HHI Resilient Communities

Join renowned surgeon, author, and public health innovator Atul Gawande in "The Mechanics of Public Man-Made Death: USAID’s Destruction At One Year" on 11 February 2026.

🗣️ This event is open to the public.
👉 Register: https://loom.ly/Z_QCcQ4

The dismantling of USAID has triggered a wave of deaths—hundreds of thousands already—across the world. Atul Gawande, former public health leader at USAID, will unpack how recent global health gains are being rapidly reversed in our annual Jodidi Lecture. Join us on Feb. 11 at 4:30pm. Register: https://loom.ly/Z_QCcQ4

Seeking learning and professional opportunities in 2026? 🕵️ 💡 These exciting opportunities from Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Harvard Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights might be exactly what you're looking for:

✅ Humanitarian Response Intensive Course (HRIC): hsph.me/2026hric
✅ Harvard Health Systems Innovation Lab Hackathon: hsph.me/2026hsil
✅ Communications Coordinator (Light-Hire): hsph.me/2026comms
✅ Dynamic Leadership for Humanitarian Leaders: Navigating Through Crisis and Complexity: hsph.me/dynamicleadership
✅ Humanitarianism & Native American & Indigenous Communities Funding for Harvard Students: hsph.me/2026hhifunding
✅ Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights Fellowships: hsph.me/2026crc
✅ Grants for HHI Humanitarian Studies Concentration Students: hhi.harvard.edu/hhi-spark-grants

2025 has been a year of relentless, overlapping climate and geological disasters across South and Southeast Asia. Record-breaking heat, powerful typhoons, massive floods and landslides, and violent earthquakes have claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions, and pushed already fragile health systems to the brink.

With a decade of experience generating impactful resilience research in South and Southeast Asia, HHI Resilient Communities remains committed to supporting community resilience through evidence-based research, collaborations, engagements, and actionable solutions.

Learn more:

The Alarming Public Health Impacts of Disasters Need Urgent Attention | Harvard Humanitarian Initiative With a decade of experience generating impactful resilience research in South and Southeast Asia, HHI Resilient Communities remains committed to supporting community resilience through evidence-based research, collaborations, engagements, and actionable solutions. We continue to leverage HHI’s exp...

Amid the multibillion-dollar scandal in control projects that shook the 🇵🇭 Philippines this year, we shared a policy note with key government officials outlining recommendations on how to 💰 combat corruption and ensure the effectiveness of 🌊 flood risk management projects through research, science, and evidence.

Here are the top 3 actionable policy recommendations from Harvard Humanitarian Initiative–HHI Resilient Communities Program Director Dr. Vincenzo Bollettino and University of the Philippines Professorial Lecturer Dr. Pamela Gloria Cajilig, both of whom have long-standing engagement in disaster resilience in the country and globally.

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The Senate of the Philippines' content portal highlights the policy recommendations by Dr. Vincenzo Bollettino and Dr. Pamela Gloria Cajilig for addressing in in the 🇵🇭 Philippines:

"The researchers' prescription is clear and compelling: inject rigorous science and transparent, independent scrutiny into every phase of flood control, from initial design to long-term maintenance."

Read more: https://eclips.senate.gov.ph/editorial-opinion/moving-past-ghost-projects-a-fresh-approach-to-flood-resilience-in-phl

❇️ Dr. Bollettino is the Director of HHI Resilient Communities program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and

❇️ Dr. Cajilig is a Professorial Lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Architecture, and a Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity in Southeast Asia at the Atlantic Institute of the Rhodes Trust, University of Oxford

eClips Senate News Updates Get the latest news, headlines, and breaking stories breaking stories in the Philippines.

"Against this backdrop of immense expenditure and allegations of misappropriation, a crucial policy note from researchers Vincenzo Bollettino (Harvard University) and Pamela Gloria Cajilig (University of the Philippines) arrives not merely as a suggestion, but as an urgent blueprint for redemption."

Read more: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/11/06/moving-past-ghost-projects-a-fresh-approach-to-flood-resilience-in-phl/

Moving past ghost projects: A fresh approach to flood resilience in PHL | BusinessMirror Editorial President Marcos announced 9,855 completed flood control projects costing over half a trillion pesos in under three years, but corruption narratives persist. Against this backdrop of immense expenditure and allegations of misappropriation, a crucial policy note from researchers Vincenzo Bollettino (...

"Vincenzo Bollettino of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Pamela Gloria Cajilig of the University of the Philippines and the University of Oxford urged the government to adopt scientific and transparent approaches in planning and implementing flood management programs."

“Philippine and international experience shows that independent, science-based oversight and public participation lead to better-quality, corruption-resistant infrastructure that saves lives and resources.”

✅ Read this latest 🗞️ news via BusinessMirror: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/11/01/researchers-warn-sans-science-flood-control-risks-more-corruption/

Researchers warn: Sans science, flood control risks more corruption | Bless Aubrey Ogerio TWO researchers from Harvard University and the University of the Philippines have called for the creation of independent oversight and evidence-based evaluation systems to address corruption in the Philippines’ flood control projects. Vincenzo Bollettino of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and...

Here are our top 10 takeaways from our 10 years of programming in 🌏 Asia—conducting 💡 resilience research and 🤝 collaborative engagements in the 🇵🇭 Philippines, 🇳🇵 Nepal, and 🇧🇩 Bangladesh since 2015.

Are these impact lessons relevant to your work?

✅ Read more: hsph.me/impact1

The 🌊 flood corruption scandals in the 🇵🇭 Philippines undermine public trust and hamper the prospects for 🌏 climate-adaptive infrastructure in one of the world’s most disaster-affected countries.

📊 Research and evidence can be used to combat 💰 corruption and ensure that flood projects deliver on their promise. It's time to develop a culture of 🔎 scientific integrity and evidence-based action for flood management projects.

💡 Learn more in this Rappler article written by:
❇️ Dr. Vincenzo Bollettino, Director of HHI Resilient Communities program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and Senior Research Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University; and

❇️ Dr. Pamela Cajilig, Professorial Lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Architecture, and Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity in Southeast Asia at the Atlantic Institute of the Rhodes Trust, University of Oxford.

[OPINION] To build trust, include researchers in major disaster infra projects It's time to develop a culture of scientific integrity and evidence-based action for flood management projects

Today, 13 October, is the International Day for 🌀 Disaster Risk Reduction. This year's commemoration calls for 💰 funding resilience now to ❗ avoid paying for disasters later.

At HHI Resilient Communities, we support this global call. We also believe that solutions are most effective when developed in 🤝 collaboration with local partners. Over the past decade, we catalyzed cross-sector coordination and collaboration with dozens of local partners to co-create research, resilience tools, and action plans.

In this last part of our blog series, we discuss key takeaways from our collaboration initiatives, which complete our top ten impact lessons over our ten years of programming in Asia.

Read Part 3: hsph.me/impact3 👈

Communication is a fundamental tool of community resilience because it fosters collective 💡understanding, 🌹 empowerment, and 💪 action.

At the HHI Resilient Communities (HHI RC) program, communications have always been an essential part of our research work. In this 2nd part of our blog series, we share key lessons from our impactful communications initiatives in the 🇵🇭 Philippines, 🇧🇩 Bangladesh, and 🇳🇵 Nepal over the past decade.