Weekly Update: Asia

Philippines – The Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) met with the senior political and administrative leaders of Calbayog, a city of 175,000 people in one of the least developed regions of the country. Calbayog has long been a part of ISA’s local government reform program, and for several years made tremendous progress (such as improving local tax collection rates from 10 percent to 70 percent). But after the 2010 elections, the city’s new leaders did not prioritize the city’s work with ISA. This is now changing, and at this meeting with ISA, Mayor Ronaldo Aquino was joined by members of the city council and senior department heads, and all were enthusiastic about “re-launching” their public governance initiative to be facilitated by ISA. The city hopes this program can help them encourage local economic development and poverty reduction, successes that ISA has realized in dozens of localities around the country.

Philippines – ISA is now applying its local governance reform methodology to national government agencies, and this week they conducted strategic planning sessions and financial management training workshops with the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Army, and the Civil Service Commission.