The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACT/EMP) organized a Workshop on the Role of Business Organizations in Supporting Enterprises and Workers Prepare for Natural Disasters in Naga City and Workshop on the Role of Business Organizations in Creating a Culture of Resilience and Preparedness to Mitigate the Negative Impact of Disasters and Conflict in Zamboanga City. These workshops were held last May 8, 2018 and May 10, 2018, respectively.
The representatives of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) had the opportunity to use the new Resilience Toolkit developed by ILO to assist business in improving their preparedness and reducing risk to disasters and maintaining commercial operations in conflict afflicted areas and creating neutral workplaces. This toolkit is a core component of ILO’s Sustainable and Resilient Enterprise (SRE) Platform, a multi-partner ‘network of networks’ that aims to promote decent work and sustainable and resilient enterprises.
The objective of the workshop in Naga were:
- Establish whether the SRE Platform Toolkit can provide Employers’ organizations and employers and business membership organizations (EBMOs), enterprises and their workers with practical tools and approaches to maintain commercial operation and support livelihoods in disaster prone areas;
- Identify what EBMOs can do at a national level to help protect and build the resilience of enterprises. These can range from exploring collective cheaper insurance schemes, to promoting mechanisms for rapid access to capital, or policy measures before and following disasters, among others; and
- Highlight the constructive role that business can play in developing disaster resilience strategies alongside the community and government actors, as a way to promote more coordinated and cooperative efforts.
Whereas the objective of the workshop in Zamboanga were:
- Establish whether the SRE Platform Toolkit can provide Employers’ organizations and employers and business membership organizations (EBMOs), enterprises and their workers with practical tools and approaches to maintain commercial operations, in conflict afflicted areas, and assist in making workplaces safe and neutral;
- Identify what EBMOs can do at a national level to help protect and build the resilience of enterprises. These can range from exploring collective cheaper insurance schemes, to promoting policy measures following conflict, among others; and
- Highlight the constructive role that business can play in peace and resilience building alongside the community and government actors, as a way to promote more coordinated and cooperative efforts.
At the end of the workshop, the participants have expressed their interest in the usefulness of the tools as provided by the workshop. The EMBOs and enterprises looked forward into implementing the toolkits in their operations and organizations as a whole.
Please visit the ILO’s Sustainable and Resilient Enterprise Platform Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ILOSRE/ to learn more about the toolkits.