Started by a group of transnational Filipinos living in the Philippines, Resilience Starts Here is premised on cultivating right relationship with the motherland and in the context of disaster.

As a conceptual project Resilience Starts Here invites you into shared work-in-progress. We are a community grounded in commitments to learn our history, engage in living culture, and mobilize love and resources towards resilience and social justice, particularly in the face of a changing climate.

Resilience Starts Here was a concept created by TIGRA Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. At that time, the Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA) in the US and its fledgling office in the Philippines, mobilized its networks around a locally-led boat repair project in Bantayan Island. You can read all about this in the case study and/or watch the presentation recorded in December 2019.

In mid-2014, TIGRA Philippines approached an emerging partner, Kaya Collaborative, about working on a joint environmental issues curriculum specifically for Filipino communities in the diaspora. The curriculum, Typhoon Season and the Climate Crisis, was designed as a platter of activities, discussion prompts, and open-source material that groups could draw from in order to conduct workshops in their communities. A core premise for the curriculum was that the transnational Filipino community ought to build the capacity not only to respond when disasters strike but, crucially, to tackle root causes.

TIGRA and Kaya Collaborative were visionary transnational organizations that, unfortunately, are no longer operational. However, our networks still thrive as communities of friends and co-consipirators. Many of us continue to work, both transnationally and in the Philippines, with an eye towards social change and impact.

We believe that the Resilience Starts Here concept remains relevant in the face of worsening storms and other crises that affect the Philippines. Moreover, we remain rooted in the importance of culture and community, not only to weather the storms, but also in the great work towards climate adaptation, resilience, a solidarity economy and social justice in the Philippines.

If this resonates and you’d like to participate please be in touch!