DILG to train barangay officials in dev’t planning

By: Judy Mae Magdato-Sajo

BARANGAY officials from 4^th to 6^th class municipalities in province of Antique will train in Barangay Development Planning under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Antique Provincial Office by end of July.

“The formulation of the Barangay Development Plan (BDP) and Capacity Development Agenda is a sub-component of the Barangay Newly-Elected Officials (BNEO) towards Grassroots Renewal and Empowerment for Accountable and Transparent (GREAT) Barangays Program which focuses on the critical actions to be done by newly-elected officials on their first 100 days,” said DILG-Antique Provincial Director Cherryl P. Tacda.

Under the component “Jumpstarting Local Governance” of BNEO, the participants will be introduced to the process of Barangay Development Planning (BDP) and the Barangay Capacity Development Agenda, as well as to emphasize the importance of the BDP as a basis for barangay budgeting.

This is to enhance the capacity of the barangays in participative, evidence-based, and coherent development planning.

This is one of the strategies of the Department to address the capacity development issues confronted by the barangays with inadequate capacity for local development planning, specifically on the formulation of the BDP.

The BDP is an important document that highlights the barangays’ vision and direction for development. More than the document, the process by which it is formulated is also critical.

Together with the Municipal Planning and Development Coordinators (MPDCs), the participants in the activity include the punong barangay, one barangay kagawad, barangay treasurer and barangay secretary.

Ten 4^th to 6^th class municipalities are expected to participate in the training covering 269 barangays with a total of 1,076 barangay officials.

“The 4^th to 6^th class municipalities were given priority for this program since the barangays in these LGUs lack the capacity to send participants for the training,” said Local Government Operations Officer IV Hennesey Gasataya.

The Local Government Academy (LGA) alongside with DILG leads in funding, implementation and monitoring of this program.

DILG Field Officers will be tapped as coaches to guide the barangays in crafting and adopting their BDPs. The barangays on the other hand are expected to submit their BDPs as output of the training not later than August 2019.