mikocanares Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Governance, National Government Agency, Non-Government Organizations, workshops

Step Up Facilitates OGP Commitment Design Workshop for the Philippine Government

IMG_20190416_114217Step Up Consulting Strategy Advisor Michael P. Canares led the design and facilitation of the Philippine Government’s commitment design workshop as part of the several processes in formulating its National Action Plan for the Open Government Partnership.

The Philippines is a pioneering member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral initiative that aims to promote transparent, accountable, participatory, and responsive governance.

The workshop gathered several representatives from national government agencies and civil society organizations to dissect and analyze two Philippine government commitments – the Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation (DIME) proposed by the Department of Budget and Management, and the commitment on Open Contracting, proposed by the Government Procurement Policy Board.

The workshop was held at the DBM Conference Room in Manila last 15-16 April 2019 and supported by OGP Support Unit‘s team based in Asia Pacific lead by Shreya Basu.

mikocanares Asia, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, labour markets

Labour Markets Project Design Workshop for Indonesia

miko in action day 2Step Up Managing Consultant Michael Canares led the design for the Labour Market Information Systems exploratory workshop for Indonesia and facilitated the same last April 9-10, 2019 at the GIZ Headquarters in Jakarta Indonesia. The primary question that the workshop tackled was whether non-traditional data sources can help overcome information deficits in labour market development programs.

The workshop brought together policy makers from relevant education and labour market related institutions, providers of relevant data and technical experts across Indonesia, more particularly those in the food processing sector, the current test case. The workshop aimed to initiate an in-depth discussion with respect to the following overarching questions:

  1. On which basis are education and labour market policies currently formulated in Indonesia?
  2. Are the currently used data sources enough to serve as a basis for informed policy formulation?
  3. What are known data/information gaps that may lead to sub-optimal policy decisions?
  4. Can non-traditional data sources, in particular, data from job-platforms and social networks, be used to enrich the existing information base and strengthen the evidence base in order to allow for more informed policy decisions?
  5. What gains can be expected from the use of non-traditional data sources?
  6. What are the related prerequisites and the costs related to the use of non-traditional data sources?
  7. What process needs to be in place to develop a system of integrating new data sources to existing systems?

outputThrough intensive workshops and meaningful conversations designed primarily to harness different ideas, the workshop resulted to at least four experiments in the use of different data sources – big data, open data, thick data, and citizen-generated data – to be able to capture traditionally unavailable information that are critical to labour market decision making processes.

The workshop was sponsored by GIZ and was part of GIZ’s efforts to harness new data sources for development projects.

mikocanares Asia, Consulting Services, Facilitation, workshop design

Step Up Strategy Advisor Facilitates LOGIN General Assembly in Bangkok

DSC_8511Step Up strategy advisor Michael Canares facilitated the Local Governance Initiative and Network (LOGIN) General Assembly held in Bangkok Thailand on April 2-4 2019 at the Renaissance Hotel. The workshop was attended by more than a hundred participants coming from several countries in the Asia Pacific region and other representatives and guests from Europe.

LOGIN is a multi-stakeholder knowledge network connecting state and non-state actors to promote a culture of learning and exchange on decentralization and local governance, more particularly in South and East Asia.  Organized in 2007, LOGIN’s members include government officials, elected parliamentarians, non-governmental and international organizations. It aims to capacitate local institutions in participatory, accountable, inclusive, and citizen-responsive governance.

Spanning 12 countries, LOGIN’s membership includes elected representatives, training institutions, think tanks, government departments, non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, among others. It aims to capacitate local institutions in participatory, accountable, inclusive, and citizen-responsive governance.

Mr. Canares leads the design and facilitation of the 3-day activity.  He was joined by Suresh Raghavan of India as co-facilitator.

mikocanares Asia, Capacity Building, Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Governance, Uncategorized

Step Up Strategy Advisor Facilitates ASEAN Workshop

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions (ASEANSAI) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) held a joint conference last 26 February 2016 with the theme “Laying the Foundation for Future Cooperation in Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the ASEAN”.

The workshop was held at the Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Hotel, Indonesia and was attended in by almost 100 participants from 14 countries coming from within and outside the ASEAN. Mr. Michael Canares, Strategy Advisor of Step Up Consulting was hired by GIZ to help design and facilitate the whole day event.

The event was spearheaded by ASEANSAI, a relatively young regional organisation of ten audit offices in the ASEAN region and supported by GIZ.  The event intended to bring together the three organizations  (ASEAN, ASEANSAI and AIPA) to explore more coordinated framework for future joint action and inter-agency collaboration for fostering state-society relationships in ASEAN, including efforts towards Good Governance, transparency and accountability.

mikocanares Capacity Building, Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Governance, local governance, road asset management, Uncategorized

Step Up Strategy Advisor Facilitates Local Road Asset Management Workshop

consultative workshop - Roads2SDGs

Michael Canares, Strategy Advisor of Step Up Consulting Services, facilitated the Local Road Asset Management Workshop for the United Nations Development Program’s Road 2 SDGs project, an initiative that it implements with the Department of Interior and Local Government.  The workshop is part of a series of activities lined up for the year in order to increase the capacity of local government units in the country in local road asset management.

The workshop was held on 19 February 2019 at B Hotel in Quezon City and was attended by key stakeholders from the national government agencies, namely, the Commission on Audit, the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and other representatives as the Union of Local Authorities in the Philippines, and UNDP.

The activity is part of UNDP’s efforts to strengthen infrastructure governance in the country to hasten the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, as infrastructure is a key component in service delivery, impacting different SDG targets.

At the beginning of the project, it  was  found  that  provincial  local government  units need to improve their governance systems in road asset management and maintenance. Data  has  shown  that  not  all  provincial  roads  and  bridges  are  booked  as  assets,  and  life  cycle management of roads is generally not evident. This situation also has direct implication on the weak financial  management  of  PLGUs  related  to  local  roads.

Thus,  an  integral  component  of  the governance reform on local road management is on road asset management. UNDP recognizes its role  to  deliver  capacity  development  interventions,  through  knowledge  products  and  training activities that will ultimately result to a better system of PLGUs’ governance in relation to road asset management.

 

mikocanares Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Governance, Local Government Units, workshop design, workshops

Step Up conducts workshop for DILG VII

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Step Up Consulting conducted a strategic planning workshop for the Local Government Capability Development Division of the Department of Interior and Local Government-Region VII as the division prepares  for another year of coordinating capacity building programs for local government units.

The workshop, held on  January 30 to February 1, 2019 at the Ranch Resort in Toledo, Cebu, was participated in by a dozen of local government officers and their division chief Ms. Marithel Oporto.  The workshop was able to tackle the division’s mandates, current accomplishments, future targets, and enabling strategies to achieve division goals.

Assistant Regional Director Louella Luceno graced the event on the third day and encouraged the participants to pursue the plan and be inspired to do more for the success of the division. She also expressed her renewed commitment to strengthen the Local Governance Resource Center of the region.

Mr. Michael Canares, Step Up’s strategy advisor, designed and facilitated the whole event with the assistance of Ms. Jean Celeste Paredes, research associate.

mikocanares Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Governance, local governance, Local Government Units, Monitoring and Evaluation, Uncategorized

Step Up Conducts Year-End Assessment for DILG Region VII

TET_3518Step Up Consulting was contracted by the Department of Interior and Local Government Region VII Regional Office to facilitate the review on the implementation of locally-funded projects as well as a strategic planning for the year 2019.  The activity was held on December 19-21, 2018 at the Bohol Bee Farm Resort in Dauis, Panglao Island.

The activity was attended in by the DILG officials from the four provinces of Region VII, namely Bohol, led by Mr. Johnjoan Mende, provincial director; Cebu, led by Mr. Jerome Gonzales, provincial director; Negros Oriental, led by Mr. Dennis Quinones; and Siquijor, led by Mr. Kenneth Kilat.

mikocanares Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Monitoring and Evaluation, Results-based Management

Step Up Trains Phil-Am Fund grantees on Outcomes Reporting Using RBM

IMG_1576Step Up Consulting strategy advisor, Michael Canares, was engaged by the Gerry Roxas Foundation to train its grantees on outcomes reporting using a results-based management lens (RBM). The training was conducted in Belian Hotel in Tagbilaran City on February 6-7 2018.

Gerry Roxas Foundation manages and implements the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant facility called the Philippine-American Fund or Phil-Am Fund. Phil-Am Fund finances “local activities that support economic growth, good governance, anti-trafficking in persons, child and adult literacy, and environmental objectives of USAID in the Philippines”.

A total of 56 participants attended the training composed of roughly around 12 grantees of Phil-Am Fund.

Results-based management is a key expertise of Step Up Consulting. In the past, the firm has been engaged by international organizations as Louis Berger, Woord en Daad, Fundacion Ipade, SABIC Belgium to conduct monitoring and evaluation work.

mikocanares Consulting Services, core expertise, Core services, Facilitation, Monitoring and Evaluation, Uncategorized

Step Up Assists Bohol Consortium on Humanitarian Assistance

BCHA workshop
A participant reports on the results of project implementation using the OECD-DAC evaluative criteria.

Step Up Consulting Services facilitated the project-end evaluation workshop of the Bohol Consortium on Humanitarian Assistance (BCHA).  The evaluation workshop reviewed the implementation of the  Strengthening the Capacities of Local Consortium towards Effective Humanitarian Assistance project participated by BCHA members, namely, the Bohol Integrated Development Foundation, Inc. (BIDEF), Social Action Center (SAC),UB Community Development Foundation, Inc. (UBCDFI), and Philippine Center for Civic Education and Democracy (PCCED). The workshop was conducted on 11-12 January 2018 at Bohol Bee Farm, Dao, Dauis Bohol.

The province of Bohol is highly vulnerable to various natural and manmade calamities. It is often ravaged by typhoons which appear to be increasing in frequency and strength each year. Monsoon winds that produce storm surges, heavy rainfall and sea level rise also pose threats to the province. More importantly, the province has various known faults that have the capacity to generate massive earthquakes similar to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the province on October 15, 2013.

The occurrence of these hazards is inevitable. Hence, a group of local organizations that managed to raise funds during the great Bohol earthquake in 2013 initiates to organize and forge themselves to become a local consortium for humanitarian assistance aptly named BCHA.  However, this newly organized group has to be strengthened and capacitated in order to become effective in their goal of coming and working together for humanitarian aid to disaster affected communities/individuals.

Implemented in 2016 to 2107, the Strengthening LC Project (Strengthening the Capacities of Local Consortium towards Effective Humanitarian Assistance) aimed at improving and strengthening the capacity of the consortium members to become effective in providing assistance to communities and individuals affected by natural and man-made disasters.

The workshop was able to identify significant changes that was caused by the project at the individual, non-government organization (NGO), and consortium levels.

At the individual level, the three most significant changes are the (1) Change in attitude more particularly in having more patience to deal with challenges; (2) Enhanced knowledge and skills on humanitarian response; and (3) Increase in the level or nature of assertiveness of project team members.  At the NGO level, the three significant changes include (1)the building of credibility and confidence of each organization trained in performing disaster risk reduction and humanitarian related activities; (2) enhanced coordination and linkaging among BCHA members and other organizations; and (3) Services rendered are based on lessons learned from the capacity building activities, including improvements in systems and procedures (e.g. finance, monitoring and evaluation, among others). At the consortium level,  the project was able to (1) equip the personnel on how to respond to disaster with clear and focused direction; (2) inspire the consortium to pursue development programs together as they were able to achieve a lot by working together; and (3) capacitate the consortium to network and link with other humanitarian assistance groups and pursued its commitment to extend its services beyond Bohol.

 

mikocanares Facilitation, Local economic development, Youth

Step Up Facilitates Consultation Workshop of Plan PH on youth employment and entrepreneurship

planPlan Philippines (PLAN Ph) conducted a 2-day consultative workshop with its key partners working on youth employment and entrepreneurship on February 28-March 1, 2017 to solicit ideas and strategies, identify programmatic areas of convergence on youth employment and development, discuss gaps and challenges on youth employment solutions,  and identify opportunities for labor market initiatives and industry development. The result of the consultative workshop will be used by PLAN Ph in developing a possible future proposals on youth employment and entrepreneurship in Region VIII.

PLAN Ph has implemented  the Igniting Youth Employment and Livelihood Opportunities in Typhoon-affected Areas project funded by Accenture and Plan Netherlands since 2014. The project is a multi-stakeholder intervention delivering technical/vocational and employability (soft) skills to marginalized youth between the ages of 17 and 30 in Guiuan, Salcedo, Balangkayan, Hernani and Tacloban municipalities severely impacted by Typhoon Haiyan.

Step Up Consulting was contracted by Plan Philippines to facilitate and document the workshop held at Leyte Park Hotel and attended by more than fifty participants, including youth representatives.