The Urban Partnerships Program-Philippines (UPP Philippines) is structured around three inter-related pillars of activity:

Civic Engagement, to support the development of a culture of civic engagement in our partner cities, to improve women’s participation and to plan and implement initiatives that enhance the public realm of cities and promote investment in community assets.

• Enhance urban dialogue, partnerships and women’s participation. This entails the establishment of regional-level urban dialogues through periodic partnership forums and/or an annual ‘city summit’ . These events will bring together coalition(s) of urban leaders from the public, private and third sectors to achieve a collective vision and ways of addressing issues of urban governance, urban sustainability, urban quality of life and strengthening of public realm in the region.
• Build consensus on critical issues and vision. This activity will build consensus within government, civil society and the private sector on how urban sustainability will be achieved through shared vision and strategic actions for the region. Steps will include: a) analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and critical issues to be overcome, b) ratification of the vision for urban sustainability and development, c) determination of strategic directions, d) prioritization of objectives, e) development of approaches and partnerships for action, and f) adoption of strategic vision. The consensus will be operationalized through the creation of Project Steering Committee. The project steering committee, composed of multi-stakeholder representatives, will be established to guide the project policies, directions and plans of the activities
• Prepare background studies. The activity willprovide an assessment of the state of urbanization and city governance in Western Visayas. Using the Regional Urban Observatory, popularized by UN Habitat and other related tools, studies will be made on the state of urbanization, sustainable development, MDGs, poverty reduction and urban governance. Premised that better information can help build better city-regions, a participatory process will be undertaken to identify critical issues and gaps. Following the completion of these studies, project participants would prioritize needs and determine project targets to be measured against baseline assessment. Academic institutions, NGOs and NGAs will be potential partners in this activity.
• Formulate participatory strategies and plans. This activity will build awareness among civil society, private sector and the public on the importance of urban sustainability ideas, planning and implementation of actions that support enhancement of public realm and poverty reduction. Mechanisms for facilitating public participation will be identified.
• Support the implementation of priority initiatives . The focus of this activity would be to form partnerships among local urban stakeholders to support priority initiatives that promote urban sustainability, poverty reduction and a renewed public realm. These initiatives will be in the form of demonstration projects that improve urban governance and strengthen the public realm to contribute to achievement of selected MDGs and enhancement of the quality of urban life. Indicative examples of actions (to be identified by stakeholders during the project) might include: renewal of public realm, regeneration of local economy and specific activities like environmental rehabilitation, disaster risk management, social welfare services, education, e-governance practices, public space improvement, and tourism promotion strategies.
• Document, share and upscale experiences. This activity will document, package and make available project information across the region, around the country and internationally. It will also consider internal and external reviews of project processes and strategies to synthesize lessons and actions. The DILG’s RLGRC and the LCP will be two of the many avenues for implementing cooperative undertakings to strengthen national and regional upscaling and support mechanisms for urban governance and sustainability, MDGs and poverty reduction. Other avenues include academic institutions and NGOs.

Urban Leadership and Capacity, to build leadership and capacity for good urban governance within our partner cities (local authorities and communities) through education and organizational change processes, with a view to creating an enabling environment for change.

•  Undertake capacity, leadership and gender needs assessments .The capacity development activities will be informed by the “State of Urban Governance Capacity,” a participatory baseline assessment of the current city management, administration, planning and service delivery practices, including an analysis of gender considerations. This assessment will serve as the benchmark against which to measure progress of the project. The recommended tool to be used is the local governance performance management system (LGPMS) being used by DILG. A capacity development plan for partner LGUs will be developed, which will prioritize needs and determine targets to be measured against the baseline assessment from the LGPMS. The plan will include civil society baseline circumstances and identify mechanisms for civil society involvement in local government affairs. As part of the process of formulating the capacity development plan, the project will develop a gender equality strategy aimed at building stakeholder awareness and commitment to incorporating gender equity into policy, programming, planning and service delivery.
• Deliver educational activities. Educational activities on priority areas identified in the capacity development plan will be delivered. These will be achieved through the on-site job coaching and mentoring (either individually or in group workshops), action learning through process-related activities and educational and case study materials, delivery and facilitation of programs by Canadian and Philippine local government experts, and other means as appropriate.
• Organize learning exchanges. The learning exchanges will be provided in the form of delivery and facilitation of learning exchange programs between Canada and the Philippines, as well as with third-country experts and institutions. This will involve visiting local government experts, overseas placements, study tours, and participation in global dialogues, conferences and/or training courses.
• Implement organizational improvements. Through a participatory process, support will be provided in reviewing LGU policies on administration, development programs and business processes. Following the completion of the organizational review, improvement strategies will be developed which will identify areas of improvement or new policies, programs and processes to be implemented focused on including a focus poverty reduction, environmental and economic management, improving revenue generation and enhancement of public realm.
• Document, share and upscale experiences. This activity will include documenting, packaging and making available project information that will promote learning, sharing and the generation of new ideas on urban sustainability and strengthening the public realm. It will also involve developing and implementing the efficient use of information technology and human resources in communication and dissemination. It will also consider internal and external reviews of project processes and strategies to synthesize lessons and actions.

Ideas for the City, to build a body of development knowledge on good urban governance, urban sustainability and renewal of the public realm of cities through applied research, urban symposia and the creation of information and toolkits.

• Applied Research. This activity involves survey of existing knowledge of best practices on urban sustainability, urban governance and public realm. The main agenda of applied research involves four interconnected and mutually supporting themes, namely: a) renewing the public realm, b) building the regional city; c) regenerating the economy and d) making local democracy work. This will include an inventory of expertise towards starting an e-Directory of existing expertise in local and urban governance, sustainable development and public realm for the RLGRC and matching the experts’ inventory with the applied research agenda.
• Urban Symposia . The project’s applied research will be facilitated through either organizing or participating in regular urban symposia, convened as appropriate at the local, regional and national levels. These forums will c onvene top thinkers, leading experts, decision-makers and practitioners to advance understanding of urban issues and unearth new solutions, as well as providing lessons from other places through the collection and analysis of global best practices. The documentation reports will be made available in different media forms. Part of the CUI’s urban symposia will be to continue our annual Urban Leadership Awards programme, to recognize made-in-Philippines best practices in good urban governance and management.
• Information and Toolkits. Information and toolkits will be prepared as easy-to-use, comprehensive resource materials to encourage other partners to be innovative, pro-active and creative in creating real solutions to problems of urban sustainability, poverty and public realm issues.