ILOILO CITY (PIA) -- Recognizing climate change as one of the most relevant issues faced globally, the open government townhall meeting dubbed as “Dagyaw” will highlight climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) on its first episode this year.

Themed as “Pag-andam kag Pagpahagan-hagan: Building Resilience through Information and Action,” the event will be staged on June 21 in a hybrid modality, through the physical setup and Zoom platform, which will also be streamed live via Facebook.

“True to its name, it is an open government townhall meeting which was started in 2019 that intends to conduct a dialogue with the public, civil society organizations (CSOs), and those outside the government to join us as we share programs and concepts, as well as tackle various relevant concerns,” said Nagaynay.

He further noted the importance of bringing these messages to all the key stakeholders in the community.

“We see Dagyaw as a platform that will give a wider reach to our stakeholders to further advocate and provide accurate information particularly this year, on the effects of climate change and the things we can do to further our responses, on its first season. As we know, actions on climate change do not only limit within the government. We need suggestions and other perspectives to improve the initiatives we carry out,” he added.

“In any other advocacy activities just as this, we do not expect that there is an overnight behavioral change, but through our continuous efforts in giving importance to the discussions on the effects of climate change, we envision that we could contribute in the increase of level of awareness, acceptance, and participation of our stakeholders,” said Nagaynay.

He further emphasized that this event may be a small step, but can have a rippling effect through the continuous engagements with CSOs, which may become advocates that will influence their respective communities, promote higher reach of information dissemination, and likewise provide them opportunity to come up with their much-informed decisions. (AAL/AGP/PIA 6)