Collaboration among local government units

One of the key insights I gained from my study mission in Ontario and Manitoba, Canada, three years ago, was the value of  thinking and acting like a region.   This is a development mindset advocated by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI), a non-government organization based in Toronto committed to enhancing the quality of life in urban centers across Canada and also in some other parts of the world, the Philippines among those.

The “thinking like a region, acting like a region” framework is akin to the integrated area development paradigm, which stresses the interconnectedness of adjacent jurisdictions, and the value added when those that administer these jurisdictions and their respective communities pool resources together for the achievement of development goals and objectives which largely cut across territories.

Poverty alleviation, job generation, investment promotion, ecological solid waste management are examples of these shared concerns.  Given limitations in resources, particularly monetary, there is wisdom for local government units to get their acts together and draw up collective responses addressing  those shared concerns.

In the northern part of Iloilo, this inter-local government collaborative approach has brought about meaningful development, particularly in the areas of health and coastal resource management.   Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Raul Banias, then the multi-awarded mayor of Concepcion, Iloilo,  successfully engaged fellow local chief executives in neighboring municipalities to form the Northern Iloilo Alliance for Coastal Development (NIACDEV), and the Alliance of Northern Iloilo for Health and Development (ANIHEAD).  With these alliances, the northern towns were able to effectively push for high-impact projects, with impressive results.

These alliances subsequently attracted the interest of funding agencies that have found value in supporting development initiatives undertaken by allied local government units.  This synergistic modality implies greater assurance of success, fund management efficiency, and also a greater number of people benefiting from the initiatives.

In Iloilo City, there have been commendable developmental initiatives that use this model, too.  Foremost of these was the creation of the Metropolitan Iloilo Development Council, which brought together Iloilo City and the adjoining municipalities of Oton, Leganes, Pavia, and San Miguel.  The Council later expanded its reach to bring the neighboring island-province of Guimaras in this unified journey to development, and consequently evolved into the Metro Iloilo – Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC).   The Municipality of Santa Barbara had also joined the Council.

While relatively young, MIGEDC has already demonstrated mutual benefits  that could result from inter-LGU collaboration.   It has embarked, for instance, on a road network project that seeks to ease traffic in the city’s major streets while at time improving the condition of roads in adjacent municipalities.  Apparently, donor agencies and international development organizations think along the same lines; thus, there has been a significant amount of development assistance offers to MIGEDC lately.  The CUI has been most active in this.

What John Donne said of men could also be said of local governments.  Indeed, to paraphrase him, no local government is an island.

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