DILG and EU in unique link up

BUILDING on the best-practice results of several recent cooperation programs, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the European Union (EU), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and German Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) have got together to prepare a primer on how to strengthen cooperation among local government units in delivering essential services, by pooling limited resources, managing common natural resources, and pursuing common projects that will benefit their inhabitants.

The publication “Critical Ingredients in Building and Sustaining Inter-Local Cooperation” was launched by DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, together with DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero, May Wong of the Canadian Embassy and Dr Herwig Mayer of GTZ.

The book presents the practical experience from 26 different local government alliances in the Philippines in working together towards common development goals, and illustrates how to build and strengthen alliances among LGUs, how to establish and consolidate inter-local cooperation arrangements, and how to set up the necessary legal, institutional and financial arrangements behind any alliance.

EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said “the European Union attaches tremendous importance to inter-local cooperation, as a means of drawing the maximum developmental benefit from the opportunities offered by the Local Government Code.”

He added that “it is only by working together, combining strengths across LGU boundaries, that local governments can ensure that they make the best use of their limited resources for the benefit of all their inhabitants.”

The Ambassador noted that the EU is currently supporting ten separate projects in which local government units have initiated or consolidated inter-local cooperation agreements, in areas as diverse as coastal resource management, protected area management, and inter-local health zones.

For example, a major inter-local governance project in Negros Occidental has just been launched. In Antique, the LIPASECU Baywide Management Council in Antique will institutionalise mechanisms for people’s participation in sustainable management of coastal resources; In Palawan, the South Palawan Planning Council will be uniting member LGUs in implementing the Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape Management Plan.

The EU is also supporting inter-local cooperation in the health sector, through the implementation of Inter-Local Health Zones in rural areas across the country.

DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero pointed out that “the organisation and formation of alliances among neighbouring local government units, facing similar challenges and opportunities, is one of the most effective strategies for local economic development”. He added that “the present publication gives valuable practical advice on forming and strengthening LGU alliances throughout the country, providing rich insights on how LGUs can realise local development through alliance building, chronicling the experience of successful alliances across the country, and including the essential legal, administrative and financial aspects”.

Dr Herwig Mayer of GTZ underlined that there is no “single recipe” solution for building such Alliances, but the present publication provides an essential and practical reference guide for starting up and consolidating Inter-Local Cooperation, which potential and existing Alliances can draw on in strengthening their cooperation.

Stemming from an initiative of the Philippine Development Forum (and its Working Group on Decentralization and Local Governant, the publication will be distributed free of charge to local government units in the country, to oversight agencies and the LGU leagues, as well as to development partners participating in the Philippine Development Forum.

The EU supported the publication and dissemination of the book while CIDA contributed the experiences of their long-standing Local Government Support Programs to the research.

For its part GTZ provided the services of three experts to analyse the experience of LGU alliances and to produce this user-friendly reference manual, namely Atty. Rose-Liza Elisma Osorio (Executive Director of the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation Inc., Cebu City), Engineer Goldelino dela Paz Chan (a rural development practitioner for 26 years), and Dr Alice Joan de la Gente Ferrer (Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Development and Associate Professor in Economics at the UP Visayas). –RANDOM JOTTINGS, Manila Times

rjottings@yahoo.com