Significant weather activity during the middle of October, 2020, saw the AHA Centre mobilised ASEAN relief items in response to Tropical Storms LINFA and NANGKA that struck Viet Nam. Supported through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), the relief items were airlifted from the Disaster Emergency Logistics System for ASEAN (DELSA) regional stockpile in Subang, Malaysia, with the assistance of the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD). The items included 1,300 kitchen sets and 1,000 shelter repair kits, and reached Da Nang International Airport, Viet Nam in the evening of the 20th of October.

Ms Adelina Kamal, the Executive Director of the AHA Centre, stated that the AHA Centre worked closely with the Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – Viet Nam Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, to monitor the impact of Tropical Storms LINFA and NANGKA. “We also intensified our disaster monitoring efforts from early October, after identifying the formation of the tropical storms,” Ms Kamal explained.

According to Ms Kamal, the relief items represent the tangible assistance and solidarity of the ASEAN nations, under the spirit of ‘One ASEAN, One Response’. This was also the AHA Centre’s first natural disaster response amidst the COVID-19 pandemic context, which meant that most preparations, including at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), were conducted remotely.

The disaster response effort within the pandemic context created a range of other new challenges for the AHA Centre team. Engaging partners and all other response stakeholders within a remote environment was a primary focus of the AHA Centre, as it worked out new and innovative ways to ensure its primary role was fulfilled regardless of the limitations caused by the situation. On 15 October, the AHA Centre organised an online Executive Briefing for all ASEAN Member States, diplomatic missions and humanitarian partners, together with the Secretary-General of ASEAN and the Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority. This gathering worked to provide situational awareness and a common operating overview of the impacts resulting from Tropical Storms LINFA and NANGKA in the ASEAN region. The briefing was attended by over 40 invitees, including the Secretary-General of ASEAN H.E. Dato Lim Jock Hoi and the Deputy Director-General of the Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority (VNDMA) Mr. Nguyen Van Tien. Both these key stakeholders also provided strong and clear input during the Executive Briefing.

The widespread floods caused by Tropical Storms LINFA and NANGKA not only affected multiple provinces through central Viet Nam, but also impacted other areas in Cambodia and Lao PDR. More than 800,000 people in Viet Nam were affected by the storms, with more than 66,500 people evacuated. The AHA Centre remained on stand-by to support and coordinate with the Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority, as well as continue to monitor the situation in Viet Nam and other ASEAN countries. “We do hope that the relief items will lighten up the spirit of the communities affected by the storms in central Viet Nam,” Ms Kamal added.

Written by : Moch Syifa | Photo Credit : VNDMA for AHA Centre

The ASEAN Standards and Certification for Experts in Disaster Management (ASCEND) Project was developed from the challenge faced by National Disaster Management Organisations (NDMOs) of ASEAN Member States and the AHA Centre when responding on the ground to a large-scale disaster. In these circumstances, humanitarian actors engage from many different organisations, institutions, private companies, as well as individuals, to provide various kinds of support to those affected. While these stakeholders often hold the capacity to respond, there remained a challenge in identifying and validating their specific skills for coordination purposes.

On the 22nd September 2020, the ASCEND Project was officially launched through a joint launching ceremony, opened by the Secretary-General of ASEAN H.E. Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to ASEAN H.E. Lim Sungnam, and the AHA Centre’s Executive Director, Ms Adelina Kamal. Many ASEAN disaster management community stakeholders attended the ASCEND launching event, as well as representatives from AHA Centre donors and partners.

The ASCEND programme was developed to validate, and thus provide recognition, to specific skills and competencies held by individuals working in the disaster management sector. This certification will help the AHA Centre and ASEAN Member States to determine the skills and expertise available for both deploying or receiving support teams at times of disaster. Alongside this, competency standards can also serve as a credible reference to guide disaster management institutions and organisations when they are developing their own specific training programmes. For individuals, this certification will support their continuous learning and career progression within the disaster management sector.

From 2016-2019, led by the National Disaster Management Agency of Indonesia (BNPB) through its Competency Certification Office (LSP-PB), the first phase of the ASCEND Project developed a foundation for future efforts through the endorsement of the ASCEND Framework by the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management. As well as the ASCEND Framework’s endorsement, the standard competencies for the first five disaster management professions were identified and provided. These professions are: Rapid Assessment; Humanitarian Logistics; Shelter Management; Emergency Operations Centre, and; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

After the completion of ASCEND phase one in early 2020, the AHA Centre received confirmation of generous support from the Republic of Korea through the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund (AKCF). This support will allow for the ASCEND development to continue for the next three years. In implementing the ASCEND project, the AHA Centre will also collaborate with the Korean National Fire Agency (KNFA), where both parties will benefit through the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and activities including conducting a joint event.

The three years of ASCEND Project phase two implementation is aimed towards institutional and technical preparation. For institutions, the project will prepare relevant institutions that will implement the ASCEND certification process, including a Competency Body, Certifying Body and Assessment Providers. For the technical side, the project will prepare technical tools such as an ASCEND toolbox, training and certification management systems necessary to guide and document the certification process. Following the institutional and technical preparation, the project will conduct a certification assessment pilot for the first five professions, while continuing to promote and increase awareness of ASCEND throughout ASEAN target groups. This pilot activity will provide feedback for learning and iterative improvements before the ASCEND Programme is scaled-up.

This forms an exciting journey for the AHA Centre and the ASEAN Member States to ensure this initiative further contributes to the realisation of ASEAN’s goal to become a global leader in disaster management by 2025, as articulated in the ASEAN Vision 2025 on Disaster Management. The AHA Centre, through the ASCEND Project, looks forward to working closely with the Republic of Korea, NDMOs, the ASEAN community, and AHA Centre partners, in enhancing regional resilience with more competent disaster management experts available in the region.

Written by : Andrew Mandranugraha / Ririn Dwi Haryani | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

Held two times each year, this instalment of the Governing Board of the AHA Centre was originally slated to be held during April 2020. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 12th Meeting of the Governing Board of the AHA Centre was re-scheduled into August 2020, and engaged the 10 National Disaster Management Organisations from ASEAN Member States to meet in an online environment.

With the situation meaning that the Philippines hosting a physical face-to-face meeting was no longer possible, the Governing Board agreed to implement it in an online fashion, making this the first time this key event has been undertaken online. The meeting was held back-to-back along with the 36th Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), and the 13th Meeting of the Joint Task Force (JTF) to Promote Synergy with Other Relevant ASEAN Bodies on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR). These events all took place from the 11 – 12 August 2020, with the 12th Meeting of the Governing Board taking place in the afternoon of August 12.

Similar to regular meetings of the Governing Board, the AHA Centre usually uses the forum to update the Governing Board of its activities spanning the period from the last such meeting, which in this case took place in October 2019. This year’s meeting was quite unique, not only because of the pandemic context, but also as 2020 forms the end of the AHA Centre’s 5-year work plan. The AHA Centre used this momentum to continue discussions on rethinking the vision and mission of the AHA Centre for the coming five years and beyond. The timing of the meeting was also in-sync with the Governing Board members (in their role as the ACDM) developing a new cycle of the AADMER Work Programme for 2021-2025.

In addition to discussions on rethinking the AHA Centre’s vision and mission, the meeting was also utilised to launch three key AHA Centre publications. The first was the AHA Centre Annual Report 2019, that focused on the theme of ‘Unfolding Future’, with the report highlighting the focus of the AHA Centre in 2019 towards continuing its expansion and development for the future. The second publication was the After-Action Review of the AHA Centre emergency response operations in 2018 – a year in which the AHA Centre responded to 7 back-to-back disaster events. Finally, the AHA Centre launched the second edition of the ASEAN Risk Monitor and Disaster Management Review (ARMOR), that focuses on the theme of Climate Emergencies. Named “Time is Running Out: Why ASEAN Must Act Now against Climate Emergencies”, the journal uses both historical data and the most up-to-date information, trends, and risk profiles of the ASEAN countries with regards to climate change and disasters.

The 12th Meeting of the Governing Board of the AHA Centre was officially closed by Undersecretary Ricardo B. Jalad, the Administrator of the Office of Civil Defense of the Philippines, who was serving as the Chairperson of the Governing Board. The 13th Meeting of the Governing is scheduled to be held at the end of November 2020, and will be most likely be once again held in an online environment.

Written by : Dipo Summa | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

The AHA Centre has been implementing working from home arrangements since March 2020, in order to ensure the safety and well-being of its staff during the global pandemic. Adapting to these new working arrangements has been challenging, especially due to the collaborative nature of the AHA Centre’s work. Facilitating collaboration without having direct physical interaction can be tricky, but the AHA Centre has determined to adapt to this new working environment. As an organisation specialising in disaster management and emergency response, the AHA Centre understands that while contexts such as this bring significant upheaval, they also present opportunities to revise and improve.

During the second week of July 2020 the AHA Centre undertook its Mid-Term Review (MTR) workshop. This is an annual activity in which the AHA Centre seeks to assess the progress made towards achieving planned objectives in comparison to its annual work plan. This year’s MTR, however, would be very different from the previous years, as this was the first time that the MTR was conducted fully online.

The event was delivered to 42 participants through numerous sessions across five days. It included briefings on the organisation’s work, group sessions to review the work plan for the upcoming term, as well as sessions to provide strategy and direction for programme continuity within the pandemic and ‘new normal’ contexts. There was no shortage of challenges in implementing this year’s MTR, including the logistical challenge to identify the right platform to support collaboration among all AHA Centre staff. In order to facilitate this collaboration, the AHA Centre made use a number of online collaborative tools including MIRO and Wooclap.

Another key challenge was maintaining staff enthusiasm and spirit for the entire duration of the workshop. The online environment has a number of limitations, in particular limitations on communicating and exchanging ideas and information freely. A lack of non-verbal communication can be tiring, and when people are tired enthusiasm can decline. Therefore, in order to maintain staff energy levels to achieve all workshop objectives, the AHA Centre spread out the event across five days instead of the usual three. The team also explored a number of energising and ice-breaking activities suitable for the online environment, and they proved successful in maintain staff engagement and interest.

By the end of the week the AHA Centre successfully achieved all of the MTR workshop objectives. Beyond this, the activity also gave the team an opportunity to continue adapting to the new normal.

Written by : Merry Rismayani & Dipo Summa | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

Developing capacities at national level in an ongoing, face-to-face format ensures intensive and targeted capacity development of disaster management actors in ASEAN Member States – an outcome that forms the central reasoning of the new AHA Centre project office in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Working alongside Myanmar’s Department of Disaster Management (its National Disaster Management Organisation – NDMO), the AHA Centre and the Government of Myanmar aim to strengthen the nation’s disaster management sector through this pilot project, that will also stand as evidence for replication in other nations in the years to come.

Identifying comprehensive and durable solutions that address the situation in Rakhine, Myanmar formed a key need highlighted by the ASEAN Leaders during the 33rd ASEAN Summit in Singapore, November 2018. Within this discussion arose the importance of creating a conducive environment for affected communities to rebuild their lives. During the Summit, all ASEAN Leaders also expressed continued support for Myanmar in its effort to bring peace, stability, the rule of law, to promote harmony and reconciliation among various communities, as well to ensure sustainable and equitable development in Rakhine State.

As part of this ongoing effort, ASEAN Leaders also affirmed their readiness to support Myanmar in the process of repatriating displaced communities, and welcomed the invitation from Myanmar to the AHA Centre to engage a needs assessment team to the region, in an effort to identify possible areas of cooperation to facilitate the repatriation process in Rakhine State. As a result, the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) was deployed to Myanmar to conduct a preliminary need assessment (PNA) for repatriation during March 2019. A key finding from the PNA was the opportunity to enhance the readiness of Myanmar Government’s local capacity to provide humanitarian assistance as part of the repatriation process. Based on this outcome, a project was approved for implementation in Myanmar, through the ongoing support of the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).

This pioneer project, entitled “Enhancing the Readiness of Myanmar Government Local Capacity in Providing Humanitarian Assistance to Support the Repatriation Process“, aims to develop localised tools and methodologies that can then serve as a reference and model for future local capacity building programmes across other ASEAN Member States. More formally, the project has three key goals that are:

Therefore, a project management team has been recruited in Myanmar, and have begun their work alongside the Department of Disaster Management in Nay Pyi Taw. The team is currently made-up of a National Project Manager, a National Training Officer, and a Finance & Administration Officer, who will implement the project’s activities and strategy with support from the AHA Centre team based in Jakarta, as well as guidance from the Government of Myanmar and the other 9 ASEAN Member States.

Written by : Aye Theint Thu | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge ASEAN Member States, and the disaster management sector re-positions itself to determine where it can support ASEAN communities through the region’s current response and support mechanisms. The Governing Board of the AHA Centre held an online Special Meeting on May 15th, 2020, working through a range of options and ideas with AHA Centre management for a regional response and support to the pandemic situation.

The decision of the Special Meeting provides a number of specific Disaster Emergency Logistics System for ASEAN (DELSA) relief support items that can be accessed by ASEAN Member States (AMS) during the pandemic, to be requested by National Disaster Management Organisations (NDMOs) as an interim measure to fill operational gaps in their responses. The relief items made available as a result of this decision are Mobile Storage Units (MSU), Hygiene Kits and Prefabricated Offices (with AC) – that are kept in the DELSA stockpile and ready for deployment. Since this announcement, the support has been utilised by NDMOs from the Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the AHA Centre – in collaboration with the Office of Civil Defence of the Philippines – has been providing support to the ongoing operations responding to the impact of COVID-19 in the Philippines. Efforts were undertaken from March until May, with teams working out of the new DELSA satellite warehouse at Camp General Aguinaldo, Quezon City. As part of the partnership, the AHA Centre has provided the warehouse space, as well as equipment such as forklifts to support the overall logistical operations. The AHA Centre also provided support with the delivery of a Mobile Storage Unit, that was procured with support from another AHA Centre partner – Direct Relief. The Mobile Storage Unit is currently located at the Supply Unit – Logistics Command, at Camp General Aguinaldo, and is being utilised by the Philippine’s Department of Health to store personal protective equipment and medical supplies.

The AHA Centre has also released 5,000 personal hygiene kits to the Philippines, procured with the support from Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). One thousand of these hygiene kits have been mobilised to Legazpi City in Alabay, and 4,000 hygiene kits to Tacloban City in Leyte, to be distributed to different local government quarantine sites to support their COVID-19 response. On May 29 2020, the AHA Centre worked to support Malaysia’s NDMO (NADMA – Agensi Pengurusan Bencana Negara), providing one Mobile Storage Unit and one pre-fabricated office to support ongoing response work. The items were mobilised from the DELSA regional stockpile in Subang, Malaysia, and have been sent to Selangor, Malaysia, to support the coordination and management operations of a field hospital in the region. These relief items were also provided through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). As of early June, 2,900 Hygiene Kits and another Mobile Storage Unit were also set to be released from a DELSA satellite warehouse to support the pandemic response in Cambodia.

Written by : Ina Rachmawati | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

The October 2018 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, stands as one of the largest disaster responses undertaken by the AHA Centre in its history, and while the initial shock of the disaster has dissipated, work to rebuild the region’s infrastructure and communities has continued throughout 2019 and into 2020. Aside from the initial disaster response, this also forms the AHA Centre’s first foray into ongoing recovery activities, with the development of the ASEAN Village standing as the region’s input into the longer-term efforts to support the people of Palu City and its surrounds.

During April 2020, the AHA Centre in its role facilitating the ongoing support from ASEAN Member States, coordinated the official handover of the ASEAN Village to the Government of Palu City. Although it was undertaken online due to the limitations caused by the global pandemic, the handover maintained its true value for all involved, as the Mayor of Palu City Mr. Drs. Hidayat, other key government officials, an array of ASEAN dignitaries and other key programme representatives came together for the handover of outcomes from the new and innovative project.

Recounting the implementation of the project in her opening speech, the AHA Centre’s Executive Director Ms. Adelina Kamal said “In the early recovery period, we submitted a proposal to BNPB for the construction of temporary shelters, with funds received from the Philippine Government and from the people of Brunei Darussalam. With operational funds from Australia, we formed a team in the field, full time, to follow through the mandate and maintain the trust given by the Government of the Philippines and the people of Brunei, and to coordinate closely with the local government”.

Overall, the ASEAN Village project developed and delivered 75 new homes to the affected communities in the Tondo area of Palu City. Thanks to the generous support of the Government of Brunei Darussalam and Direct Relief, another 25 dwellings and additional structures, such as an auxiliary health centre and a mosque, will be developed in the coming months. The project was implemented in partnership with the Housing and Settlement Department of the Palu Government, and utilised USD 723,647 to develop the homes across a 22,600sqm area. The project implementation also received additional support from the Government of the Philippines and the Government of Australia.

Funds from the Brunei Darussalam Government were a result of crowd-sourcing directly from the people of Brunei Darussalam, which forms the first time ASEAN citizens directly providing funding to an AHA Centre project. Meanwhile, the Philippines provided support as part of its solidarity to the tsunami survivors in Palu, even the country was still recovering from its own disaster, Typhoon Mangkhut, which struck the country in September 2018.

“On behalf of the Government of Palu City, we confirm that the 75 houses are well received. We hope that these permanent houses handed over by the AHA Centre will bring happiness and improve the welfare of the tsunami-affected people of Palu City.”
– Mr Hidayat, The Mayor of Palu

“For the first time, the AHA Centre got involved in the recovery phase, not only during emergency response phase. We plan to properly document these experiences at the end of our project in Palu. We also hope that the ASEAN Village in Palu can serve as a model and can be done in other ASEAN Member States.”
– Ms. Adelina Kamal

Written by : William Shea | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is having an effect on everyone. By the end of March 2020, the number of global cases has reached more than 50,000 per day. In Southeast Asia, although the case numbers remain relatively low, many countries have taken precautionary measures, such as limiting travel from countries that are heavily affected by the outbreak.

The AHA Centre has also been heavily affected by the pandemic, although fortunately no staff has been infected by the virus so far. However, as a regional organisation, many of the AHA Centre’s activities include travel and engagements across the region. Therefore, travel restrictions have caused the Centre to postpone or cancel some programmes and events that has been planned. Some activities being postponed for 2020 include batch 7 of the ACE Programme, ASEAN-ERAT trainings, and the ASEAN Regional Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX).

Alongside this, the Government of Indonesia (the host of the AHA Centre’s office) implemented social distancing measures on March 15th, as part of the efforts to contain the spread of the virus. These included requests for all businesses and organisations to implement work-from-home conditions, to which the AHA Centre responded immediately by initiating work-from-home arrangements to ensure the health and well-being of staff and the wider community.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The AHA Centre faces a significant challenge in adapting to this ‘new normal’. This includes significant re-alignment in working approaches as staff switch from office-based to home-based environments. As an organisation that is very reliant to collaboration among staff as well as with ASEAN Member States and partners, the challenge lies in finding the best online working method that accommodates the collaborative nature of the work.

There are, however, two sides to any disaster, even in situations such as the pandemic. The Centre has identified an opportunity to realise a long-standing vision of becoming a smart office that utilises various collaborative technological tools. Part of this vision is to apply near-to-zero waste and minimal utilisation no papers. However, the pandemic situation has forced the AHA Centre to make these necessary changes, as part of its overall adaptation to the new normal.

Adjustments have also included the utilisation of video conferencing tools for meetings, as well as other tools to facilitate sharing and collaboration. Additionally, the AHA Centre has also moved all of its administrative, financial and human resource processes fully online.

Some challenges still remain of course, including the reality that nothing can fully replace direct face-to-face interaction. However, the Centre aims to remain productive, while at the same time protecting staff’s health and well-being. While we hope for the end of the pandemic situation, we also appreciate that some of these changes and adjustments will continue, and that will be for the benefit of our work in the future.

Written by : Dipo Summa | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

To support ASEAN endeavours to enhance disaster response capacity, in 2020 the European Union (EU) and the AHA Centre launched a EUR 10 million programme supporting the AHA Centre’s work, named the “Integrated Programme in Enhancing the Capacity of AHA Centre and ASEAN Emergency Response Mechanisms”, or in short known as the EU-SAHA programme. This new initiative aims to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of the AHA Centre to achieve operational excellence in disaster monitoring and emergency response, as well as enhance mechanisms for ASEAN leadership to ‘respond as one’ through excellence and innovation in disaster management.

In the wake of the Central Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, the AHA Centre was among the first humanitarian agencies that arrived on the ground to provide humanitarian assistance. The AHA Centre highlighted its unwavering commitment in assisting ASEAN Member States (AMS), and again proved instrumental in assisting the Indonesian Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) in coordinating humanitarian aid by utilising available ASEAN mechanisms. The project is expected to also leverage the expertise of the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Center (ERCC), which operates under the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism and has a similar scope of work in the EU as the AHA Center does in ASEAN.

The Executive Director of the AHA Centre, Ms Adelina Kamal, expressed her appreciation for the launch of the programme. “The EU SAHA programme will enable the AHA Centre to strengthen the entire spectrum of the ASEAN Declaration on One ASEAN One Response, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders in September 2016. It will enable the AHA Centre to further enhance our capacity to facilitate ASEAN’s collective response to large-scale disasters inside the region, maximising further our coordination potentials as shown in multiple responses in 2018. Not only that, the EU SAHA will also allow us to study what it takes to facilitate collective response outside the region and learn from the EU, who has done it, through comparative studies and knowledge exchange”.

The Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dato Lim Jock Hoi, recognised EU’s support, stating that “As an important partner of ASEAN, the European Union’s contribution to the AHA Centre will play a pivotal role in advancing ASEAN closer towards realising its vision as a global leader in disaster management. By supporting ASEAN’s hallmark emergency response mechanism, the European Union ensures the continued development of disaster management assets and capacities at the regional and national levels in the ASEAN region”.

It is the AHA Centre’s hope that through this new programme, the ASEAN region will become more resilient and more proactive in disaster mitigation and prevention. Much has been achieved to this point, but efforts must be sustained to realise the outcomes of the ASEAN Vision 2025 on Disaster Management. The ASEAN region is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, having experienced more than 50% of overall global disaster mortalities during the period of 2004-2014. The aim of the new EU programme is to substantially reduce disaster losses in lives and in the economic, social, physical and environmental assets of ASEAN Member States. It also aims to support joint responses to disaster emergencies through concerted national efforts, and intensified regional and international cooperation.

Speaking after signing of the agreement at the ASEAN Secretariat on January 27, the EU Ambassador to ASEAN, Igor Driesmans, stated that no countries should overlook the importance of concerted and coordinated disaster response. He highlighted that the regional approach to dealing with disaster has provided ASEAN greater strength to handle unprecedented calamities, as it can utilise regional pool of Member States’ expertise and assets – managed by the AHA Centre. The Ambassador said that this is not only a workable model, but also a mechanism to deal with the transboundary nature of the climate-induced disaster. This requires strong collaboration and partnership among Member States, similar to European nations under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (EU-CPM), which is shepherded by their Emergency Response Coordinating Centre (ERCC), an entity displaying the same value and design as the AHA Centre.

Written by : Ina Rachmawati and Dipo Summa | Photo Credit : AHA Centre

To celebrate the eight-year journey since the establishment of the AHA Centre, the Strategic Thematic Forum – Rethinking AHA Centre was undertaken from 18-22 of November 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia. A forum for reflecting on successes and mapping the path forward, event also included the Workshop on Management of International Assistance, and the Partners Dialogue – Celebrating Partnership.

The Strategic Thematic Forum – Rethinking AHA Centre (held on 18-19 November, 2019) was opened by H.E. Michael Tene, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs, who reminded us that when thinking ahead, we must also align with ASEAN’s broader vision. During this exercise, regional and global technical experts in the fields of conflict, Disaster Risk Reduction and pandemics, along with representatives from ASEAN Member States, the ASEAN Secretariat and the AHA Centre, were brought together for technical discussions aimed at providing insight and assessing the feasibility of engaging in new disaster management elements beyond the AHA Centre’s existing scope of natural disasters. The forum included over 60 participants, with representatives coming from National Disaster Management Organisations and Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the ASEAN Secretariat, subject matter experts and panellists, AHA Centre staff, and other facilitators and observers. The forum actively promoted discussion through both group work and panel discussions, encouraging sharing of open opinions in all discussion areas. The Strategic Thematic Forum was supported by UK Mission to ASEAN.

WORKSHOP ON MANAGEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE

Day three of the event began with the Workshop on Management of International Assistance, which was co- organised by the AHA Centre and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Asia Pacific, with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The workshop’s aim was to strengthen the coordination of regional and international assistance during humanitarian emergency response, including methodologies, procedures and tools. It also aims to improve preparedness capacity of ASEAN Member States, by identifying areas of improvements in the management of incoming regional and international assistance during emergency response, and to improve the capacity of the AHA Centre as the primary regional coordinating agency in managing offers of regional and international assistance for affected Member States during emergency response.

The workshop was conducted throughout two days from 20 to 21 November 2019, with participants from National Disaster Management Organisations (NDMOs) of the ASEAN Member States, IFRC and representatives from National Societies in Southeast Asia, the AHA Centre and other key stakeholders. The workshop was officially opened by the AHA Centre’s Executive Director Ms Adelina Kamal, Head of IFRC Country Office in Myanmar, Mr Joy Singhal, Mr Ky Anh Nguyen, ASEAN Secretariat Director of Sustainable Development, and Mr Michael Cottier, Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia. A keynote speech was delivered by Mr Said Faisal, the Former Executive Director of the AHA Centre who was also the Deputy of BRR for Aceh and Nias responsible for the implementation of post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction.

PARTNERS DIALOGUE: CELEBRATING PARTNERSHIP

The week-long strategic thematic forum ended with the Partners Dialogue: Celebrating Partnership event. The Partners Dialogue was used as an opportunity to share information on the work of the AHA Centre, its core achievements over the past 8 years, and share key discussions and findings regarding its proposed future direction. The activity invited all the AHA Centre’s partners from the past eight years to share their insights that can be used to help expand the Centre’s work for the next five years. This was the first time the AHA Centre brought together all its donors and strategic and operational partners together in one event to discuss the AHA Centre’s work, achievements, core business, mandate and strategy. The Forum was attended by 66 participants including representatives from ASEAN Dialogue Partners, strategic and operational partners, AHA Centre staff, ASEAN Secretariat, along with several supporters and observers.

Written by : Ina Rachmawati | Photo Credit : AHA Centre