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Paper short abstract:

Multiple threats affect Filipinos' daily lives. This project uses human instead of state-centric security to map Philippine regional vulnerabilities. Using its own assessment tool (HSAT), it will build a web data platform, eSECURE, aiming to inform policy decisions and improve Filipinos' well-being.

Paper long abstract:

Despite recent improvements in reducing violence and extremism, the Philippines continues to grapple with significant challenges to its people's quality of life. Marginalization based on ethnicity, religion, and ideology, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have highlighted existing vulnerabilities.

Traditional security concepts focus on state-centric concerns and do not fully address the well-being of Filipinos. The United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) framework of seven human security areas provides a more comprehensive alternative lens better suited to addressing multifaceted threats.

This project, in response, seeks to use a human-centered “human security” rather than state-centered approach. It will evaluate the state of Philippine vulnerabilities guided by the UNDP seven areas and focusing on regional variance. To build a data-driven index stakeholders like government can use to better align programs to people’s needs, this project will:

• Gather new baseline data on regional human security; and

• Create a web-based application for data storage, distribution, and analysis.

The project will generate data using a mixed method, stratified random sampling approach (KIIs, FGDs, and a Likert survey). The main tool for this initiative, the Human Security Assessment Tool (HSAT), was developed with the research council’s experts to ensure a thorough multidimensional assessment in the regions. The compiled data will be uploaded to a web-based platform, eSECURE, that will have practical applications in setting research priorities, shaping policies, mitigating disaster risks, and making informed decisions.

Through its data-driven social technology approach, this project aims to minimize the daily insecurities faced by Filipinos in the post-pandemic era.