ADRA acts as a catalyst for change by inspiring, engaging and empowering people to strive together for the greater good. In doing so, ADRA embodies values that are grounded in human dignity and respect for peoples’ innate capabilities, expressed through ADRA’s commitment to well-being as its core development objective, taking a holistic approach to programs, humanitarian response, and advocacy. For ADRA, ‘holistic’ refers to spiritual, social, and physical dimensions, addressing the multi-faceted causes of poverty, and to the emergency relief—reform dimension of our work.

ADRA exists to enable people to live life to the full, physically, socially, and spiritually. We associate this fullness with the concept of well-being, which remains ADRA’s long-term, over-arching aim. In its most tangible forms individual well-being derives from access and opportunities in relation to three key areas: Education, Health and Sustainable Livelihoods. They shape what is described as ADRA’s Well-being Triangle.

ADRA’s intended program outcomes focus on connecting the ‘edges of the Well-being Triangle’ through 1) holistic programming and thematic advocacy; 2) linking education with livelihoods in vocational education programs; and 3) linking nutrition and agriculture in maternal and child health.

ADRA aims to address equitable development for women, girls, and minorities, whilst aiming to ensure protection for the most vulnerable.

Sustainable livelihoods also link social well-being with the environment, an emerging part of ADRA’s programming. The threat that natural and manmade disasters bring to well-being is a focus of ADRA’s humanitarian work, but also crosses over into the development sphere in the form of disaster risk reduction, resilience, and climate change adaptation.

Beyond these tangible aspects, ADRA seeks in the way it works to promote well-being at a deeper level. ADRA believes that a life lived to the full is marked by an active concern for others. A life lived to the full is one where our abundance – to whatever extent that may be – of health, knowledge, resources, relationships, and spirituality, is exercised through generosity towards others.

With over 30 years of emergency management experience, ADRA provides a range of response interventions within complex and simple emergency scenarios across the Philippines. ADRA’s National Emergency Management Plan, anchored in the core humanitarian standards, ensures appropriate life-saving interventions. ADRA will deliver food and non-food items, including a cash modality when appropriate, through a rights-based approach to affected communities. ADRA’s strong partnership with the Adventist Church facilitates an immediate local response across all regions through assessments, coordination, logistics, and humanitarian aid delivery. Trained emergency response personnel in-country and globally through the ADRA Network provide surge capacity when appropriate.

ADRA’s disaster risk reduction (DRR) program focuses on reducing risk and building resilience to future disasters, saving lives, and contributing to the sustainable development goals. Partnering with communities, ADRA seeks to protect the most vulnerable and create platforms for strengthening disaster resilience through community-managed DRR, advocacy, disaster and climate risk governance, and inclusive child-centered DRR in schools & community settings. ADRA integrates climate change adaptation, mitigation, and DRR throughout its development programming in health, livelihood, and education. The agency works with local government units to provide technical support for improving local climate plans and contingency and DRR plans.

ADRA takes a comprehensive approach that focuses on Maternal and Child Health, Nutrition, WASH, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Indispensable to our life-saving humanitarian work is our commitment to address health inequalities, gender social norms, and other pre-existing vulnerabilities that affect health and nutritional outcomes. We recognize the significant impact of crises among women, girls and boys, children and adolescents, and persons with disabilities, specifically in marginalized communities. We work to improve access to quality healthcare, increase consumption of nutritious and sustainably produced foods, and gender-equitable access to sanitary and dignified WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) services.

ADRA actively promotes economic self-reliance and enhanced business capacity of farmers, fisherfolk, women entrepreneurs, and local traders through access to financial capital, training, and increased resilience to natural and human-made hazards. By linking local communities to regional and national markets, and developing organizational capacity, groups can better interact with government agencies and financial service entities. ADRA uses innovation and adaptive strategies to create economic opportunities and resilient livelihoods.

ADRA believes that education can change everything for a child and is a critical tool for fulfilling their God-given potential. Education helps safeguard against violence, abuse, exploitation and reduces vulnerability to natural disasters. With the second largest private education system in the world, the Adventist Church enhances ADRA’s capacity to influence positive change in children’s lives. ADRA works with families to provide practical support for keeping children in school and promoting these children’s psychosocial wellbeing.

ADRA Philippines is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that has close to 1 million members in the Philippines, allowing us to respond across the country through the church-based volunteers from the Adventist Community Services (ACS). ADRA has also partnered with several development agencies, government executive departments, educational and research institutions to develop and deliver development programs to communities throughout the country. We view collaboration with partners such as the Agriculture, Health, DRR, and Social Welfare and Development departments of the Local Government Unit, Oxfam, World Vision, Humanity and Inclusion, and local community based-organizations as a cost-effective and time-saving means for implementing projects, sharing lessons, and combining technical experience and expertise for maximum project impact. In 2021, the agency was the convener of the Philippine International Non-governmental Organizations Network and part of the United Nations Humanitarian Country Team, as well as the Association of Foundations and the Area-Based Standards Network of DSWD. It is also an active member and contributor to other networks including the Philippine Coalition for Advocacy of Nutrition Security (PhilCAN), the National Anti- Poverty Commission (NAPC) and the Disaster Risk Reduction Network Philippines (DRRNet Philippines).