ICLEI Southeast Asia invites cities in the Philippines to participate in the Enhancing Local Capacities in Socially Inclusive Resilience in Asia (SIRA) Project.   

The Enhancing Local Capacities in Socially Inclusive Resilience in Asia (SIRA) Project, funded by  UK aid from the UK Government and by the International Development Research Centre, Canada as part of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) programme and implemented by ICLEI, aims to identify and address the immediate capacity needs of local governments in pursuing climate action that is inclusive and sustainable, and address these needs through a systematic and phased capacity strengthening programme anchored on south-south cooperation among four Asian countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.  

By participating in the SIRA Project, your city will gain relevant and up-to-date knowledge and expertise related to resilience building at the local level. The project will create an exciting way for cities to explore deeper and more widespread integration of resilience, gender equality and social inclusion in local development plans, enabling better understanding of differentiated needs of vulnerable populations and what needs to be done to improve current situations.  

Participating cities will receive the following support: 

• Learner-centered, structured, relevant and compatible capacity building program for three (3) key city staff in understanding socially inclusive climate action practices which will generate transferable skills aligned with the LGU’s human resource development agenda 
• Technical and administrative support from internship programs developed collaboratively and designed to suit the LGU’s human resource capacity needs 
• Access to learning materials and knowledge products on resilience building, gender and inclusion which can be used for the LGU’s training and communication efforts within its offices and for its constituents 
• A global network that presents wider opportunities for information sharing and knowledge building on resilience, gender, inclusion, global advocacy and financing 

The program will be from March 2025 to March 2027. 

Note that the project will not be providing direct financial contributions to cities, nor provide financial support for participating in external training programmes, beyond those organised through the project. 

Participating cities will be asked to contribute the following: 

• Commitment to participate in the project activities from March 2025 to March 2027 via a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) 
• Appointment of a focal person, that will facilitate and oversee the implementation of activities stated in the MoU 
• Nominate three (3) key officials whose role relates to advancing climate change action and building local resilience to climate change to participate in the training programmes and facilitate their participation with necessary written permissions when the training programmes are organised 
• Willingness to take on undergraduate and postgraduate student interns in the LGU (without financial obligation from the LGU) 
• Commitment to collaborate and engage in agreed upon project activities which may include, but not limited to: 
  • Trainings on resilience building, gender and inclusion 
  • Internship programs for undergraduate and postgraduate students 
  • Peer exchange program among LGUs at the national and international levels 
  • Knowledge exchange and conferences on socially inclusive resilience building at the local level 

UPDATE: The deadline to apply has been extended to 21 March 2025. If your city is interested, kindly submit the following to our email address, iclei-sea@iclei.org: (1) a letter of interest using the Annex 1 Expression of Interest template [click here to download], and (2) a filled-out Annex 2 Questionnaire [click here to download], to help facilitate the assessment of your application.  

For inquiries, you may contact us at iclei-sea@iclei.org