The LACER project aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of the AHA Centre to become a highly professional and trusted organisation that effectively carries out its operational mandate in facilitating and coordinating regional disaster preparedness and response, sharing European best practices and facilitating and building sustained institutional ASEAN – EU exchange. The project aims to plan for, implement and sustain organisational development using a comprehensive strategic approach. In December, the following activities were implemented.

LACER would like to use the occasion of the holiday season to embrace the decline of the global COVID-19 pandemic, a much awaited development which has allowed the project to soar to new heights over the past year. The return of international travel and in-person events have restored the personal touch to partnership, as we are now able to engage more closely with our partners in South East Asia and foster the kind of sustainable relationships between disaster management experts that we hope will outlive the project.

The month of November was dominated by the visit of LACER experts and project leadership to Jakarta, which included implementation of multiple project activities and meeting staff of the AHA Centre, ASEAN Secretariat, EU Delegation, and other partners.

The LACER project is pleased to contribute to the launch webinar of ARMOR in its 3rd edition, supported by the European Union. The theme of this edition is the intersection of disasters and pandemic.

LACER Team Leader Dr. Charles Silva joined AHA Centre’s LA Dimailig in facilitating the 3-day AIM-Net workshop in Jakarta, which brought together more than 20 delegates and focal points from the 10 ASEAN member states and their emergency operations centres (EOCs).