ULAP Initiates Convergence Discussion with Education Partners
The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines in partnership with The Asia Foundation - Coalitions for Change Education and the Australian Agency for International Development have convened their partners in development for education in a technical working group convergence meeting. Held in the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center on May 6, 2013, the session was spent in discussing the aims and the strategic direction that the entire group would be pursuing upon engaging the local chief executives on the ground.
With the joint primary objective of institutionalizing education reforms in local government units, representatives from various education organizations such as the Ayala Foundation, Pamulaan Center for Indigenous Peoples' Education, the Ateneo Center for Educational Development, Robredo Institute of Governance and Ateneo School of Government have shared their valuable insights to further develop the existing education governance framework and to determine the next steps to be taken in the next five months. Other than this, the online mapping visualization of the data composing of the education indicators, best practices in governance and development program locations were shown and discussed to the group that had espoused a meaningful conversation.
ULAP hosts PAPO Quarterly General Assembly
The Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO) in collaboration with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) as funded by Australian Aid and The Asia Foundation, conducted its on April 26, 2013. It was held at Max's Restaurant Scout Tuazon, Quezon City. The event was headed by PAPO President Fatima Lorenzo and was attended by the representatives of 14 different patient organizations.
The patient representatives discussed each organizations' initiatives to cater the needs of their respective members. Czarina M. Medina, ULAP's OIC and Head for Plans and Programs Unit presented the highlights of the Disability Inclusive Elections Program and its upcoming projects. The assembly also served as a venue for networking and collaboration among the different patient organizations.
ULAP signs MOA with DILG-LGA and ZFF for "Newly Elected Officials" Program
ULAP signed a MOA with the DILG-Local Government Academy and Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) for a partnership to co-develop and include Bridging Leadership and Health Governance modules to the "Newly Elected Officials" program to be run from June 2013 onwards. ULAP and ZFF are also signing as Lead Convenors of the 162-52 Coalition for Accelerating Collective Impact on Maternal and Child Health.
Signatories are: Gov. Alfonso Umali, Jr. (President, ULAP), Marivel Sacendoncillo (Executive Director, DILG-LGA), and Prof. Ernesto Garilao (President, ZFF).
Strengthening Local Capacity for Institutionalizing Education Reforms
Australian Agency for International Development, The Asia Foundation-Coalitions for Change Education Program, and Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines hold a Knowledge Sharing Session on the Best Practices of Local Education Governance last March 20, 2013 at Literacy Coordinating Council Conference Room, Department of Education Main Office, Pasig City. It was organized with the support of Galing Pook Foundation and the Literacy Coordinating Council.
ULAP Incorporates Technology In New Partnership With The City Assessor’s Office Of Iloilo City
The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) and Microsoft Philippines, together with its partners Highly Succeed and Blackbox, are currently in partnership with the City Government of Iloilo City headed by Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog, the Information Technology Services Division headed by Mr. Francis Cruz, and the City Assessors Office headed by Engr. Nelson E. Parreño. This initiative is under the project Developing Proofs Of Concept: ICTs in Local Governance which runs from June 2016 to March 2017 with the following components – (1) Technology, which includes the deployment and integration of an application in the local government unit’s service-delivery, (2) Evidence Generation, which includes needs and impact assessment and video documentation, and (3) Policy Advocacy, which includes the creation of roadmap for an ICT-Enabled LGU, site cases, and policy papers.
The technology, developed together by the aforementioned stakeholders, utilizes a mechanism that has been vastly used by people for pretty much everything in their daily lives—an application. Applications have been widely used not only for social networking, but also in business, health, and even in the religious facets of people’s lives. This application will allow the netizens of Iloilo City to transact with their local government unit, specifically the City Assessor’s Office and will ultimately improve the overall service delivery of CAO.
As of January 2017, ULAP has already consulted with Mayor Jed Mabilog and Mr. Francis Cruz on August 03, 2016 and they have given their commitment and support for the project, identifying the CAO as focal agency for the technology. The team followed through with a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the employees of the City Assessor’s Office together with some of the members of Information Technology Services Division. This was followed through by the technology development team and eventually came up with the application, CityServ, with the following features:
- E-queuing
- Tracking
- Events and News
- Calendar and Weather
This technology offers the citizens of IloIlo the comfort and efficiency of getting information, filling up forms, getting a number for queuing and tracking of progress on document processing with the IloIlo City Assessors Office.
Currently, the project team, City Government of Iloilo and the CAO are preparing for the official launch of the technology. This will be followed by a post-implementation evaluation, assessment and FGD on the project as a whole, tentatively scheduled on March 2017.
