The PhilCCAP Project Management Office (PMO) is exploring possible partnerships with other institutions with the aim of expanding the resources, technical know-how and other knowledge available to the project. A partnership will also give PhilCCAP the opportunity to tap its pool of knowledge resources to assist other efforts to support climate change adaptation.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) and PhilCCAP has been drafted, covering agreements on information sharing and an optional feedback mechanism, which will allow experts from Michigan Tech to offer insights on PhilCCAP’s ongoing activities. PhilCCAP and Michigan Tech are also looking into the possibility of exploring joint proposals for future projects. Michigan Tech is a public research university located in Houghton, Michigan.
PhilCCAP has also looked into forging a partnership with Ecosystems Improved for Sustainable Fisheries (ECOFISH), a USAID-funded project operating on Siargao Island. In a draft memorandum of understanding between the two projects, PhilCCAP and ECOPHIL are looking into a collaboration in supporting each other’s activities in Siargao through empowering social mobilization and supporting collective organization among both projects’ beneficiaries. This partnership proposal, along with the Michigan Tech MOU, is currently being reviewed.
On the other hand, PhilCCAP is attracting investors to support the activities under its management plan for Siargao Island. Last December, PhilCCAP’s project manager, Mr. Wilbur Dee, along with Mr. Leonardo Paat, Jr., the World Bank’s Task Team Leader for PhilCCAP, attended a meeting with officials of Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), a multilateral and multisectoral partnership agreement between the governments of East Asian countries, civil society and cause-oriented groups.
PEMSEA is considering several projects in which it intends to invest as part of its program of strengthening integrated coastal management in the country. PhilCCAP offered its activities in Siargao, which involves several projects along coastal and marine areas. PEMSEA has since met with the project’s consultants in order to gather more information about the efforts in Siargao.