Humanity & Inclusion in the Philippines
Our teams have worked in the Philippines since 1985, delivering aid and services to victims of natural disasters and running ongoing disaster-risk reduction programs to help people with disabilities prepare for future emergencies.
As one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, Humanity & Inclusion focuses its work on the country's poorest areas—where the population is most exposed to disasters and conflicts and where public services are lacking. Typhoons and their side-effects, including landslides, storm surges and flash floods, are the most frequent and devastating natural disasters. In the past 20 years, natural disasters have killed more than 31,000 and affected more than 98 million people in the Philippines.
In 2017, Humanity & Inclusion opened a regional program through which teams serve people in the Philippines, Indonesia and Timor.
Areas of Intervention
- Disaster risk reduction
- Inclusive employment
- Rehabilitation
- Health and prevention
Humanity & Inclusion's 22-person staff regularly provide emergency response in the wake of cyclones, volcanic eruptions or floods, which regularly strike the country. Teams raise awareness around natural disasters, and help isolated people, pregnant women, and people with disabilities, to prepare for these disasters and to ensure they are not forgotten by organizations providing assistance in the aftermath of disasters.
By training early childhood actors and medical staff and advising parents, teams are working to create and strengthen prevention, early detection, referral and response systems relating to development delay or the onset of disability in children.
Humanity & Inclusion is also implementing the Forward Together project to give young people with disabilities access to employment in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Our Past Work
Humanity & Inclusion has been in the Philippines since 1985, fostering a culture of dignity, access, and inclusion for ALL people with disabilities and who are vulnerable. Over time, we have evolved our work to meet the dynamic needs of the communities where we serve.
Read on to learn more about our past work in the Philippines, and consider investing in our future.
Disaster Response
Following natural disasters, Humanity & Inclusion set up fixed and mobile units to provide mobility aids, adaptive devices, protection items, and shelter kits to those most in need and ensure that they have access to food, water, and health services. The response targeted people with disabilities or severe medical conditions, children, expectant mothers, mothers with young children, female heads of households, and the elderly. After Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the most violent typhoon ever recorded, Humanity & Inclusion launched an emergency response intervention in the provinces of Leyte and Capiz. The organization’s teams deployed a logistics platform to help ensure humanitarian aid could reach the most isolated areas. They also distributed 1,390 tents to people whose homes had been destroyed, and supported the process to rebuild shelters for 900 households. The organization helped 700 highly vulnerable households affected by the typhoon, by providing them with financial and technical assistance, so that they could rebuild homes that are safer and better able to withstand natural disasters.
Disaster Risk Reduction
Humanity & Inclusion helped people prepare for natural disasters by sharing and disseminating disaster risk management training tools with government offices and local organizations. Nearly 57,000 stakeholders in 13 provinces benefited. Humanity & Inclusion also encouraged the authorities to draw up contingency and evacuation plans, which specifically take people with disabilities into account.
