Who knew I would be working with the best of the best volunteers?

As part of my volunteer work here in Asia Pacific, I would like to introduce you to some pretty incredible people. Several of which have already been featured in this blog.

Barangay Ma-a had a group of people who were headed in the wrong direction. The head of the group got these youth off of the street and turned them around.



They are a bunch of energetic youth, who are back in school, and making a difference with others. Some of them even became instructors in a very short time.

Just like all the dedicated folks we have met, Barangay Ma-a is an incredible group of people with an incredible leader. Volunteers that are making a difference in their own communities and in the world.

This group also had the honor, last week, of being recognized by the President of the Philippines as the best prepared barangay in ALL of the Philippines.

Anyone up for a World Competition on Disaster Preparedness? There would be some excellent skill sharing and a new perspective for all.

Congratulations to this team. I look forward to spending some more time with them in the next few weeks.

So little time, so little funding. Big interest in learning.

When asked to present the Incident Command System (ICS) to multiple groups in Asia Pacific, it was important to think of the best way to deliver a course that would have the greatest long term impact. However there is limited time and so it needed to be done without providing 2 weeks or a month worth of classes, but present a 4 hour session. While at the same time share experiences and best practices from other parts of the world.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to present the G402 Incident Command System (ICS) Overview for Executives/Senior Officials course. The course can be found at: http://training.fema.gov/STCourses/crsdesc_spec.asp?courseid=G402

It is became clear very fast that even in different parts of the world, ICS is effective.

At the end of the Disaster Coordinating Council Executive Team session, several questions were raised. Some of them include:

- What are some examples of NGOs working with government agencies under ICS and the associated challenges.

- Where can we get more information and other best practices.

In the next few days, "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" will provide some additional resources around these topics. Several other courses will be taught in the next few weeks, along with tabletop and full scale exercises. Lessons from those sessions will be shared as well.