People-powered tech and data: Resilient technologies for climate action in the Philippines

This analysis is part of our ongoing research on the Philippines for Phase II of our Data on the Move project. Through this study, we are mapping the flow of data between actors and institutions during disasters and the ensuing displacement of populations. We used the following anchors in intersecting disaster-induced displacement with data infrastructures:

• Through understanding data flows on displacement and migration, with considerations around standards for interoperability and portability. 

• The role of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in accelerating access to services and benefits to those impacted by natural disasters, specifically covering digital ID and digital payments.

• How community participation contributes to this large ecosystem around aid and assistance before, during, and after a disaster event. The Philippines makes a strong case for bottom-up governance that is set within a local context, and allows us to examine the role of communities in decision-making.

On ResTech: Over the last two years, the Data on the Move project has also examined the role of community actors in shaping migrant agency while navigating displacement journeys. We term technologies emerging as a response to the gap in institutional aid and systems as “Resilient Technologies” or “ResTech”. This piece weaves our ResTech framework into the Philippines case study to highlight the value of community participation in mitigating and responding to disasters through a people-first lens.

Disaster response in the Philippines involves mapping hyper-local community needs across islands

Frequent catastrophic events in the Philippines, both rapid-onset and slow-onset, test the waters for both institutional and community resilience in the Philippines. Due to the frequency and disproportionate impacts of disaster events like typhoons, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes in various islands in this archipelago, response needs are diverse across the country. Owing to this, community networks emerge as agents that can respond to situations with the accurate geographic and socio-cultural context of needs and challenges.

Mobilising data and digital tools to build resilience comes with an understanding of local needs and capacities

The broader landscape around the collection and interpretation of data on moving communities in the Philippines spotlights state needs as paramount. What gets lost in the chaos of balancing differing political incentives is the incorporation of lived realities and community needs. The DSWD’s (Department of Social Welfare and Development) database for assessing food requirements across different communities often adopts a one-size-fits-all approach to aid. For instance, the vulnerability needs of a fisheries village and an urban settlement in Metro Manila differ because of the nature and available resources in both settlements.

Awareness of and proximity to digital tools significantly affects the presence and efficacy of the data and digital infrastructure. Low internet penetration in rural provinces highlights gaps in what the digital can truly achieve for those impacted by rapid-onset disaster events. This creates systems that enable exclusion and othering, hindering decision-making from being agential and considerate of existing capacities.

Amidst all this, we have seen instances where the promise of solidarity emanates from the coming together of community leaders and members during times of need. These networks counterbalance the state-centric approach to social protection, thereby cultivating the language and traits of community resilience. 

Building end-to-end community support: Bike Scouts

Through a tech-facilitated volunteer network that mobilises communities for disaster preparedness and response, the Bike Scouts Project centers  “bayanihan”, the Filipino philosophy of community building. Their SuperScout app, a location-based reporting and monitoring system, alerts a Bike Scout when assistance is required in the area. 

Founder Myles Delfin, in referring to the initiative as a ‘social teamwork’ platform rather than a tech solution, put it eloquently: “The community was built long before the first line of code was written.”

Aapti meeting with Myles Delfin, Founder of Bike Scouts, in Metro Manila

What precedes the SuperScout app is the initiative’s commitment to building foundational infrastructure for operations to subsequently run through tech-mediated means. Bike Scouts provides mesh network devices to its volunteers for community-owned, independent, and free connectivity. It also equips its volunteers with training modules on disaster mapping, data collection, and ethics on data and documentation to prevent disproportionate collection and tracking.

The alternative channel of aid that Bike Scouts creates through leveraging community know-how on existing capacities and needs is an embodiment of ResTech principles in many ways. Delegating decision-making and enabling communities to assess their own needs lead to inclusive and representative outcomes in platform design.

Mapping the community onto the data systems: The Las Piñas Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Federation (LPPWDFI)

Data can reflect historical exclusion and shed light on existing social inequalities. In 2013, under the DSWD’s Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) plan, members of the LPPWDFI undertook the first-ever exercise to create a body of disability-disaggregated data in 20 barangays in Las Piñas City. The Federation identified that through this profile-mapping exercise, they could foster a strong and active Persons with Disabilities (PwD) community, along with strong evidence for policy and program development at the barangay and city level.

This exercise later developed into a pilot for the Inclusive Data Management System for Persons with Disabilities (IDMS), piloted by the Centre for Disaster Preparedness (CDP). The goal was to mainstream disability as a data point in planning, budgeting, and other development programs. This could also help identify resources, capacities, and vulnerabilities within a community, decreasing the likelihood of PwDs being left behind during disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) plans.

Aapti meeting with members of the LPPWDFI in Metro Manila

What stands out in the approach the LPPWDFI adopted is the active involvement of the PwD community in the city in the enumeration process. This ensured that the collection process reflected diverse disability experiences, and the community built trust by creating safe spaces to divulge details about one’s disabilities. The idea of ResTech shines through this effort by weaving communities into a dataset to legitimise its essence of public welfare. The involvement of the barangay chieftain, the lens of care and transparency adopted by enumerators in collecting sensitive personal information about PwDs in the city, was all representative of how the process was designed to be community-first.

As with ResTech, the challenge in building technology for crisis response is that it is often reactive to an event. The LPPWDFI database was built to create an affirmative pathway for including disability in decision-making, and it ultimately allowed for the IDMS data to be used to provide aid and assistance during the pandemic to PwDs. Such instances of building ResTech efforts for the long-term remedy existing gaps in preparedness, accelerating response when required.

Takeaways on community resilience

The role of community participation in responding to disasters is brought to the forefront in many Global South countries. Prevailing indigenous knowledge, community trust, and an understanding of real-time on-ground needs build a convincing case for greater attention to be paid to this layer in DRRM. The instances we have seen in the Philippines demonstrate building resilience through a slow but steady approach, thereby also accounting for longevity.

1. The role of technology and data during rapid-onset events proves useful, but should also go hand-in-hand with the supporting online infrastructure and offline network to inspire confidence and trust

2. Building ResTech not just to respond to sudden events, but for long-term impact, is a design approach that can go a long way in creating active communities equipped to act during foreseeable disaster events. 

   
   

The vision for ResTech highlighted through the above mentioned initiatives points to a broader narrative of community engagement in conversations around designing data systems and digital technologies. The availability of inclusive and representative datasets reflects people’s use and interactions with various touchpoints. But it is also a commentary on the institutional treatment and outlook on communities affected by disasters. Applying the principle of justice to what data point is deemed “worthy” of being collected is what data justice emulates. Data justice combines social justice with the reality of datafication, holding institutions accountable for encoding community interests into established information systems. Applying the aspiration of data justice to communities navigating their realities during crises presents a counter narrative to the value of data that is many steps closer to on-ground realities. Initiatives like Bike Scouts and the LPPWDFI create opportunities for communities to realise self-determination in bottom-up ways.