UAP EA initiates Capacity Building Session for Typhoon Odette Response Volunteers

By. Ar. Rodelon M. Ramos, UAP, PIEP

UAP Emergency Architect’s Core Group, under the direction of its Chairman Ar. Jose Miranda, has taken off to mobilize its volunteer-members and gather local convenors to identify areas of initiatives that needed strengthening and finetuning. A Capacity Building Session was organized after the engagements and directions of the organization were clearly established. A full-day weekend event was held on February 20, 2022 where two sessions were facilitated by UAP EA’s Cluster Heads.

For the AM Session, lectures on Community Preparation and Engagement was led by the Capacity Building Head Ar./EnP. Geomilie Tumamao-Guittap. She discussed the context of the responses engaged in by the UAP EA, expounded on the concept of humanitarian action, demystified the actors and responders working on disaster response, and enumerated the core humanitarian principles espoused by UAP EA. Ar. Tumamao-Guittap also touched on the Age, Gender and Diversity approach, the forms of community engagement, and context-rooted design in the previous works of UAP EA. The succeeding lecture was about the work of the Information and Communications cluster, where its Cluster Head Architect Rodelon Ramos facilitated a small workshop through Miroboard where joint objectives, commitments, resources and risks were identified collaboratively with the volunteers.

The PM session gave emphasis on the technical capacity building of the volunteers through Resilient Shelter Modeling. Chairman Ar. Miranda jumpstarted the second half of the event with an insightful presentation on Coco Lumber as Resilient Material and shared many projects where coco lumber was employed as a construction and architectural material. The last lecture of the afternoon session was about the Shelter Anchor Tree. Architect Francis Edward Urcia and Architect Jocelyn Francisco took turns to present and share examples of local building practices and how they exhibit resilience through proper and appropriate techniques and local ingenuity found in disaster-stricken communities. The concept for the Shelter Anchor Tree proposes a refined construction innovation that reinforces building resilience and disaster-responsive construction that can be adopted by

With the relentless help of the Ar. Ma. Cynthia Funk, MAdvArch, Executive Director of the UAP Commission on Education, the Capacity Building workshop was formally accredited for 2 self-directed CPD points.