6 November 2014: The Government of the Philippines and the World Bank Group (WBG) hosted the first regional conference on ‘Strengthening Social Protection Systems to Manage Disaster and Climate Risk in Asia and the Pacific,’ which aimed to capture lessons on how countries could better respond to natural disasters through social protection systems.

The event, which took place from 4-6 November 2014, in Pasig, the Philippines, brought together experts and policymakers from 17 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia and the Pacific, and concluded that linking social protection and disaster and climate risk management systems is good public policy that could reduce impacts and build resilience.

The workshop addressed: links between social protection, disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, and tools available to prepare for and respond to disaster and climate risks; disaster risk financing and insurance as a key component in building a country’s financial resilience to disaster; and the technical infrastructure required to scale up social protection systems.

Speakers recalled that Typhoon Yolanda was among the strongest in history to ever make landfall, with over 8000 casualties, and about three million households and 13.5 million family members directly affected.

Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, Philippine Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, called Typhoon Yolanda a “gamechanger” in terms of testing the resilience of people and stretching government disaster response system and social protection structures to the limit. The Department of Social Welfare and Development is merging its three flagship programmess – a conditional cash transfer programme, a community driven development programme and a livelihood support programme – and making them disaster-sensitive.

Motoo Konishi, World Bank Country Director for the Philippines, said in response to events, such as Typhoon Yolanda, the Government has been rethinking the institutional framework to effectively deal with large-scale disasters, including formalizing the management of disasters through a dedicated, permanent Government institution. He added that such an institution would: distribute and monitor funds required for disaster recovery; and undertake prevention and risk reduction to reduce long-term losses. [World Bank Press Release] [Speech of World Bank Country Director of the Philippines]