The Local Governance Support Program for Local Economic Development (LGSP-LED) is an eight-year (2008-2016) collaborative project of the Governments of Canada and the Philippines. The goal of the Program is to foster efficient, responsive, transparent and accountable governance at all levels. Its purpose is to reduce poverty by strengthening local governance and supporting sustainable local economic development (LED). The Program operates both at the national and local levels, providing a better enabling environment for local government units (LGUs) and improving the prospects for local economic development in various communities.
At the local level, LGSP-LED’s work will provide support to selected LGUs in developing and implementing their local economic development approaches. The intention is to build the capacity of LGUs to develop innovative LED methods that can produce important job creation and economic results for women and men, and improve the governance environment to support economic development. The national and local components are mutually supportive, with lessons learned that will influence improvements to the enabling environment for LED.
At the national level, LGSP-LED will improve the enabling environment for decentralization and local governance in the Philippines, with a focus on how this supports LED. It will also address ways to improve the coordination and rationalization of LED approaches in the country.
LGSP-LED is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) (www.canurb.com) and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) (www.accc.ca).
Approaches
The key LGSP-LED approach draws heavily from the following interrelated interventions: capacity development, partnership building, and strategic planning for LED and knowledge management.
1. Partnership Building: LGSP-LED will adopt a strong partnership orientation with an ethic of helping its LGUs/LGU Alliances and DILG and their partners achieve excellence in their LED initiatives. The hallmark of the Project’s partnership approach puts a strong emphasis on creating trust and understanding between partners and taking time to get to know the partnership context to ensure locally appropriate interventions. This would involve sharing responsibility for project implementation and results accountability with partners. An essential element to the partnership strategy is establishing strong and frequent lines of communication and the use of team-based approaches in the LED process.
2. Capacity Development. Appropriate and effective measures to enhance the institutional competencies of DILG , LGUs and LGU alliances require better systems for improved skills and capacities for its human resources. Key competencies that are essential for LED are in the areas of planning and policy formulation, program and project formulation and structuring, and the management of service delivery. competitiveness, economic and social planning, environmental management, and financial management.
3. LED strategic planning shall ensure an integrated, process-oriented and non-prescriptive endeavour for DILG and the LGUs. The Project’s strategic planning approach embraces local values (e.g., poverty reduction, basic human needs, local jobs, integration of social and environmental values), utilizes economic drivers (e.g., value-added resources use, local skills training, retention of income, regional cooperation) and considers sustainable development (the role of the LED process and related structural change in bringing about quality of development). LGSP-LED will adapt the participatory strategic planning approach as a systematic decision-making process that focuses the attention of multiple stakeholders on important LED issues and builds the partnerships needed to resolve them.
4. Knowledge Management. LGSP-LED recognizes the wealth of knowledge and information generated by DILG, CIDA, other NGAs, other donor agencies, CSOs and private sector for LED, good governance and poverty reduction. It is practical approach to use these knowledge and serve as a means of translating ideas into action by building on this body of development knowledge resources on local governance and LED, and promote, use and apply these resources in LED for LGUs. The approach will also upscale lessons learned from local-level work and contribute to replication of knowledge products across the country and region.
Components
LGSP-LED has two (2) components that are mutually supportive to provide better national enabling environment for LGUs and to improve the prospects for local economic development.
Component 1: National Enabling Environment
This Component will focus on supporting improvements in the national enabling environment for LGUs and LED. The Component activities will be carried out in two ways. First, LGSP-LED support will be provided to improve the overall enabling environment for decentralization and governance with emphasis on how these support local economic development. LGSP-LED’s national-level inputs include:
1. Providing policy support on LED and local governance
2. Designing a performance management system for LED
3. Developing LGU finance frameworks that are supportive of LED
4. Established knowledge management systems for LED
5. Holding regular LED forums at the national level
6. Supporting the development of LED exemplary practices, awards and replication
7. Enhancing the role of LGRCs in promoting LED
8. Strengthening regional LED resource networks
9. Enhancing LED support programs and services for LGUs
Component 2 – Facilitating Local Economic Development and Local Governance
This Component focuses on providing support at the local level to LGUs in developing and implementing their local economic development approaches. LGSP-LED will work with individual LGUs (including provinces) and LGU alliances to build their capacity to develop innovative LED methods that can produce important job creation and economic results and improve the governance environment supporting local economic development. The experiences flowing from the participating LGUs and LGU alliances can provide examples of approaches that other LGUs across the country may follow, at the same time providing lessons and basis for national government policy-making and programming. Local-level activities will be designed to identify issues to be raised with national partners, thus allowing the measures to improve the effectiveness of the current systems, policies and approaches. LGSP-LED’s local-level inputs include the following:
1. Assessing the capacity needs of LGUs and their LED stakeholders
2. Strengthening capacity and leadership for LED
3. Supporting the application of new knowledge and skills on LED
4. Developing LGU corporate strategies and plans on LED
5. Improving LGU policy and regulation to enable LED
6. Recommending improvements to LGU organization and structure for LED
7. Helping LGUs to improve their budgeting, finance and revenue systems
8. Preparing situation analyses of local economies
9. Formulating multi-stakeholder strategic plans for LED
10. Catalyzing the implementation of priority LED initiatives
Implementing Partners
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is the executive department of the Philippine Government responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public safety, and strengthening the capabilities of local government units. It is also responsible for the Philippine National Police.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is Canada’s lead agency for development assistance. It has a mandate to support sustainable development in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world.
Canadian Executing Agency
The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) is the national, voluntary membership organization created in 1972 to represent colleges and institutes to government, business and industry, both in Canada and internationally.
The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing solutions to important issues that have an impact on the quality of life in urban areas and communicating those solutions to a wide audience through a variety of media.
At the local level, LGSP-LED’s work will provide support to selected LGUs in developing and implementing their local economic development approaches. The intention is to build the capacity of LGUs to develop innovative LED methods that can produce important job creation and economic results for women and men, and improve the governance environment to support economic development. The national and local components are mutually supportive, with lessons learned that will influence improvements to the enabling environment for LED.
At the national level, LGSP-LED will improve the enabling environment for decentralization and local governance in the Philippines, with a focus on how this supports LED. It will also address ways to improve the coordination and rationalization of LED approaches in the country.
LGSP-LED is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) (www.canurb.com) and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) (www.accc.ca).
Approaches
The key LGSP-LED approach draws heavily from the following interrelated interventions: capacity development, partnership building, and strategic planning for LED and knowledge management.
1. Partnership Building: LGSP-LED will adopt a strong partnership orientation with an ethic of helping its LGUs/LGU Alliances and DILG and their partners achieve excellence in their LED initiatives. The hallmark of the Project’s partnership approach puts a strong emphasis on creating trust and understanding between partners and taking time to get to know the partnership context to ensure locally appropriate interventions. This would involve sharing responsibility for project implementation and results accountability with partners. An essential element to the partnership strategy is establishing strong and frequent lines of communication and the use of team-based approaches in the LED process.
2. Capacity Development. Appropriate and effective measures to enhance the institutional competencies of DILG , LGUs and LGU alliances require better systems for improved skills and capacities for its human resources. Key competencies that are essential for LED are in the areas of planning and policy formulation, program and project formulation and structuring, and the management of service delivery. competitiveness, economic and social planning, environmental management, and financial management.
3. LED strategic planning shall ensure an integrated, process-oriented and non-prescriptive endeavour for DILG and the LGUs. The Project’s strategic planning approach embraces local values (e.g., poverty reduction, basic human needs, local jobs, integration of social and environmental values), utilizes economic drivers (e.g., value-added resources use, local skills training, retention of income, regional cooperation) and considers sustainable development (the role of the LED process and related structural change in bringing about quality of development). LGSP-LED will adapt the participatory strategic planning approach as a systematic decision-making process that focuses the attention of multiple stakeholders on important LED issues and builds the partnerships needed to resolve them.
4. Knowledge Management. LGSP-LED recognizes the wealth of knowledge and information generated by DILG, CIDA, other NGAs, other donor agencies, CSOs and private sector for LED, good governance and poverty reduction. It is practical approach to use these knowledge and serve as a means of translating ideas into action by building on this body of development knowledge resources on local governance and LED, and promote, use and apply these resources in LED for LGUs. The approach will also upscale lessons learned from local-level work and contribute to replication of knowledge products across the country and region.
Components
LGSP-LED has two (2) components that are mutually supportive to provide better national enabling environment for LGUs and to improve the prospects for local economic development.
Component 1: National Enabling Environment
This Component will focus on supporting improvements in the national enabling environment for LGUs and LED. The Component activities will be carried out in two ways. First, LGSP-LED support will be provided to improve the overall enabling environment for decentralization and governance with emphasis on how these support local economic development. LGSP-LED’s national-level inputs include:
1. Providing policy support on LED and local governance
2. Designing a performance management system for LED
3. Developing LGU finance frameworks that are supportive of LED
4. Established knowledge management systems for LED
5. Holding regular LED forums at the national level
6. Supporting the development of LED exemplary practices, awards and replication
7. Enhancing the role of LGRCs in promoting LED
8. Strengthening regional LED resource networks
9. Enhancing LED support programs and services for LGUs
Component 2 – Facilitating Local Economic Development and Local Governance
This Component focuses on providing support at the local level to LGUs in developing and implementing their local economic development approaches. LGSP-LED will work with individual LGUs (including provinces) and LGU alliances to build their capacity to develop innovative LED methods that can produce important job creation and economic results and improve the governance environment supporting local economic development. The experiences flowing from the participating LGUs and LGU alliances can provide examples of approaches that other LGUs across the country may follow, at the same time providing lessons and basis for national government policy-making and programming. Local-level activities will be designed to identify issues to be raised with national partners, thus allowing the measures to improve the effectiveness of the current systems, policies and approaches. LGSP-LED’s local-level inputs include the following:
1. Assessing the capacity needs of LGUs and their LED stakeholders
2. Strengthening capacity and leadership for LED
3. Supporting the application of new knowledge and skills on LED
4. Developing LGU corporate strategies and plans on LED
5. Improving LGU policy and regulation to enable LED
6. Recommending improvements to LGU organization and structure for LED
7. Helping LGUs to improve their budgeting, finance and revenue systems
8. Preparing situation analyses of local economies
9. Formulating multi-stakeholder strategic plans for LED
10. Catalyzing the implementation of priority LED initiatives
Implementing Partners
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is the executive department of the Philippine Government responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public safety, and strengthening the capabilities of local government units. It is also responsible for the Philippine National Police.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is Canada’s lead agency for development assistance. It has a mandate to support sustainable development in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world.
Canadian Executing Agency
The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) is the national, voluntary membership organization created in 1972 to represent colleges and institutes to government, business and industry, both in Canada and internationally.
The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing solutions to important issues that have an impact on the quality of life in urban areas and communicating those solutions to a wide audience through a variety of media.
