SM Prime backs women leaders driving disaster risk reduction push

Insider Spotlight

• SM Prime reinforces climate resilience advocacy at UNDRR WIN DRR awards
• Women leaders from Indonesia and Kiribati cited for breakthrough DRR work
• Data, early warnings and community-led solutions spotlighted as resilience drivers

SM Prime Holdings Inc. is deepening its climate resilience agenda as vice president for design, innovation and strategy Jessica Sy joined regional policymakers and development partners at the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNDRR) Women International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) Excellence Awards in Bangkok on Nov. 25.

The company, guided by its ESG+R (environmental, social, governance and resilience) framework, has supported the WIN DRR program since 2021 through a partnership with the Australian government. 

This collaboration backs women-led initiatives across Asia Pacific that reduce disaster risks and strengthen community preparedness.

By the numbers

This year’s awards drew more than 200 nominations from across the region, with the judging panel naming seven Rising Stars and seven Excellence Award finalists, underscoring the breadth of innovation emerging from women leaders in disaster risk reduction.

Zoom in

Indonesia’s Nashin Mahtani, who leads the Disaster Map Foundation (Yayasan Peta Bencana), took home the Rising Star Award for her work expanding real-time risk-mapping systems now used by millions across Southeast Asia. These platforms harness crowdsourced and official data to give communities and authorities faster, clearer views of unfolding hazards.

Kiribati’s Takena Redfern, acting director of the nation’s Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Division, received the Excellence Award for spearheading the country’s “Early Warnings for All” roadmap, designed to ensure island communities receive timely, actionable alerts as climate impacts intensify.

Sy said the honorees show how combining data, early warning systems and community-centered solutions can significantly cut disaster impacts and embed resilience in long-term development planning. 

“It’s an initiative we deeply believe in,” she said in a press release on Nov. 28, 2025.

The big picture

A panel discussion on women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction followed the ceremony, featuring Asia Pacific College president Maria Teresita Pastor Medado, and later evolved into a consultation on WIN DRR’s future direction. 

SM Prime was represented in the session by lawyer Pearly Joan Jayagan Turley, senior assistant vice president for corporate compliance and program director of SM CARES for Women, reinforcing the group’s role in shaping regional resilience conversations.

What’s next

With climate-related events growing more frequent and severe across Asia-Pacific, SM Prime’s backing of WIN DRR signals continued private-sector support for women-led, data-driven disaster risk reduction models that can be replicated in vulnerable communities throughout the region. —Vanessa Hidalgo | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma