Last September 25, 2026, ARISE Philippines and the National Resilience Council (NRC) welcomed the All Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia on Disaster Risk Management (APPGM-DRM), joined by representatives from academia, legislative and UN offices, and science diplomacy, for an international benchmarking visit to the Philippines held at SM Prime Headquarters to exchange experiences and explore approaches to strengthening disaster risk management and resilience.
The engagement provided a platform for ARISE Philippines and NRC to present their respective mandates, approaches, and contributions to strengthening resilience in the Philippines, while allowing the Malaysian delegation to learn from established multi-sectoral mechanisms and practices led by the private sector.
ARISE Philippines informed the guests about its mandate under the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and its work in mobilizing the private sector through capacity building, public-private partnerships, knowledge exchange, and resilience initiatives engaging both large corporations and MSMEs, highlighting the UNDRR catalytic areas.
Meanwhile, NRC presented its public-private-people partnership model, highlighting its role in bridging science, policy, and practice through resilience scorecards, multi-stakeholder engagement, and initiatives such as the Adopt a City program.
During the meeting, an open forum facilitated the benchmarking exchange. The Malaysian delegation explored how the Philippine resilience ecosystem operates in practice, with particular interest in MSME engagement, the complementary roles of ARISE Philippines and other private sector actors, and the good practices shared by NRC. The discussion also examined how resilience efforts respond to vulnerable groups, how localization is achieved despite varying hazards, and how these contexts reach communities across the country.
These questions reflected the delegation’s interest in understanding not only the structures and programs established in the Philippines, but also how whole-of-society and whole-of-nation approaches are translated into concrete partnerships, policies, and actions across different sectors and local contexts in building disaster resilience.
As Malaysia works toward the passage of its own disaster risk reduction and management law, the benchmarking visit provided an opportunity for the delegation to draw lessons from the Philippine experiences, cross sectoral partnerships, and approaches that may inform their legislative efforts. The exchange contributes to broader peer learning and regional cooperation as both countries work toward inclusive and effective disaster risk management systems.
