14/09/2026
๐ท๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐จ๐ด ๐ผ๐ท๐ซ๐จ๐ป๐ฌ: ๐ซ๐บ๐พ๐ซ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐ช๐น๐ท, ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐-๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) highlighted the Philippinesโ experience in putting communities at the center of climate resilience efforts during the Practitioner Program: Integrating Climate Resilience in Locally-Led Programs, held on 7 to 10 September 2026 in Vienna, Austria.
Co-led by GeoSphere Austria, the World Bankโs Platform for Locally Led Climate Action (LLCA), and the Vienna Development Knowledge Center (VDKC), the high-level peer-learning program convened practitioners and global development partners from 13 countries. The program served as an operational bridge to translate downscaled climate science and hazard data into community-driven governance, social protection, and local public finance.
Representing the Philippines, DSWD Undersecretary Monina Josefina Romualdez served as the Principal Country Resource Person and panelist during the Opening Plenary Panel, where she shared the countryโs rationale for investing in and scaling locally led climate action.
โ๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ-๐๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ: ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฅโ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ท๐ถ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ-๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.โ, said Undersecretary Romualdez.
โ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด: ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด 500 ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ท๐ถ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐น๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ 4.13 ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด.โ she added.
The PCRP, implemented under the DSWDโs Kapit-Bisig Laban Sa KahirapanโComprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) program, marks the countryโs transition from empowering communities to participate in local development to empowering them to decode climate risk, plan for adaptation, and act long before hazard becomes a disaster.
"๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด: ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ.โ Undersecretary Romualdez shared.
This principle builds on more than two decades of DSWDโs Community-Driven Development (CDD) experience through KALAHI-CIDSS, which has strengthened community participation in planning, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring.
Aside from the main panel discussion, KALAHI-CIDSS National Program Manager Atty. Bernadette Mapue-Joaquin presented the PCRP during the interactive Carousel Session. Through this peer-learning station, she showcased practical insights on translating multi-hazard climate data into participatory risk planning, managing cross-boundary climate investments, and sustaining community-led infrastructure.
The DSWD delegation also included Assistant Secretary for Promotive Programs Edmon Monteverde, who served as Delegation Co-Lead and Strategic Policy Anchor for international partner dialogues, and Atty. Mapue-Joaquin, who served as Delegation Co-Lead and Technical Support for PCRP implementation. Joining the Philippine delegation throughout the event was Samuel Clark, Senior Social Development Specialist and Task Team Leader for PCRP at the World Bank.
The four-day program concluded with deep-dive technical clinics and site visits to Austrian climate adaptation models, including the Marchfeld Canal resilient infrastructure and community circular economy initiatives. Through this global exchange, the Philippines continues to position its two-decade CDD track record as an international benchmark for advancing risk-informed, locally led climate resilience.
Through the global learning platform, the Philippines continues to position its long-standing CDD experience as a foundation for advancing locally led, risk-informed, and climate-resilient developmentโwhere communities are empowered not only to participate in development, but to understand climate risks, plan for adaptation, and act before hazards become disasters.
(kcnpmo/mjdg/fss)
