More than two years after the launching of the ASEAN Standards and Certification for Experts in Disaster Management (ASCEND) Project in September 2020, the ASCEND Certification Trial Simulation was successfully carried out by the AHA Centre, in partnership with the Indonesia Disaster Management Authority (BNPB), on 22-25 November 2022 in Bogor, Indonesia.
The ASCEND project was conceptualised with the aim of establishing the first regional professional certification system that will facilitate ASEAN recognition of individual disaster management competencies. To achieve this objective, a series of activities to develop the standard operating procedure, certification schemes, ASCEND website, and ASCEND certification platform, as well as to train ASCEND assessors has been conducted. The results and outputs from these previous activities led to this trial simulation, which involves all certification actors, namely the assessors, experts, candidates, and observers, to test, evaluate, and enhance the whole ASCEND certification process. Thus, this trial simulation is the convergence and application of all previous ASCEND efforts, and the event’s results will decide the project’s next steps.
The ASCEND Certification Trial Simulation’s opening ceremony was graced by Mr. Berton S.P. Panjaitan, Head of Centre for Education and Training of BNPB; Mr. Jinmo Kang, First Secretary of the Mission of the Republic of Korea to ASEAN; and Mr. Krishna Putra Tanaja, Deputy Executive Director of the AHA Centre. As the co-organiser and host of the event, Mr. Panjaitan emphasised the importance of having disaster management standards and certified disaster management professionals that are recognised by all ASEAN Member States, to facilitate both national and ASEAN disaster management efforts.
Focusing on the event, Mr. Kang was convinced that this simulation is crucial for the project as the gaps will be identified and will be supplemented by follow-up work. “I believe that the successful completion of this simulation will be directly related to the success of the ASCEND project in the future,” he said. Complementing this statement, Mr. Tanaja had high hopes that this event will help bring the ASEAN community to a similar level of understanding of the regional certification system that the project is trying to establish. He further said, “We hope this event becomes the starting point of a more intense collaboration between the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) and partner organisations in advancing ASCEND in the future.”
So far, these expectations have been realised. As conveyed by Mr. Jermaine Baltazar G. Bayas, Oxfam International Regional Humanitarian Lead for Asia and the current AADMER Partnership Group (APG) Lead, the collaboration between the ASCEND Project and the APG was an opportunity to learn from the different humanitarian experiences and enhance the certification process as an effective tool for better disaster response in the region. “The trial simulation was also a space to engage with different stakeholders from the country and regional disaster agencies to brainstorm where we are and what is needed to make this system work for governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders around pooling our expertise and knowledge both in preparedness and disaster response,” he highlighted. Moreover, from the perspective of an assessor, Ms. Dam Thi Hoa from Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority shared her realisation, saying, “The trial simulation helped us familiarise ourselves with the assessment process and enhanced our capacity as ASCEND assessors. With this, I think that it is a necessary component for the training of assessors.”
On the other hand, Mr. Franz Sinaga from World Vision, who participated in the event as WASH Engineer candidate, expressed his gratitude for being invited to the activity. “I am thankful to be invited in [the] ASCEND Trial Simulation. By attending this event, I realized the importance of documenting the portfolio of my work and having clear guidelines about how to build certain expertise, which can be acknowledged by the humanitarian market.” He added that the ASCEND certification can also help humanitarian organisations like Wahana Visi Indonesia to identify the specific trainings needed by the staff.
Another participant, Mr. Andreas Hapsoro from Habitat for Humanity, who participated as a candidate for Shelter Management Coordinator, voiced out his confidence on how ASCEND can help in the field of shelter management. He mentioned that vulnerable people, particularly those living in inadequate housing, are bearing the brunt of our changing climate. “The ASCEND Certification will ensure the right person to be deployed and assist the NDMOs and relevant stakeholders in shelter management by putting people and their capabilities, vulnerabilities, voices and influence at the centre of shelter works,” he concluded.
Funded by the Republic of Korea through the ASEAN-ROK Cooperation Fund, the trial simulation was attended by a total of 50 assessors, subject matter experts, candidates, and observers from the ten ASEAN Member States, Mission of the ROK to ASEAN, ASEAN-ROK Development Cooperation Programme Management Team (AKPMT), ASEAN Secretariat, AHA Centre, Indonesia Professional Certification Authority (BNSP), various non-government organisations from the AADMER Partnership Group (APG), and other partner organisations such as the Habitat for Humanity, PREDIKT, UNOCHA, ASEAN-USAID PROSPECT, MSB LACER Project, and the Resilience Development Initiative (RDI).
The highlights of the ASCEND Certification Trial Simulation and Evaluation Workshop can be viewed through the AHA Centre Official YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynvV8xHzcno&t=12s.
