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Communications with Communities Report Number 13 - Typhoon Haiyan, Earthquake in Bohol, Conflict in Zamboanga

Countries
Philippines
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

Situation Overview: Communications with Communities

The Philippines Communications with Communities (CwC) sector underscores the capacity and willingness of partners to continue to explore innovative and appropriate forms of intervention and communications coordination at the field level effectively helping to mitigate potential confusion, distrust, fear and misunderstanding as well as to empower affected people to build their own capacity and lead their own recovery through re-establishing traditional communication networks and encouraging two way communications.

The collective experience of the humanitarian responses to the Zamboanga armed conflict, Bohol earthquake and Visayas typhoon builds a strong case for the humanitarian community to institutionalize national level CwC coordination in preparedness and response which supports ongoing and future local level responses. Emerging humanitarian partners, such as local media, telecommunications and digital partners, drawing on a vast body of technical, communications and media expertise, continue to push the boundaries on how humanitarians engage affected communities, validating the need to coordinate a multi-sector approach CwC.

OCHA Philippines continues to mainstream CwC coordination with the ongoing humanitarian responses in Zamboanga, Bohol and typhoon affected areas in Visayas. Established by OCHA, the Zamboanga CwC working group (WG) not only supports community consultations undertaken by humanitarian agencies but is directly involved in communicating with affected internally displaced people (IDPs). In Bohol, IOM leads the coordination of CwC, and joined by local champions, has conducted a series of community consultations.

In the Typhoon Haiyan response, co-lead by OCHA and the Philippines Information Agency (PIA), the CwC WG has supported initiatives across Tacloban, Guiuan and Ormoc operating hubs. Tacloban CwC boasts the largest working group in the response, while in Guiuan, CwC is positioned as a service provider. In Ormoc, the CwC approach focuses on direct consultation with barangay councils and provides support to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in communicating with affected communities.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.