The Urban Partnerships Program-Philippines (UPP-Philippines) supports Philippine partners develop model approaches to enhancing urban and regional governance and the public realm of cities as a contribution to the urban sustainability and poverty reduction. It reawakens the Filipino tradition of bayanihan (community unity) by promoting partnerships among urban stakeholders.

Building on the gains of previous initiatives under the Canada-Philippines Partnership Program for Good Urban Governance (CPPPGUG) that involved Metro Iloilo and the province of Guimaras, UPP-Philippines envisions them as the primary agents of social and economic change, acting as the core of a network of 16 cities and two capital towns in the Western Visayas Region working for a broad-based, pro-poor and sustainable urban development.

Results expected by the end of the program (outcome level) include the following:

• Increased multi-stakeholder participation (women and men) in local governance and development.
• Enhanced capacity and leadership within local governments, community groups and sectors.
• Improved and more sustainable social, economic and environmental conditions for communities.
• Enriched body of knowledge about good urban governance practices available to countries where program is based, Canada and internationally.

The long-term result (impact level) of the program will be urban governance processes in partner countries refocused towards urban sustainability and poverty eradication. It pursues the theme of "making decentralization work."

The program is implemented by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI), a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in urban areas across Canada and internationally. Through UPP-Philippines, CUI will lend its support to the country’s continued thrust towards operationalizing the subsidiarity principles contained in the 1991 Local Government Code, which aims to build the capacity of local authorities for good governance and to empower communities in local decision-making. It will also place a new emphasis on localizing the MDGs within urban governance processes, helping to mobilize local authorities in the task ahead of realizing global poverty eradication goals.

CUI will take a new approach which is founded on the principle set forth in the new program’s vision that the achievement of good urban governance, the creation of sustainable cities, the improvement of the quality of urban life and the eventual reduction of urban poverty all lies in the degree to which urban stakeholders pursue a collective agenda aimed at investing financial, social and institutional capital towards the improvements to the civic public realm and in the development of community assets.