Towards Healthy Energy Choices

in the Philippines: Promoting the Use of Health Impact Assessments for Energy Policies and Projects

March 7-9 (Manila, Philippines)

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Background

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a “combination of procedures, methods and tools to systematically evaluate the potential effects of a policy, program or project on the health of a population (positive or negative, direct or indirect) and the distribution of those effects within the population.” 

In the Philippines, the HIA is not widely utilized, and it is not yet institutionalized as a requirement for policies and projects in other sectors. Furthermore, there is dearth of health professionals with capacity to design, conduct, and evaluate an HIA. 

Energy is one of the areas where HIA can be a very useful instrument for promoting and protecting health. It is known that energy policies and projects can have unintended health consequences, and therefore the HIA can be used to assess their potential health impacts and inform decision-makers, planners, and implementers even prior to, for instance, constructing an energy facility.

Objectives

Therefore, in order to address this gap, the Healthy Energy Initiative of Health Care Without Harm-Asia will be holding a three-day workshop on HIAs and how they can be used for energy policies and projects. The workshop specifically aims to enable participants to:

• Familiarize with the principles and process of HIA, as well as issues and challenges surrounding their use especially for energy policies and projects
• Design a workplan to move forward with conducting an HIA on a specific energy policy or project
• Discuss about challenges, opportunities and the way forward for the use of HIA in the Philippines

Curriculum

The three-day workshop will cover the following topics:

• Links between climate change, energy, and health
• Energy situation in the Philippines
• Principles and history of HIA
• Essential steps of the HIA process
• Group exercises in designing an HIA workplan
• Challenges and barriers in conducting an HIA
• Using HIA for advocacy
• The future of HIA in the Philippines

Faculty

• Linda Rudolph, MD, MPH, Public Health Institute, California
• Jonathan Buonocore, ScD, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Other guest speakers from the World Health Organization, Department of Health, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Energy, etc.
• Course Co-Directors: Renzo Guinto, MD and Jennifer Wang, MSc, Healthy Energy Initiative, Health Care Without Harm

Eligibility

Participants will come from a wide range of sectors such as the Department of Health, academia, environment and/or health civil society organizations, private sector, and communities where new energy projects are proposed. Most of the participants are invited or pre-selected from partner organizations. However, there are slots for health and other professionals who wish to be trained on HIA and to participate in the actual conduct of HIAs for energy policies and projects after the workshop.

For health and other professionals interested in applying, below are the eligibility requirements:

• A prior degree related to the health sciences or other relevant fields (ex. social sciences, engineering, etc.)
• Interest and experience in public health or environmental health issues
• Commitment to attend the whole 3-day workshop and to participate in the actual conduct of the HIA workplans after the workshop

Benefits

The workshop is free-of-charge and includes a Certificate of Participation, workshop materials, meals for the workshop proper, and a welcome dinner. Limited support for travel and accommodation is available for participants from outside Metro Manila. Participants will also be part of the initial network of HIA practitioners in the Philippines.

Application Process

Please submit the following requirements to Ms. Ann Lustresano (ann@no-harm.org), Healthy Energy Initiative project associate, on or before Friday, February 12, 2016: 

• Curriculum vitae
• 1-page cover letter expressing your interest, how you will benefit from the workshop, and commitment to participate in an actual HIA process of an energy project after the training

Results will be released on Friday, February 19, 2015. 

Download the requirements here.