Community education interventions in disaster risk reduction for an Agta community in Camarines Sur, Philippines

This study aimed to develop community education interventions in disaster risk reduction for an Agta community in Camarines Sur, Philippines. Employing a case study research design, in-depth interviews with the Agta research participants, key informant interviews, naturalistic observation, and triangulation using the retrieved documents were conducted to gather relevant data. After the thematic analysis, a consultation and validation among the participants, CDRRMO [City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office] representative, and community education expert were facilitated to present and validate the data and the community education interventions developed to provide a comprehensive information on the relevance of disaster education among indigenous peoples (IPs) as a nonformal type of education. Based on thematic analysis, the Agta community in Camarines Sur were socially included since they have participation to education and training, labor force and voluntary work, socio-civic events, and decision-making. However, their access to opportunities, resources, and government services including disaster-related community education were limited. Moreover, as the Agta community is an indigenous cultural group and commonly the most affected sector comes natural disaster due to their disadvantaged situation, their condition was being worsened by the effect of typhoons. The developed community education interventions in disaster risk reduction, though limited to the Agta community in Camarines Sur, will serve as significant guide for other LDRRM [Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management] in the country with IP communities to educate and train them on disaster-related community education. Accordingly, IPs will be part of disaster risk reduction initiatives from planning to implementation and evaluation.