Cities undertake COVID-19 response and recovery planning with the help of USAID
(Upper left photo) Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal, representatives from the business sector, and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and Local Development Council attended the presentation of the COVID-19 Response and Economic Recovery Plan. (Upper right photo) Final validation session of the risk assessment survey results. (Lower left photo) TWG leader Engr. Joseph Esplana presented the COVID-19 situationer of Legazpi City. (Lower right photo) TWG co-leader Engr. Miladee Azur discussed baseline health indicators for final validation.
USAID
initiated city-specific response and recovery planning in April 2020 to help
its eight Cities Development Initiative (CDI) partner cities in the Philippines
address the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During an
online session, more than 80 representatives from the city governments of
Batangas, Cagayan De Oro, General Santos, Iloilo, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa,
Tagbilaran, and Zamboanga gained more insights as to how to effectively employ
response and recovery planning as a governance tool to determine the right
approaches to manage risks.
The
cities were provided with city-level COVID-19 forecasts for data analysis and
planning. Director Lilian Salonga of the Department of Trade and
Industry-Competitiveness Bureau, Director Anna Liza Bonagua of the Department
of Interior and Local Government-Bureau of Local Government Development, and
Mr. Edwin Glindro of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry shared
national government and business groups’ responses to local challenges.
The
roundtable discussion was followed by a series of city-specific sessions with a
wider participation of stakeholders from the academe, tourism, health, and
environment sectors.
Through
the online sessions, USAID provided guidance in the analysis of local response
capacity, evidence-based identification and categorization of risks, and a
focused risk mapping and response. With the collaboration of various
stakeholders, the cities will be able to produce response and recovery plans
that will protect citizens from the impacts of COVID-19, upgrade the local
government’s response capability for the pandemic, and chart a path toward
economic progress in the new normal scenario.
USAID assisted
the CDI cities in the risk assessment and local capacity analysis and the
formulation of strategies and interventions. USAID also provided inputs for
monitoring and reporting which were derived from online surveys, key informant interviews,
and focus group discussions.
By August
2020, the CDI cities have completed their COVID-19 Response and Economic
Recovery Plans. The technical working groups of the local government units
conducted a series of online consultations with various stakeholders to present
and gather feedback about the plans. Strategies include tax relief for
businesses, support to micro, small, and medium enterprises and displaced
workers, and alternative livelihood to workers who lost their jobs due to the
pandemic, among others.