Development Entrepreneurs

F our years ago we started helping about 15 Provincial Governments to build road network maps for evidence-based road investment planning. We engaged Governors and Provincial Planning Officers, who led the training and coaching of City and Municipal personnel. They mapped the centerlines of all roads within the Province, encoded road names, surface type and road condition.  Technology was not the biggest constraint in this effort, as local partners used available GPS units and GIS software. The political work of engaging Mayors, Planning Officer and Engineers, and technical staff, was more challenging. The challenge to the reform team was, how could the all other Provinces in the country produce their own road network maps?  Mentor Jaime Faustino advised us that there are only two standing armies that can sustain and scale up reform - the market, or Government.  In another project, the team had discovered that using orthophotos took less time, effort ...

Free Patent Application Center, Consolacion Municipal Assessor's Office, Cebu Province I n a local government unit, resources are always tight. There’s just about enough funds for essential supplies, equipment, overhead, personnel. There are barely enough people to carry the regular workload plus the Mayor’s (or Governor’s) special projects. Even office space is limited. So when somebody comes up with a brilliant reform idea, practical managers will always ask, “do we have resources for that?” The easy answer is “no”. But when there’s enough buy-in into the reform, something interesting happens. Committed personnel are trained to implement the reform. Even when everyone’s already up to their necks with work.  Budget for essential reform activities is found.  Office space is allocated for reform use. With the corresponding signage, no less. In any Assessor’s Office there would be space for the library of section maps, Field Appraisal and Assessment ...

Recent reversions of Obama-era policies by Mr Trump reveal the fragility of policy-based reforms, and the reality of political change. When the new administration comes in, reforms introduced by the past one could be so easily thrown out.  In the Philippines, the new leader does not even have to come from an opposing party; wives replacing their husbands as Mayors or Governors have been known to ditch their better half’s policies and programs (and vice versa). Sometimes the reform itself is not cancelled. Officials behind the reform are removed by the new powers, or choose to remove themselves. The reform dies without its champions. But some reforms survive changes of administration - sometimes with new people in charge, sometimes with the same old folks.  They are sustained because they are relevant, needed, and beneficial both to target beneficiaries and those in power. Plus, it’s been practiced sufficiently much that there's sufficient bench depth of technica...

N othing says “Institutionalized” better than having your reform included in the organization’s basic services. In the earlier days of our public land titling reform, Title Distribution events were biggies for our partners - and for us. Local government and DENR partners would organize the event, specifically for the purpose of distributing titles. They would invite the Registrar of Deeds, invite title holders, find a suitable location and usually prepare for a little celebration.  Title distribution events were the culmination of the LGU and DENR’s work, the result of either systematic or sporadic adjudication.  They signaled to other lot occupants that the public land occupants that the partnership was a legitimate titling efforts, convince those who had been burned by past titling scams to apply for free patents.  And like I said, they were usually “stand-alone” single-purpose events. If these were offered in a restaurant, they would be on “Special Off...