The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), in partnership with Making All Voice Count (MAVC) and HIVOS, conducted the 1st of a series of 3 monitoring visits in Surigao del Norte, Abra and Cebu on December 14-17, 2015, January 20-23, 2016 and January 26-28, 2016. The monitoring visits aimed to (a) vet the BuB 911 hotline prototype that will be housed in the provincial government, (b) identify next steps to realize the prototype, and (c) strengthen buy-in from the provincial and municipal governments and CSOs.
The monitoring team, composed of Plans, Programs and Policy Manager Crystal Eunice T. Dela Cruz, Technical Officer Norbert Peter R. Indunan and Project Officer Irish O. Generoso, visited the municipalities of San Isidro and Malimono for Surigao Del Norte, San Isidro and Langiden for Abra and San Remigio for Cebu to conduct the prototype planning with municipal officers and CSO representatives. The team also took time to touch base with the BuB projects’ community beneficiaries. More so, the same planning meeting was also conducted with representatives from the provincial government in order to identify next steps in testing the prototypes.
Prototypes from the three projects are very distinct from one another. Surigao del Norte plans to create a BuB Office under the Office of the Provincial Engineer to provide a multi-platform (website, landline, mobile) monitoring and reporting mechanism between the CSOs, municipalities, provincial government and other BuB stakeholders. Abra, on the other hand, agreed to have representatives from different provincial offices to comprise the BuB 911 team for info-mediation. Abra is looking at mobile and radio as modes of communication given the lack of internet infrastructure in the province. Lastly, Cebu assigned PPDO to head the BuB 911 team with the assignment of 2 monitoring and evaluation documentation officers per NGA to handle on the ground monitoring, reporting and coordination work. They are looking at a multi-platform mode of communication for the BuB 911 hotline.