RATIONALE
For a number of years, LBF funded two governance-related projects: Grassroots Governance and Sustainable Integrated Area Development (SIAD). Partnership for Transparency Foundation Asia (PTFA) handled the Grassroots Governance initiative while Solution Ecosystems Activator, Inc. (SEA) implemented SIAD.
Grassroots Governance was strong on the participatory transparency and accountability side. SIAD was strong on systemic participatory whole town and/or barangay planning and development processes.
LBF’s SVC called a meeting between LBF, PTFA, and SEA to explore the possibility of integrating the two approaches into one integrated approach that built on the strengths of both approaches.
After several meetings, all parties concerned agreed on the integrated framework as illustrated in Figure 1 immediately below.
For its Detailed Proposal, SEA will call this agreed framework the IPAT-SIAD Governance Framework. SEA will use this name for its Detailed Proposal. At some future time it is possible that the parties involved can come up with another name. That will be no problem with SEA.
The Flowchart in Figure 1, as represented by the flow of the arrows, will be the basis for SEA’s objectives, measurable indicators, sequence of activities, and other aspects of the proposal.
OBJECTIVES, BENEFICIARIES, AND EXPECTED RESULTS
The Objectives and Meaureable Impacts or expected results have already been laid out in Table 1 above under Project Scope.
SEA expects that thousands of citizens in New Lucena will benefit from their greater participation and access to all the development services and support that are guaranteed to them by law. In addition, the dozens that will be involved in the actual planning and implementation processes will develop an enhanced capacity to achieve transparency and accountability from the LGU leaders as well as be part of the processes that will ultimately define their future. As institutionalization is established, especially by mobilizing the support of its local Polytechnic College and the senior LGU officials managing the different divisions of the LGU, then New Lucena citizens can expect the continuation of real participatory democracy in the years to come.
We expect this project will also have a huge impact on the New Lucena LGU itself. If the LGU institutionalizes all the best-practices that will be practiced with the participation of its citizens, then New Lucena will become a center of the so-called “demonstration effect” or “proof of concept effect”. It will then encourage other LGUs, especially those who are part of LOAMCP-Ph to embark on similar governance practices. When that happens, then the benefits of the project will go way beyond the town of New Lucena itself.
