Note for the File: ACDM Preparedness & Response Working Group Meeting

Note for the File: ACDM Preparedness & Response Working Group Meeting 22 September 2015

Background

1. OCHA was invited to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM)’s Preparedness and Response Working Group meeting, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 22 September 2015.

2. The P&R Working Group, which is jointly chaired by Malaysia and Singapore with representation from Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Philippines and Thailand and support from the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC) Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (DMHA) Division and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), held a special session with a number of key partners to consider key achievements of the past five years and priorities for cooperation in the coming five to ten years. In addition to OCHA, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the AADMER Partnership Group (APG)1, represented by Mercy Malaysia, were also in attendance. WFP had been invited but was unable to attend.

Summary of the Discussion

3. In the first half of the discussion, the partners were asked for their views on the key achievements and challenges of the past five years.

i. All partners emphasized the critical importance of the trust-building and confidence achieved between ASEAN and them, which had allowed them to establish partnership-based engagement.

ii. They also welcomed the regularity of opportunities to meet with the ACDM and other ASEAN counterparts afforded by the open Partnership sessions to which ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners (DPs) and other partners have been invited in the past two years, and encouraged ASEAN to make more frequent use of similar opportunities, as well as more structured operational level engagement in Jakarta (where all of the DPs and other key partners were represented, as were the ACDM via their permanent missions).

iii. JICA welcomed the issuance of the updated strategic priorities document and accompanying 21 concept notes for the second phase implementation of the AADMER Work Programme (issued in 2014) as contributing to better coordination among the ASEAN DPs and eliminating areas of overlap.

iv. Similarly, OCHA welcomed the structured engagement achieved through development and revision of the joint Strategic Plan of Action on Disaster

1 The AADMER Partnership Group is a consortium of international NGOs that support ASEAN in the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER, ASEAN’s legally-binding framework in this area). APG members include: ChildFund International, HelpAge International, Mercy Malaysia, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children International, and World Vision International. 1 Management as contributing to a better working relationship and more effective cooperation between ASEAN and the UN on disaster risk management.

4. On the ASEAN Partnership Meetings (public ACDM sessions), some members of the ACDM felt it was best not to request DPs and other partners to travel far distances for half-day to one-day meetings. In response, all partners emphasized that the solution should be to hold more regular engagement at the operational level in Jakarta, while continuing to convene higher-level open sessions at the ACDM on an annual basis. Among suggestions on how to strengthen the ASEAN Partnership Meetings, partners proposed focusing on thematic workshop-style discussions that engaged all ASEAN Member States and partners and providing forward-looking guidance on key priorities. The overly formal “prepared statements” meeting format was discouraged.

5. Noting that ASEAN would hold a Strategic Policy Dialogue in Singapore on 2 November 2015, at which ASEAN’s 2016-2025 vision and the corresponding priorities on disaster management for 2016-2020 would be discussed, the chair (Singapore) noted that partners should also be invited to attend the Strategic Policy Dialogue.

6. The ACDM members agreed that operational-level engagement in Jakarta should be strengthened and requested the AHA Centre to facilitate such meetings on a regular basis, with support from ASEC/DMHA.

7. During the second part of the discussion, which looked forward to areas of cooperation in the coming five years, the partners all noted their desire for strengthened engagement and coordination among ASEAN’s different partnerships, as well as within each grouping. These efforts should also bring in private sector engagement.

8. As the discussion continued, the ACDM members referred to their earlier discussion on possible priorities for 2016-2020, noting six key areas and welcoming the partners feedback on them:

i. ERAT transformation: developing a three-tiered basis for ASEAN’s Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT), where 1.0 was the general ERAT training, 2.0 was specialized training (i.e. EOC management2, ASEAN APHP3 management, PDNA/DaLA4, Logistics, and Rapid Assessments), and 3.0 was ERAT Team Leader training.

ii. Strengthening ASEAN’s logistics capacity: continuing the establishment of sub-regional warehouses in Philippines and Indonesia, as well as building the capacity to manage incoming relief goods from ASEAN sources up to the point of distribution.

2 The EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) is part of USAID’s National Incident Management System / Incident Command System (NIMS/ICS). 3 The APHP (Asia-Pacific Humanitarian Partnership) is a regional version of the International Humanitarian Partnership, whereby members provide humanitarian support modules for response, such as ICT packages, light and heavy base camps and office modules, etc. 4 PDNA (Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, the UNDP/World Bank/European Union methodology for longer- term assessments) and DaLA (UNDP’s Damage and Loss Assessment) methodologies. 2 iii. ARDEX strengthening: ensuring more consistent and quality ASEAN Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX) by developing a handbook to guide ASEAN Member States in hosting the ARDEX.5 Partners would be invited to attend as observers, and there was consideration to establish a regional pool of certified referees to support the ARDEX.

iv. Civil-Military Coordination: strengthening civil-military coordination with ASEAN disaster response by finalizing and issuing the SASOP Chapter 6 o civil-military coordination and working with OCHA on developing an ASEAN-specific training course on civil-military coordination.

v. ASEAN Joint Disaster Response Plan: developing three-four scenarios for large-scale disaster response and planning for ASEAN’s response, including with partners, in those scenarios. The JDRP was likely to provide the basis for future ARDEX.

vi. Incident Command System: ensuring that all ASEAN Member States were familiar with the ICS methodology such that, even if not implemented in their country context, they would be able to work through it when responding in other countries.

9. In response to the six possible priorities, OCHA noted that joint advocacy and resource mobilization for disaster response was an area that the ASEAN Secretary- General and Emergency Relief Coordinator had agreed to take forward. It was agreed that planning for this could be integrated in the JDPR as well. OCHA also proposed to explore the possibility of developing a common pool of disaster managers, who would be trained to a common standard and available for deployment via ASEAN, OCHA and/or other partners’ mechanisms.

10. JICA welcomed the priorities outlined by the ACDM, while noting the importance of ASEAN using international tools and services if/when supporting response outside the region – which was agreed by all ACDM members present. JICA also requested an update as to whether the ACDM would agree to increase the ASEAN Member States’ annual contributions to the AHA Centre, noting that the ambitious list of priorities would require more resources. The chair noted that a matrix of options in this regard would be presented to the ASEAN Member States in December 2015.

11. Finally, asked by partners whether ASEAN – and the AHA Centre in particular – would expand the remit of its disaster management work to include man-made disasters, the ACDM noted that ASEAN would continue to focus on strengthening its capacity to respond to natural disasters. Other types of crisis, including environmental, industrial, transport, pandemic and/or conflict were seen to be covered at present by different pillars of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat. At the same time, AHA Centre was keen to promote further dialogue on additional areas of activity foreseen under AADMER (i.e. prevention/mitigation and recovery), as well as to expand their engagement in policy development. Interestingly, this did not preclude potential discussions on ASEAN’s future role in responding to human-induced crises in the region.

5 ARDEX will be held in even years henceforward, with ARF DiREx to be held in odd years; should a disaster or other event prevent the ARDEX from taking place, the next ARDEX will be arranged for the next even year. 3