In the ASEAN region where disasters caused by natural hazards are prominent, reducing disaster risks and strengthening disaster response capacity is one of the top priorities. As such, the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) was formulated, serving as ASEAN’s main guideline in implementing programmes, projects, and activities that are geared towards reinforcing the region’s disaster resilience as well as increasing both national and regional capacities in responding to disasters.
In a more specific approach, ASEAN continuously invests in underpinning the region’s capability in humanitarian logistics, acknowledging its critical role in a successful disaster response. Moving forward on this logistics initiative after the Technical Review and Consultation Workshop for the ASEAN Humanitarian Logistics Training Curriculum conducted online on 2 March 2023, the ASEAN successfully concluded a hybrid four-day Training of Trainers for ASEAN Humanitarian Logistics Officers on 2-5 May 2023.
Mr. Lee Yam Ming, the Executive Director of the AHA Centre, emphasised in his opening remarks the main objective of the activity, which is to strengthen the NDMO’s and the region’s capacity in emergency logistics, ensuring the smooth delivery of support during disasters. He said, “this training of trainers is a significant step in multiplying our efforts to reinforce the region’s ability to handle humanitarian logistics, including supply chain management and efficient procurement strategies, while upholding the humanitarian standards and principles as applicable.”
Furthermore, Mr. Lee Yam Ming also cited how this training complements the AHA Centre’s efforts in establishing a regional certification system through the ASEAN Standards and Certification for Experts in Disaster Management (ASCEND) Project. “While we are piloting the certification system through the ASCEND Project, developing and implementing the ASEAN Humanitarian Logistics Training Curriculum will fulfil the training component of a comprehensive capacity-building trajectory in disaster management in ASEAN,” he concluded.
On another note, Mr. Michael Satin, the Regional Deputy Director of East Asia and the Pacific of the USAID Asia Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), underscored the importance of gender and social inclusion aspects in developing training curricula. He also mentioned that this Humanitarian Logistics curriculum can serve as a model for national training providers on how to adopt the ASCEND Competency Standards when designing trainings in ASEAN.
The approach taken by this initiative in developing the training curriculum is considered ideal, because it is aligned with the AADMER Work Programme. As a background, one of the sub-priorities of the current AADMER Work Programme 2021-2025 is Knowledge Management for Regional Resilience Building. Under this sub-priority is Outcome 5.1.2: Enhanced capacity of disaster management of ASEAN, which “envisions a state where the regional disaster management knowledge can be capitalised as a source of wisdom to buttress ASEAN’s capacity building curricula and professionalisation framework in demonstrating global leadership.” From this outcome, several outputs were determined, including Output 5.1.2.3, which is “Specialised training and capacity building programmes aligned with the ASCEND Framework.”
The alignment of this training with the ASCEND Competency Standards provides a notable example and lessons learned for similar efforts in the future. This project may set a benchmark for ASEAN capacity-building efforts in disaster management, using the ASCEND Competency Standards as their reference.
The training was attended by 22 logistics trainers and practitioners from the different NDMOs, non-government organisations under the AADMER Partnership Group (APG), and the AHA Centre. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the ASEAN-USAID Partnership for Regional Optimization within the Political-Security and Socio-Cultural Communities (PROSPECT) project, this training was also supported by an esteemed logistics consortium (Thammasat University/Kühne Foundation/HELP Logistics), the ASEAN Secretariat, and the AHA Centre.
