Development Entrepreneurs

In an earlier post I said Development Entrepreneurs can go through iterative OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) cycles to pursue reforms.  When a DE works with organizations (as DEs often do), he can start by Observing the Business Model of that organization. A business model describes how parts of the organization work together to provide valuable services and products to clients so that it earns enough income to survive and grow.  All organizations, even public ones, have a business model – after all they offer value to clients though services or products, earn revenues in some way, work with partners using key resources, and they certainly have cost components. In their book “Business Model Generation” by, published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, © 2010, Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur define the nine components of a business model as: 1. Customers 2. Value Proposition 3. Relationships 4. Delivery mechanism or channels 5....

In every community there are individuals who stand out for their dedication to social or developmental goals. Known for walking their talk, many of them have to the extent of setting up organizations to pursue these goals.  Their track record might be mixed, and they might have changed their strategies over time, but they have kept on keeping on.  To name a few in Cebu, these's Jacob Koshy, who promotes self-motivated drug rehabilitation; Nestor Archival, whose house is a living laboratory of effective recycling practices; Nelia Sarcol, who built an international school and leads reforms in eduction; and Tessie Fernandez, who with Lihok Filipina works to empower women. I used to call these people "Jedi" (I still do). Tads Bentulan calls people like these  "advanced beings". Jaime Faustino and Raul Fabella have coined a new term for them: "Development Entrepreneurs".  Faustino and Fabella say Development Entrepreneurs (DEs, for short) are peop...

Way back in 1994 I and my colleagues in the Cebu City GIS Center had the privilege of training employees of the Cagayan de Oro Department of Planning and Development on GIS. We were all mentored by Peter Rabley and Nigel Edmead, at that time engaged by the Decentralized Shelter and Urban Development Project of USAID. The project was administered by Boy Dulce and his boss Harry Dickherber. Last week I participated in a meeting between DENR X, represented by RTD Jun Melicor, and the City Government of CDO, represented by my friends Telly Sagaral and Sid Borja.  It was good to learn that the CDO GIS Center has continued to function since 1994.  They have more than 60 layers of information in their data holdings, have migrated to ArcGIS, and still operate out of the same office where they started. Many LGUs established GIS facilities in the last 20 years or so. Only a handful, such as CDO's, have been able to sustain operations. Our interview revealed some factors that hel...

Systematic Adjudication Training Banner Dir Emil Rana (DILG) and Sarah Chacon (DENR) The Department of the Interior and Local Government has been a somewhat silent but definitely effective influence in promoting titling partnerships between local governments and the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources. DENR Secretary Paje's DAO 06-2011 encouraged Regional Directors to tie up with LGUs to pursue titling of public lands; DILG Secretary Jess Robredo's MC 117-2011 likewise told Local Chief Executives to establish partnerships with DENR for the same purpose. All over the Philippines more than a hundred partnerships are now in place, many involving actual titling activities.  The Foundation for Economic Freedom, and The Asia Foundation (organizations I work with) has been actively promoting these alliances in Regions IV-A, V, VI, VII, X and XIII. In Regions VII and X DILG has recently taken a more active role, linking up with local DENR counterpart...

Title Holders in Maribojoc, Bohol Alburquerque Title Holders with former Finance Sec Ernie Leung and USAID Mission Director Gloria Steele On 26 July we supported the distribution of titles in two Municipalities in Bohol, Maribojoc and Alburquerque.  80 titles. some of which were Residential Free Patents, were given to land owners in Maribojoc; 441 were released in Albur.  The Maribojoc event started at 0900 and ended before 1200 noon. The Albur event started at 1400 and lasted until 1800 (6:00 in the afternoon). Boboy Cabalit (ROD Bohol), led the distribution team. Lynlyn Racho (DENR Bohol) provided support.  Mayors Efren Tungol (Albur) and Jun Evasco (Maribojoc) hosted the events, which were held in their respective Municipal Gyms. The Foundation for Economic Freedom, with support from The Asia Foundation and USAID, helped with the title distribution. While the immediate objective of these events were to give the titles to land owners, a secondary object...