Development Themes for Adoption

Participatory Local Governance

Effective citizenship participation in local governance is a turnkey to poverty alleviation and sustainable human development. Democratization in local governance, whereby citizens are active participants in governance, is a challenging but altogether possible and necessary process to undertake. Galing Pook highlights the value of people’s participation and empowerment as a prerequisite to good local governance.

Solid Waste Mangement

Galing Pook supports the implementation of RA 9003 otherwise known as the Philippine Ecological Solid Waste Management Act for a better and a more sustainable care for nature throughout the country. Galing Pook SWM awarded programs of Carmona and Santa Barbara (Iloilo) were showcased in learning circles / workshops in Quezon City and Negros Occidental to spur replication, in partnership with the Empowering Communities for Participatory Governance (ECPG) Inc.

Coastal Resource Management

Improving the Quality of Public Education

Focusing on education is an affirmation of Galing Pook’s commitment and dedication to invest on the country’s future – the children and the youth. Galing Pook supported the efforts of Synergeia Foundation in the strengthening of local school boards to improve the public education system, using the Naga City experience as model. Galing Pook organized a learning workshop in Bacolod City as well as a study tour in Naga City for several municipalities in Negros Occidental, who willingly took on the challenge. Aside from Synergeia Foundation, Galing Pook is closely working with ESKAN, Inc. in this endeavor.

Sustainable Agriculture

Galing Pook vigorously supports the Municipality of San Mateo in Isabela province in its effort to propagate its economically rewarding sustainable agriculture program. The initiative took shape when a decline in the rice harvest yield was traced to the depletion of organic materials brought about by intensive farming heavily dependent on inorganic inputs. Decrease in yields meant lower incomes for the farmers. To reverse the trend, the municipal government introduced a different cropping pattern involving rice and munggo production.

Munggo is a drought-tolerant leguminous crop whose root system, filled with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, restores the natural fertility of the soil. This easy to grow and maintain crop is adaptable to harsh conditions and best grown before the onset of the summer season. Munggo suits the farms in the locality after the rice harvest in March, when the rice lands are left idle for the summer. Planting munggo during the dry months means extra income for farmers and additional food for their families.

The many benefits derived by the municipality from munggo production have prompted San Mateo to refer to the product as their “black gold,” an allusion to the crop which turns black when ready for harvest. With the Galing Pook Foundation, its institutional partners and the claim holders and duty bearers in Isabela, San Mateo’s black gold is a resource with innumerable benefits that they hope to bring to more LGUs in the country.

Alliance-Building for Efficient Infrastructure Development

Normally, building a kilometer of an all weather road would cost a million pesos — the fee charged by private contractors. In Cotabato, five contiguous municipalities, with the provincial government, pooled their resources and proceeded to build a road network which cost them less than P40,000 a kilometer.

In what was dubbed as the Kabalikat PALMA Infrastructure Project (KPIP), the member LGUs of the PALMA alliance pooled their infrastructure equipments, machinery, personnel and expertise to collectively work on road building projects in the member towns.

Started in February 20, 2002, the project has rehabilitated and opened new roads totaling 281.45 kilometers of farm-to-market roads, with a total cost of P8.475 million. The improved road network made the lives of the people in around 145 barangays much better. It increased agricultural productivity because of reduced transportation costs and travel time by as much as 50%. Access to social services by people residing in far-flung barangays, more entrepreneurial opportunities for women, cooperation and sharing between and among the project duty bearers and claimholders were also visibly improved.

With the sorry state of infrastructure building in the country, the initiative of the PALMA Alliance is being widely disseminated not only by the Galing Pook Foundation but by more social development organizations. Indeed the advantages of its partnership and alliance-building features have already been adopted by municipal LGUs and even provinces with urgent multi-territorial concerns that need to be addressed.