Phillipines - B-Ready II - humanitarian DIF SUMMARY This is a one-year scale up project of an ongoing B-Ready project, in consortium with Oxfam Novib and Global Parametrics, funded by the Dutch Innovation Fund. The overall goal of the project is: Vulnerable Communities are better prepared to cope with the adverse effects of natural disasters through the Scale-up of B-READY. B-Ready empowers families with agency to prepare for disasters in ways that are suitable for them, whether that is evacuation, strengthening their home, or protecting livelihoods assets. B-READY saves resources, livelihoods and lives of vulnerable people by providing communities with the knowledge (forecasted impacts of disaster on their community), voice (co-defining triggers, HH to be supported), and the resources (cash) to reduce their vulnerability to disaster.  This project directly supports 4500 households or 22,500 people in 50 villages to reduce the effects of disasters, and increase their resilience. Since 1970, the number of annual disasters has more than quadrupled, with a current persistent funding gap of 40% of emergency appeals. Evidence in diverse contexts  shows that each Euro invested in preparedness saves four to seven Euros on response  and technological advances have improved our ability to predict disasters. Yet relief efforts remain predominately reactionary. The history of ‘reactive’ disaster response, creates challenges for the humanitarian infrastructure to change the paradigm to proactive response.  

Vulnerable households globally, and in the Philippines, struggle to protect themselves from disasters. Vulnerability is determined by poverty, lack of information, and lack of resources: communities’ lack of disaster preparedness often stems from a lack of financial resources, and the inability to predict the impact of disasters.  

Specific challenges to pre-emptive action in the Philippines, includes:
•	Lacking cost-efficient, scalable, and reliable methods to predict the specific local impacts of disasters. 
•	Humanitarian finance built to respond post-disaster.
•	A lack of effective, cost-efficient & timely methods of supporting vulnerable people preparing for disasters. For example, the Philippines Government ‘best practice’ of distributing food pre-disaster was noted by the disaster management official as ‘not meeting the needs’ of people preparing for disaster .
•	Central disaster predictions hampers communication, with timely post-disaster relief often delayed and inadequate. For example the high loss of life during Typhoon Haiyan was partly due to preparedness communication that provided a ‘scripted text’ of a storm surge, rather than the real impact of an incoming tsunami . To protect vulnerable households against disaster, B-READY provides knowledge of the local impact of the disaster, with cash grants, days before impact. This program combines three innovations: 
1. Impact-based disaster forecasting, 
2. Linking financial transfer technologies to social protection for pre-emptive action and 
3. A paradigm shift to pre-emptive response, aligning systems, policy and financing for greater overall disaster outcomes.

B-READY enables governments to predict the local impact of disasters, and provide pre-emptive cash to vulnerable families to save lives, alleviate suffering, and minimise economic losses. Families receive cash and know-how before a disaster, allowing them to effectively protect and prepare themselves and minimize the disaster impact.

Core components of the innovation are:
•	Parametrics: provides a cost-efficient, objective, scalable, and reliable way to predict the impacts of disasters locally. 
•	Locally owned action: Local actors respond pre-emptively to foreseen disaster impact, based on SOPs and impact thresholds defined together with communities.  
•	Pre-emptive cash grants: Cash transfers are triggered based on ‘impact thresholds’ through a digital local financial platform to provide a smart, efficient, transparent cash-grant, that provides families with the ability to prepare. 
•	Sustainable pre-emptive finance: B-READY works on sustainable financing pathways for pre-emptive action that shifts available and growing (inter)national funding to pre-emptive action. This programme is a readiness to scale programme of the 2020 B-ready pilot 

The Salcedo local government adopted B-READY in 2020, and is planning to use internal funds for future pre-emptive action. The mayor and governor are influencing other local and national government actors for B-READY adoption. For example the Philippines National Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) are issuing a resolution to ensure more local governments can benefit from pre-emptive action to disasters through their current government funding mechanism.

Economies of scale are evidenced in the parametric model. The concept of pre-emptive finance for social protection and preparedness, and its effective delivery once triggers are hit through local financial providers are proven. Other donors (e.g. ECHO) are already providing further funding. B-READY has won the SEED innovation competition, and is been promoted by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator as one of the top 3 innovative DRR projects globally. The target groups for this solution are:
•	Beneficiaries: This project will benefit 4,500 vulnerable households or 22,500 people in 50 villages in the Philippines. 60% of cash grants will be targeting women. Beneficiaries of the project will be vulnerable households defined by the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) including children, persons with disability, pregnant and lactating mothers, elderly, SOGIE (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression), groups with low income, affected by conflict, or particularly exposed to hazards. Beneficiaries increase voice, agency, resources and knowledge to better prepare for disasters. 
•	Local Governments will improve preparedness, disaster management, efficiency and transparency of disaster response with new forecasting technology showing local impacts, and the mechanisms established to disburse cash safely and quickly before a disaster strikes.
•	CSOs gain capacity to keep governments to account for transparent, safe, and effective pre-emptive disaster response, aligned with humanitarian standards (for example through safeguarding scorecards, early action protocol participation).
•	Local Financial Institutions support the transparent and efficient delivery of cash in communities and possible future pre-emptive financing products (insurance, remittances, loans, savings).
•	National Government gain capacity to provide more effective, efficient and impactful preparedness programs through policy change, standards, financial oversight, and operational guidance for pre-emptive disaster action. B-READY has now been tested in the Philippines, and has initial funding to be piloted in Sudan. To make the jump from ‘pilot’ to ‘preparing for scale’ B-READY needs to:
1.	Evidence the current B READY Model for iterative improvement, advocacy and impact: The project will cover 2 new locations in the Philippines, and continue in its current operational area to generate evidence including a Randomised Control Trial, to create iterative improvement, advocacy materials and build B-READY for adoption.
2.	Codification of the B READY Philippines and Global Scale Model includes mapping similar initiatives elsewhere for collaboration or learning, considering ‘fertile’ areas for scale (financing, locations, actors, policy routes), choosing a strategic scale up trajectory based on lessons learned, and then a collaborative codification process linking the Philippines National Model, with a Global Scale Model and ‘testing’ these with new funders and implementers to ensure greatest impact, cost-efficiency and ethical risk management.
3.	Building B READY for Sustainability at Scale by practically testing local and global sustainability pathways through government uptake (Philippines), private sector finance business models, global FbF, and pre-emptive financial tools/mechanisms currently under-discussion. Furthermore, there will be global advocacy, influencing and knowledge sharing, having B-READY and it’s Scale Model featured in many appropriate forums, exposure visits, webinar presentations, socialisation workshops, targeted policy papers, and discussions with strategic actors to build new partners for adoption.

These three steps will enable the B-READY consortium to bring learnings from the previous pilots, codify the model to streamline for efficient scale, and build longer term sustainability across the Philippines and for future countries of implementation. Much of this work hasn’t been possible to date through ‘traditional’ funding that don’t accept critical ‘scaling’ activities. Until 2024 funding will be based on donors to support operational scale out across new contexts, and pre-emptive public/private sector financial scale models (there are 4 proposals developed).

After 5-7 years the project will plan to utilise sustainable funding models it is currently testing including:
1.	Country Government pre-emptive/DRR funding utilised for B-READY – currently testing in the Philippines – Likely.
2.	New pre-emptive/DRR financial instruments (e.g. guarantee fund) functioning at a global level – joining current advocacy – Likely, but size unknown.
3.	Delivery of private sector pre-emptive finance models (loans, insurance, savings, remittance transfer) – currently evidencing in partnership with finance companies – Moderate.