is: “When disasters and pandemics collide what does it mean to us (or ASEAN), now and into the future?” In July collaborators were called for and by 25 August, the AHA Centre had received 19 abstracts submitted by various institutions and following a review process the abstracts were shortlisted. The abstracts were reviewed by the board of editors in September and the article-writing process began. It is expected that final proofreading and production will be complete in December.
On 23 June, the AHA Centre and the Palu City administration in Indonesia launched the ASEAN Village along with a book called New Homes of Opportunities that documents the lessons learned from building the ASEAN Village, with testimonies from the beneficiaries and survivors of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in 2018. Other knowledge products released during the period included four volumes of The Column, season 1 of the AHA Centre podcast and the 2025 AHA Centre work plan. The AHA Centre will work with Edelman, a consultant provided by GIZ, to broaden its communications and outreach, including social media. The AHA Centre will also conduct an assessment of internal communication and crisis communication. The result of the assessment will be used to develop a crisis communication manual.
The AHA Centre engaged in 29 events and knowledge-exchange activities as speaker, participant or moderator, it also took part in 12 training courses, in roles ranging from facilitator and provider to participant and trainer. In further regard to training, during the period Batch Seven of AHA Centre Executive (ACE) Programme was launched with 21 participants from 10 Member States and 25 training partners with a blended training arrangement involving online, webinars and if possible onsite in 2022.
Overall June to September 2021 was a busy period as the AHA Centre continued to carry out its duties in line with the One ASEAN, One Response concept.
Written by : Michael Hillary Hegarty, Moch Syifa | Photo : AHA Centre
NOVA ELOIZA
As Mattie Stepanek once said, “Unity is strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved”. This is the perfect quote that I think of when we talk about this year’s AHA Centre Executive (ACE) Programme. Being chosen to join this programme was truly an honor, not only for me but for all the participants. Not everyone working in the field of disaster management gets to be part of this rare opportunity to learn and collaborate with some of the greatest minds in the field, and for that I am very privileged and thankful.
Though the methodology is quite different from previous batches, the AHA Centre still manages to deliver a comprehensive and effective training package for the ACE Programme’s Batch Seven. Aside from all relevant knowledge and information taught to us about disaster management in general, the programme has also introduced us to a variety of new online platforms that make the programme more exciting and interesting.
The ACE Programme is very important for me not only in terms of courses and learning but also in terms of collaboration. It has helped strengthen the partnership of all ASEAN member states to understand the vision of “One ASEAN, One Response” which was thoroughly discussed during our ASEAN Disaster Management Mechanism Course. The course further deepened our knowledge of the ASEAN Charter Principles, how the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response reflects its operational strategy, the core functions of the AHA Centre, and the different regional coordination tools. It also familiarized us with the interoperability or alignment between the AHA Centre disaster-management mechanisms and the various national mechanisms.
True to the ACE Programme theme of “Preparing Future ASEAN Leaders in Disaster Management”, our lectures and courses prepare us not only to become effective leaders in disaster management but also to be contributors and key players in our respective countries’ disaster-resiliency initiatives. The Project Management Course with the learning objective to build and strengthen our competency to design, plan and monitor projects, helped us to enhance our project-management skills that will be very useful for us. Our individual project proposals, as one of our major requirements to finish the programme, will enable us to push ourselves to the best of our limits. This will serve as the application of what we have learned from our previous courses and information sharing. Through the project proposal, the ACE Programme allows us to practice one of the most important roles of a disaster-management leader, to be a project manager who can plan, propose and implement.
Moreover, I really liked the fact that we all get to share our best practices, knowledge, skills and experiences with one another. From the interactive and thought-provoking sessions to the simple discussions and sharing of experiences, I can say that so far this has been a great learning experience and I believe that all of it will help me in my career as a disaster-management professional. I also feel fortunate to have met friends and professionals like me who share the same passion for disaster management.
And as we continue in our ACE Programme journey for the next couple of months, we will undertake all the remaining courses of the programme. Certainly, there will be heaps of future challenges, new experiences and things to learn. I know it will not be easy, but I know that these courses will help us attain the four core competencies that we need to embody as ACE Programme graduates namely, expertise in humanitarian assistance; collaboration in humanitarian assistance; being result-oriented; and effective leadership. With the continued support and encouragement of the AHA Centre, especially the ACE Programme organisers, I know all Batch Seven participants will continue to strive to be the best. We will continue soaring high and dreaming big as a result of the positive results and outcomes of this programme. We know all our hard work and sacrifices will somehow contribute to the disaster resiliency not only of our respective countries but also for the whole of the ASEAN region.
Written by: Nova Eloiza, ACE Programme Batch Seven – the Philippines | Photo Credit : Nova Eloiza Ybañez
AHACKATHON:
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP IN INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Constructive engagement and networking with partners are among the key strengths of the AHA Centre.
A strong example of this can be found in the recent staging of the AHAckathon app design and programming competition in October, a component of the Humanitarian Emergency Logistics Innovation Expo (HELiX) held in May this year, organised by the AHA Centre and the Viet Nam Disaster Management Agency.The AHAckathon united more than 50 participants in seven teams from 11 countries from ASEAN and beyond in fostering new innovative ideas and solving contemporary challenges in the field of humanitarian logistics and disaster management. Key to the success of this competition was the partnership between the AHA Centre and Impact Week, a non-profit organisation and programme dedicated to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship through the concept of Design Thinking.
Impact Week has been running similar events to the AHAckathon since 2015 with over 2,000 students involved in the past, and Impact Week’s latest partnership with the AHA Centre was brought about through mutual partnership with HELP Logistics, another longtime network of the AHA Centre and sponsor of Impact Week Jordan 2019.
As has been the case with many organisations, the pandemic in 2020 necessitated transition to virtual events, including HELiX itself and the AHAckathon. Impact Week’s expertise was crucial in this successful transition and the execution of the AHAckathon as a fully virtual event. Furthermore, the AHAckathon was special both because of its focus as an app programming competition, and the next-level integration of the Discord messaging software and MURAL collaborative design board as the platform for the competition – an aspect consistently praised by the participants, alongside the learning experience with humanitarian-logistics and disaster-management experts. In this regard, the execution of the AHAckathon as a fully-online event was also further enhanced by the usage of launchlabs’ Berlin virtual studio and green screen, a key technical implementation by Impact Week and launchlabs, which resulted in the online event’s top-class professional quality streaming and recording.
Another key contribution and support from Impact Week in the AHAckathon’s execution was the steadfast and circumspect guidance of the coaches in guiding the participant teams through the Design Thinking approach to systematically reframe and conceptualise the challenges in the competition, enabling them to truly develop and implement their innovative ideas into working app prototypes aimed at solving the relevant issues and needs present in the field of humanitarian logistics.
In conclusion, with its fruitful discussions, ideas and engagement with partners, the AHAckathon has been a constructive experience and example of the strengths of innovation and cooperation; key aspects that will certainly shape the next steps of the AHA Centre especially as it entered its 10th anniversary in November this year.
Written by : Yohanes Paulus, DELSA Programme Assistant | Photo Credits: AHA Centre and Michael Koegel