Enhancing Project Management Capabilities of LGDP-LADPs Project 
      Assurance TEAMs

OIDCI has recently implemented a three-day Project Management Training for the Project Assurance Teams (PATs) of the two pilot areas of the Local Area Development Partnerships (LADPs): Bohol and Metro Iloilo – Guimaras. The training is under the Philippines – Australia Local Governance Development Program (LGDP—Phase I), an Australian Government, AusAID initiative, which aims to improve the capacities of local government units for service delivery, and to achieve greater local economic development through partnership approaches.

Entitled “Inter – LGU Project Management Training for the Local Area Development Partnerships,” the training was conducted on August 6-8, 2007 for Bohol and on August 15-17, 2007 for Metro Iloilo-Guimaras. The activity specifically aimed to strengthen the capacity of the PATs in monitoring and evaluating the progress of four ongoing Packages of Assistance (PoAs), as well as the performance of contractors that are implementing these PoAs.

The four PoAs that are funded under LGDP, include the following:

1. Bohol Integrated Water Supply System Master Plan
2. Bohol Agriculture Value Chain Study
3. Metro Iloilo–Guimaras Integrated Tourism Sector Strategy
4. Metro Iloilo–Guimaras Integrated Urban and Regional Infrastructure

The training seeks to improve the PATs’ project management capability as they undertake their roles and responsibilities in ongoing PoAs and in future inter-LGU projects that are based on partnership arrangements between and among municipalities, civil society and the private sector.

The training was designed within the framework of LGDP’s Inter-LGU Partnership approach in project management. Participants were exposed to technical processes and tools for efficient project management and implementation. People management sessions for effective work coordination and collaboration were also provided covering effective team management, problem solving and decision making, negotiation, networking, and stakeholder management, highlighting social marketing techniques. Also covered in the training were cross-cutting themes in inter-LGU project management such as gender and development, change management, and environmental management.

The participants also went through a number of workshops to level off their roles and responsibilities, as well as to identify key areas that they need to work on to further enhance and even promote the partnership arrangements among the different LGUs and other stakeholders.

A total of 29 participants attended the Bohol batch, while 30 participants were in the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras batch. LGDP Program Director David Goodwins, Program Manager Ivy Bellosillo, and the Partnership Advisers for Bohol and Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) actively supported the training activity.