NIRAS in Manila, Philippines

A NIRAS Ltd company, NIRAS Asia Manila Inc. currently employs 16 full-time staff and close to a hundred project staff in our various projects across the Philippines. The office has developed an extensive network of local experts and partner organisations. The team in Manila captures all the benefits that NIRAS’ provides as an global organization: a strong, decentralized matrix organisation with certified systems of management and technical expertise complemented by in-depth understanding and operational capability in the local context.

Our office in Manila allows a close interaction with the project beneficiaries, the local authorities, association partners, client and other stakeholders, enabling immediate and effective collaboration and communication. In addition to Manila, NIRAS also has project office readiness with two full-time staff in Davao, Mindanao.

We provide services within the field of:

• Climate Adaptation and Resilience

• Agriculture and food security

• Private sector development

• Gender and Human Rights

• Urban Development

• Governance

• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• Sustainable Energy

• Sustainable Urban Development

• Governance and gender mainstreaming and inclusion

Our projects in this area includes:

Strengthening the Transition of Vulnerable Communities
Affected by the Malolos-Clark Railway Project, ADB, 2020-2022

The Malolos–Clark Railway Project (MCRP) financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will support the construction of two sections of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) totaling 53.2 kilometres. The ADB and Department of Transportation (DOTr) recognize the potential of the Graduation Approach to assist Project Affected People relocated under this project to enable extreme and ultra-poor households to achieve key milestones towards sustainable livelihoods and socioeconomic resilience. The program will assist the Affected Households (AH) to develop livelihood programs based on their individual contexts and productive assets.

The NIRAS-led consortium will provide access to training, coaching, and other support services to enable AHs to “graduate” from extreme poverty. Best practices and lessons learned from employing this model will serve as a template to improve future policies governing resettlement.

Mindanao Irrigation Development Project, ADB, 2020-2021

The project will assist the Government of the Philippines to increase productivity and climate resilience of irrigated agriculture in Mindanao by (i) Strengthening irrigation planning, design, and management capacities; (ii) Developing efficient and climate resilient irrigation systems;
and (iii) Adopting climate resilient irrigated farming practices. The
NIRAS-led consortium provides expertise and resources for international experts in water resources, agriculture development, GIS/asset management, climate change and social development specialists.

Gender-responsive procurement (GRP) in the Asia Pacific:
Assessment and recommendations for supporting women-led
businesses, ADB and UN Women, 2020-2021

Gender-responsive procurement is emerging as a powerful means to bridge women’s businesses to markets, supporting their viability & growth, allows larger companies to put a gender-lens to their sourcing footprint, and ultimately allow international trade to become more gender-equal. The purpose of the regional bench-marking study is to assess existing and future opportunities for gender-responsive procurement in the Asia-Pacific, addressing both the public and private sectors.

The geographic scope is the Asia Pacific region with particular focus on select countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Viet Nam, the Philippines. Among the project outputs, NIRAS developed an overview of GRP practices in the public and private sectors, value chain analysis of main sectors and companies where women’s involvement is high and where women’s businesses are concentrated, and provided recommendations through policies, tools and programmatic approaches based on global good practices.

Identification of a Job Creation Programme for ARMM, European
Commission Framework Contracts, 2016
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARRM) in Southern Philippines has been plagued by recurring internal armed conflict and high poverty incidence of 55% (2012). Due to conflict, women and children are displaced and further marginalized as there are decreasing opportunities for work due to lack of access to jobs both at the formal and informal business enterprises.

The programme aims to deliver peace at a grass root level, in the form of more income earning opportunities and improved livelihoods for ex-combatants, their dependents and the Internally Displaced Populations (IDPs) that have been affected by years of conflict and neglect.

The NIRAS-led consortium identified the main target beneficiaries of the programme, optimum livelihood opportunities in the relevant sectors, the obstacles and barriers that restrict these potentials, and possible contributions for the EU to lift these obstacles.

Our work on this thematic area involves:

TA to the Biodiversity Conservation and Management of
Protected Areas in ASEAN (BCAMP), EC, 2017-2023

BCAMP project aims to enhance environmental, social and economic well-being through better biodiversity conservation, effective management of protected areas, and reduction of biodiversity loss in the ASEAN region. The BCAMP project provided technical support to the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB) to reduce the biodiversity loss. The Project has three main components to achieve its overall and specific objectives in site, national and regional levels.

Site-level interventions aim to improve biodiversity conservation and protected area management and support the AHPs Programme. The
national interventions emphasizes the mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation and protected area management in development plans and educational system in ASEAN by way of utilizing and developing scientific knowledge as basis for biodiversity conservation. On a regional level, the project highlights capacity building and training, and capitalizes on the institutional strengthening of the ACB as a regional mechanism that supports the ASEAN regional agenda on biodiversity.

Climate Adaptive Integrated Flood Risk Management (CAIFRM) Project

As a regional hub for the ADB market and as the consortium lead, the Manila office is providing management support to the project. The project will identify and develop opportunities to build climate-resilient Flood-Risk Management (FRM) infrastructure in the Red-Thai Binh River and the Ma River and help the Vietnamese government implement their FRM plan.

Philippines: Protecting and Investing in Natural Capital in Asia
and the Pacific - Public Awareness and Demand Reduction, ADB,
2019-2020
ADB’s regional project aims to combat organized environmental crime in the Philippines through three key components: (1) Legal and institutional reforms, (2) Capacity-building activities, and (3) Demand reduction measures.

NIRAS is implemented the third component of the project focusing on Public Awareness and Demand Reduction (PADR). The component aims to (1) Increase public awareness of the direct impacts of illegal wildlife trade on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services, and (2) Implement demand reduction measures for at least two priority illegally traded wildlife species in the Philippines.

Some of the outputs provided to achieve the outcomes include a nationwide survey to understand the demand for illegal wildlife and trends in consumer behaviour. Despite the challenges in data collection during the strict COVID-19 related restrictions in the country, our experts have managed to develop innovative knowledge product solutions to advance data collection without face-to-face interaction. An innovative Economic Valuation paper highlighted the larger value of wildlife to society beyond its physical attributes. A Communication, Education, and Public Awareness Campaign (CEPA) helped increase awareness on the effects of illegal wildlife trade and inspire stakeholders into action and to influence and effect societal and legislative changes. While a Consumer Demand Reduction Study (CDR) analyzed the effectiveness of the campaign and highlighted areas that needs strengthening in succeeding wildlife advocacy campaigns.

The three knowledge products and a social media video from the CEPA campaign was recognised during the Annual Global Wildlife Conference as the "Most Useful Project Resources" in a series of 5 mini-competitions involving 36 projects spanning 31 countries.

Support to the Philippines in Shaping and Implementing the International Climate Change Regime (SupportCCC II) GIZ, 2016-2018

The project supported the Government of the Philippines in developing renewable energy resources and integrating the electricity into the national grid. Main services rendered included renewable energy policy implementation and energy market design, integrated energy planning and renewable energy integration. The NIRAS-led consortium provided technical advice to the Department of Energy for data modelling and analysis, studies, development of technical reports and development of training modules and sessions with the objective of facilitating the implementation of climate change policies at national and sub-national levels and promoting the usage of renewable energies (RE).

EdTech Solutions for Last Mile Schools in COVID-19, ADB, 2021-2023

As part of the Government of the Philippines' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, public education has transitioned towards remote & blended learning modalities. The project aims aims to build on international experience on education technology (EdTech); test the approach in a disadvantaged, remote setting in rural Philippines; and identify best practices and lessons learned for EdTech solutions that can be implemented during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The NIRAS-led consortium develops educational learning modules, distributes the network infrastructure and low-cost tablet devices needed for last-mile delivery.

Ex-Post Evaluation of the Disaster Risk Management and Institutional Strengthening of Local Government Units (DRM-IS) Technical Assistance, AFD, 2022

The independent evaluation assessed the DRM-IS Technical Assistance to the Government of the Philippines’ Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and 52 local government units (LGUs). The TA aimed to achieve the Philippines’ disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) vision of a “safer, adaptive, and disaster-resilient Filipino communities towards sustainable development” by enabling the LGUs to improve their institutional, technical and financial capacity for adequate performance and delivery of DRRM services.

The evaluation used the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) Criteria, and examined the TA against Relevance,
Effectiveness, Efficiency, Coherence, and Sustainability. Moreover, the evaluation examined the extent of the project contribution in terms of increases in institutional capacity at the DILG and LGU levels. Lastly, the evaluation identified critical lessons to inform and frame future programs and investment of AFD in the Philippines, particularly in disaster preparedness and devolution of functions to LGUs.

NIRAS Asia Manila Inc.
Regus Net Cube Centre Inc.
19th Floor Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, Ortigas Center
Brgy. San Antonio, Pasig City 1605
Manila, Philippines