On 22-23 March 2018 the Asian Association for Public Administration (AAPA) in partnership with the Indonesian Association for Public Administration (IAPA) held the 2018 AAPA Annual Conference Reinventing Public Administration in a Globalized World: A Non Western Perspective at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The conference sub-theme include: (1) developing theories of non-western public administration; (2) exploring new research methods for public administration; (3) culture (ethics, religion, etc.) and public administration; (4) strengthening local administration and decentralization; (5) local knowledge, innovation, and public policy; and (6) social architecture, digital governance and human values.
Dr. Malu C. Barcillano, Director of the Ateneo de Naga University-Center for Local Governance presented her paper entitled Mainstreaming Migration and Development (M&D) into Local Development Plans: The Case of The Local Government Unit of Naga City Philippines under the Concurrent Session 1 of the Strengthening Local Administration and Decentralization.
In her paper, she featured the Mainstreaming Migration and Development (M&D), as an innovative practice of good governance of the Local Government of Naga City which was recognized by the Galing Pook Foundation in 2017. The Galing Pook Foundation is a leading resource institution that proactively searches and recognizes best local government practices and facilitates their adoption in more communities in the country thus continuously promotes innovation and excellence in local governance.
The said innovative practice is a response to the issues surrounding migrant workers and their families left behind at the same time the community where they originated from. The experiences of Naga City provided helpful insights for them as well as to other LGUs in the Bicol Region: Migration is both a national and local issue; Limited local capacity to mainstream M&D is a key constraint; Local champions can accelerate the process, and they can be developed; Successful local M&D mainstreaming can provide templates, guidelines for national policies scaling them up; and empowered, enlightened local governments can facilitate greater coordination among local actors.(http://www.migration4development.org/sites/default/files/mainstreaming_migration_in_development_-_the_case_of_naga_city_philippines.pdf)
She further concluded that being a recognized by the Galing Pook, this good governance practice on mainstreaming process is characterized by the elements of good governance, which is anchored on the City’s I-Governance Model wherein one of the elements being considered is participation. The full participation of the key actors as implementers of the project includes development partners and stakeholders not only in the local arena but by those based in the national and international organizations. The series of consultation from the different sectors when they generated data and set priorities was consensus-oriented. Further, the implementation of the mainstreaming process holds the Local Chief Executive of the Local Government Unit fully accountable. Along with him, accountability relies also to the Technical Working Group (TWG) which was converted into City Advisory Committee on Overseas Filipinos (CACOF) when they have revised the enhanced Comprehensive Development Plan. The transparency during the M&D data generation including the surfacing of sectoral issues and the prioritization was practiced in going through the entire planning cycle. The mainstreaming process itself is a way to be responsive to the migration issues and concerns faced by the City, thus, this was pursued. With the establishment of the Migrants Resource Center, and the organization of Overseas Filipino (OF) families in the City responded to its call to be efficient and effective in the delivery of its service of the City government. It also provided equity and inclusiveness to the stakeholders, specifically the OF sector. The program provided an opportunity to the OF sector to maintain, enhance and generally improve their well-being. Generally, it is anchored on the two (2) sets of framework, the I-Governance model and the Development Planning model. With these, it is based on its Rule of Law.
Aside from being a presenter she was also the Moderator of the Concurrent Session 2: Strengthening Local Administration and Decentralization; and Concurrent Session 5: Exploring New Research Methods for Public Administration Beyond Positivism.
The 9th AAPA Annual Conference was in collaboration with the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Universitas Gadjah Mada. It was participated by the delegates from United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Norway, Malaysia, India, Republic of Kazakhstan, Philippines, Russia, Peru, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Brunei, South Korea and Japan.
***
By Benita Michele C. Verdadero
