Building Dreams, Rebuilding Lives (A Disaster Response Program)
BDO Foundation, Inc
In 2013, BDO Foundation reached over 110,000 families covering towns in thirty provinces for those affected by various calamities.
INTRODUCTION
Sitting within the Pacific Ring of Fire and, at the center of the typhoon belt, alongside the pockets of insurgency in the countryside, the Philippines is put at risk for disasters in catastrophic proportions.BDO Foundation has developed a system of sustained initiatives in response to disasters in the communities it serves by providing relief and pursuing rehabilitation and reconstruction with the help of the Foundation’s active BDO employee volunteers found nationwide who are familiar with the terrain, understand the local culture, and know the leaders in the community.
Being an accredited corporate foundation/NGO, BDO Foundation acts as the central management center that directs its various projects and programs including those of its volunteers. It coordinates with LGUs, government agencies (NDRRMC, DSWD, DepEd, DOH) NGOs, international humanitarian agencies and other corporate foundations without sacrificing the integrity of its delivery of services in responding to the needs of the affected local community.
FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGY
Its disaster response program is implemented in two major phases: relief, and rehabilitation/reconstruction.Relief operations are conducted nationwide in areas declared as state of calamity or emergency, followed by rehabilitation of rural health centers and reconstruction of school buildings, multipurpose halls/community centers and building of resettlement sites.
For the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase, the BDO branches survey the possible sites for recommendation to the Foundation. Volunteers work on the job sites during their free time where infrastructure projects are being built, providing the necessary inputs on the status of the project. More importantly, they come in contact with beneficiaries to further assess their needs.
ACHIEVEMENT AND IMPACT
Disaster Response advocacy is the flagship program of BDO Foundation because of its nationwide network of bank branches (now numbering 814) with active BDO employee volunteers stationed in the locality who can respond to the disaster affected area near the community that they serve.For a corporate foundation solely relying on its resources and network, it can mount relief efforts in three days and simultaneously in various areas and even provinces.
In 2013, BDO Foundation reached over 110,000 families covering towns in thirty provinces for those affected by various calamities: Typhoons Labuyo, Maring, Santi, Zamboanga insurgency, Bohol earthquake and the the super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).
FUTURE DIRECTION
As relief efforts end, BDO Foundation moves forward to work on rehabilitation and reconstruction. For the earlier calamities in 2013, it already rehabilitated five rural health centers in various provinces and constructed a four classroom school building, delivered before the end of the year. It is currently constructing twenty classrooms and one rural health center in various areas hit by other disasters in 2013.For super typhoon Yolanda, it is now in the process of evaluating the various sites for twenty four classrooms, ten rural health centers, four community centers (funded by its own BDO employee volunteers) and a resettlement site for relocatees. Meantime it is involved in providing children with school supplies that they have lost during the disaster and the construction of boats for immediate livelihood of fishermen in the coastal areas affected.
BDO Foundation, Inc was established as the corporate social responsibility arm and the channel for outreach and socio-economic development programs of BDO Unibank’s internal and external publics. A non-stock, non-profit organization, BDO Foundation aims to help the vulnerable sector of our society in times of disaster.
