Youth leaders present disaster resilience programs in Top Leaders Forum 2019

For the first time in 8 years, youth leaders from all over the country participated at the 2019 Top Leaders Forum (TLF) as part of the Young Leaders for Resilience Program (YLRP).

The newly launched program was the brainchild of Mr. Hans Sy, ARISE International Board Member, Chairman of the Executive Committee of SM Prime Holdings, Inc. and Co-Chair of the National Resilience Council (NRC). YLRP was initiated to encourage youth involvement in climate and disaster resilience in the Philippines. The program was jointly designed as a competition by IBM Philippines, National University (NU), and the Asia Pacific College (APC) and the National Resilience Council. 

281 Student participants from 32 universities and colleges from the eight Local Government Unit partners of the NRC were given a risk profile of their cities, after which they underwent Enterprise Design Thinking Workshops (EDTW) mentored by 40 IBM, APC, and NU experts. The student teams were encouraged to identify specific challenges to climate and disaster resilience and design and execute possible ways to mitigate and transform disaster risk. The LGUs then held their own competitions to select the respective representative teams to join the final judging round at the Top Leaders Forum (TLF) on 12 November 2019.

At the TLF, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa and Colegio de Muntinlupa’s Seismo-Power Terminator, an instrument designed to shut down the electricity that can cause fire during an earthquake, won first place. Cagayan de Oro City’s Xavier University with its Project ORO, a mobile application designed by the students to prepare for future disasters, then took second place. Third place honors then went to Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges of the City of Iriga for the Tri-button Emergency Aid Box, which is a device that has three buttons for Medical Assistance, Emergency/Disaster Assistance, and Police Assistance.

In keeping with its commitment to climate and disaster resilience, SM Prime Holdings donated the prizes of the winners. All the winning teams received medals and plaques for their universities. Laptops and cash prizes of P100,000, P75,000, and P50,000 were awarded to 1st, 2nd, 3rd places, respectively. All the organizers look forward to providing further technical support to the winners in order to enhance their innovations further.

The Top Leaders Forum is an annual initiative organized by SM Prime Holdings, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), ARISE Philippines and the National Resilience Council. 
 

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