30 June 2015 - “There is a need to build trust and confidence between the Government and the private sector in humanitarian action. And how do we do that? We must proceed with heart, with openness.”

This was what the Philippines emphasized in the side event on “The Power of Business in Emergencies – Working together in Preparedness and Response” which was held at the Palais des Nations on June 18 .

Philippine Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Jesus R.S. Domingo, who represented the Philippines in the side event, further said, “the private sector should be a partner to embrace not a problem to be fixed.”

Assistant Secretary Domingo elaborated how the private sector was instrumental in ensuring that instantaneous assistance reach the affected communities after disasters hit the Philippines. In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda, for instance, the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) as well as other big companies, which have humanitarian and human rights awareness, immediately reached out to the affected populations and sent out urgent humanitarian relief, even allowing their existing warehouses and supplies to be utilized for emergency response.

The side event focused on the role of Government in creating enabling environments for enhanced and more efficient private sector engagement in humanitarian action.

The Philippines was invited in the side event to share its perspective and experience, particularly its response to typhoons Bopha and Haiyan, in creating an enabling environment for the private sector engagement and to provide the governments’ vision in this area.

Other confirmed speakers include private sector representatives from Arcelor Mittal who spoke from the perspective of private sector engagement during the response to the Ebola crisis in West Afric. and from Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), who stressed the coordination between authorities and the private sector and the psychosocial support for private sector staff that could possibly be involved in humanitarian response.

Representatives coming from governments, non-governmenr organizations (NGOs), United Nations (UN) agencies and international humanitarian organizations attended the side event where fruitful discussions highlighted the need to engage the private sector at operational levels and the need to create networks and platforms as well as broad principles, charters and regulatory environments necessary to be able to engage with them.

The event took place in the context of the lead up to the endeavor of the World Humanitarian Summit and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to further a process whereby countries around the world take on the mantle of Champions for private sector engagement. END