The AHA Centre has officially launched the AHA Centre Executive Leadership in Emergency and Disaster Management Programme (ACE-LEDMP) Phase II, supported by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).
ACE-LEDMP focuses on elevating disaster leadership skills and knowledge of disaster management professionals in the ASEAN Member States in line with the effort of ASEAN to realise people-centred development.
As a long-standing partner of the AHA Centre, the Government of Japan has contributed significantly towards the strengthening of leadership capacity-building programmes on disaster management in ASEAN. This collaboration was first initiated with the support of the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) through the AHA Centre Executive Programme (ACE Programme) from 2014 to 2022, producing 118 graduates at the executive level, and the AHA Centre Executive Leadership in Emergency and Disaster Management Programme (ACE-LEDMP) from 2023 to 2025, resulting in 80 graduates at both the executive and middle-manager levels.
In October 2025, the Government of Japan announced its commitment to support the ACE-LEDMP Phase II, for the duration of October 2025 to July 2028. A commemoration of the achievements of ACE-LEDMP was also held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in October 2025 during the 5th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM) Plus Japan.
This new phase of ACE-LEDMP includes the ASEAN Senior Executive Programme in Disaster Management (SEPDM), a programme that aims at strengthening strategic-level disaster management expertise among senior National Disaster Management Organisations (NDMOs) leaders from ASEAN Member States. This has been held annually in Singapore in close collaboration with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) since 2015.
The ACE-LEDMP Phase II builds upon the achievements of the ACE programme (2014-2022), the ACE-LEDMP (2023-2025) and the SEPDM (2015-2024) by integrating and synergising the regional efforts in building the capacities of the future and current leaders of AMS NDMOs, targeting the full spectrum of disaster management leadership at all levels namely, the junior executives, middle executives and senior executives. The project directly contributes to the implementation of the AADMER Work Programme 2026-2030 and the AHA Centre Work Plan 2030, through the Priority Programme 5 on Transformative Global Leadership.
