Representatives from the CAR[1] and Regions 1 to 8 were invited by the United National Development Program (UNDP) to participate in its joint efforts with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to localize the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) through the formation of Governance HUBS or G-HUBS. As read[2] during the workshop, “UNDP wants to contribute to these development goals through its Governance HUBS or G-HUBS as platforms for advancing democratic governance with capacity to harness knowledge and expertise of members, upscale local initiatives and best practices, build capacities of local governments and communities, and strengthen local governance towards improved local service delivery and sustainable local development.”
According to the UNDP, the goal of the hub is to bring in the higher education institutions (HEIs), civil society organizations (CSOs) and the private sector to actively participate in the G-HUBS. As explained during the workshop, UNDP chose these sectors because HEIs are located everywhere in the country and that they can contribute to human capital development, while the civil society organizations (CSOs) are key stakeholders in promoting community development and the private sector is a crucial stakeholder to economic growth.
For this workshop, the Democratic Governance Team (DGT) of UNDP presented its new project called “Paving the Roads to the SDGs Through Good Local Governance” or Roads2SDGs Project. Throughout the day, DGT informed the representatives of the potential hubs the current projects of UNDP, the highs and lows, the lessons and areas for improvement. They also stressed that the primary roles of the G-HUBS in this proposed project are to promote governance reforms and civic engagement to track and monitor government road projects in their respective regions.
The picture below shows the participants during the workshop. Dr. Tiffany Adelaine Tan of the School of Management represented the University of the Philippines Cebu.
[1] Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)
[2] The opening remarks of Mr. Titon Mitra, Country Director of UNDP