The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, through the support of Australian Agency for International Development, The Asia Foundation – Coalitions for Change, and in partnership with Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan held the Mindanao Local Government Consultation on Education Program and Needs in the Audio-Visual Room of the Annex Library Building within the Xavier University Main Campus in Cagayan de Oro City, 18 July 2013.
The event is a part of a series of consultations being conducted in selected areas of the county to probe on current initiatives and needs of localities on education. For this Mindanao session, participants were from LGUs and local Department of Education offices of Tangub City Misamis Occidental and Dumingag Zamboanga del Sur, and the provinces of Sarangani, North Cotabato and South Cotabato. Fr. Eric Velandria, SJ, Dean of the Bicol University College of Education and Mr. Henry Grageda from The Asia Foundation also contributed their insights in local education by giving the opening and closing remarks respectively.
The output of the consultations will be used by ULAP and its partners as reference to converge the programs of private and civil society organizations with LGUs that express the need and demand for such programs. This is part of ULAP’s commitment to assist local government leagues and LGUs to be able to access and implement programs for the enhancement of policy and service delivery in the localities.The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, through the support of Australian Agency for International Development, The Asia Foundation – Coalitions for Change, and in partnership with Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan held the Mindanao Local Government Consultation on Education Program and Needs in the Audio-Visual Room of the Annex Library Building within the Xavier University Main Campus in Cagayan de Oro City, 18 July 2013.
The event is a part of a series of consultations being conducted in selected areas of the county to probe on current initiatives and needs of localities on education. For this Mindanao session, participants were from LGUs and local Department of Education offices of Tangub City Misamis Occidental and Dumingag Zamboanga del Sur, and the provinces of Sarangani, North Cotabato and South Cotabato. Fr. Eric Velandria, SJ, Dean of the Bicol University College of Education and Mr. Henry Grageda from The Asia Foundation also contributed their insights in local education by giving the opening and closing remarks respectively.
The output of the consultations will be used by ULAP and its partners as reference to converge the programs of private and civil society organizations with LGUs that express the need and demand for such programs. This is part of ULAP’s commitment to assist local government leagues and LGUs to be able to access and implement programs for the enhancement of policy and service delivery in the localities.

MANILA, Philippines - The Ayala Foundation Inc. has forged an agreement with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) for the implementation of its mobile learning program ‘Text2Teach’ in various public elementary schools nationwide.
Text2Teach allows teachers to download and choose educational videos on math, science, English and values specifically created for the project.
Ayala Foundation, Inc. president Luli Heras-de Leon said the project provides a highly effective visual aid for teachers and creates an interactive, student-focused learning environment in the classroom.
“There are today 11 countries all over the world that actually have a Text2Teach program under a mother program called Bridged IT. And the Philippines is one country that is a model country cited by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as among the best practices for mobile technology in education,” Heras-de Leon said.
“So if we can mainstream this and make it happen to all of our public elementary schools, that would be a dream come true,” she said.
The project was conceptualized in 2002 by Nokia, Pearson, the United Nations Development Program and the International Youth Foundation.
It was being implemented by Nokia, Globe Telecom, the Department of Education, Pearson Foundation and Ayala Foundation in the Philippines since 2003, covering 736 public schools nationwide.
Under the partnership, interested local government units will share the cost of implementing the program at P46,000 per public school, covering 38 percent of the actual project cost. The Text2Teach program will shoulder P74,000 or 62 percent of the remaining project cost.

"Does the use of evidence in informing policy choices (or, 'evidence-informed policy making' [EIPM]) by local politicians help them get re-elected?"
The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines pursues the question in close partnership with the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU)-Department of Political Science, and the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) and as funded by the International Network for the Advancement of Scientific Publications (INASP). Prof. Anne Candelaria of the ADMU leads the research project.
After months of data gathering, the results were presented to selected mayors for feedback and inputs in the round table discussion held on July 3, 2013 in the Ateneo de Manila University. The local chief executives who participated in the discussion are Mayor Len Oreta (Malabon City) Mayor Jun Pacalioga (Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur), Mayor Jun Versoza (Tagudin Ilocos Sur), and Mayor Joel Jaime Payumo (Secretary General, LMP).
The inputs of the mayors will be accounted for in the final research report which will be finished later this year.

In connection to our previous post on our agreement with Ayala Foundation for its Text2Teach (T2T) program, the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines arranged for the presentation of T2T to selected local chief executives on July 3, 2013 in Ateneo de Manila University. Presenting the program here is Mr. JR Demecais, T2T Project Manager.

The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) signed an advocacy agreement with Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI) for its Text2Teach Program, which will expand to 600 more schools through local government partnerships in 2013-2014. The signing was held on June 28, 2013 in Makati City, with Gov. Alfonso Umali Jr. (ULAP President) and Ms. Lulli Herras-de Leon (AFI President) as main signatories.
Text2Teach, a key education program of AFI, develops videos for curriculum and pedagogical enhancement of teaching Math, Science, English, and Values Education in public elementary schools. Text2Teach, with counterparts with local governments and local Department of Education officers, provides technology transfer, teachers' capacity building, and impact monitoring and evaluation.
ULAP will advocate Text2Teach as part of its ongoing convergence initiatives to bridge private and CSO programs to willing and capable LGUs, in order to accelerate and mainstream the achievement of better education outcomes in the local levels.