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News
February 18, 2010
Pangasinan, Negros Oriental LGUs
support
EU-La Liga project on localized MDGs
OFFICIALS of concerned local
government units (LGUs) in the
provinces of Pangasinan and Negros
Oriental have expressed full support
and cooperation for the successful
implementation of a two-year
European Union-funded project on
localized Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) in the two provinces.
Alaminos City mayor Hernani Braganza,
Bani mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr. and
Burgos mayor Domingo Doctor Jr., all
in the province of Pangasinan and
Sibulan mayor Antonio Renacia, Dauin
mayor Rodrigo A. Alanano and La
Libertad mayor Lawrence Limkaichong
Jr. viewed the inclusion of their
towns as a welcome development
saying it will boost their on-going
initiatives in their localities.
The project, entitled “Cementing
Pathways to Financing the Millennium
Development Goals”, a joint
undertaking of the European Union
and the La Liga Policy Institute (La
Liga) and its partners, Social Watch
Philippines (SWP), LGUs and
community-based organizations in the
two provinces, is expected to boost
the capacities of three LGUs each in
the provinces of Pangasinan and
Negros Oriental.
The project, which has a total cost
of 282,159 Euros including funding
support from the European Union of
239,835 Euros, aims to prepare LGUs
in undertaking partnership building
activities geared towards financing
and implementation of MDG-related
programs and services, says La Liga
Managing Director Roland Cabigas.
MDG-related programs and services
will be anchored on the achievement
of MDG targets around poverty and
hunger, universal primary education,
maternal and reproductive health,
and environmental sustainability.
“We appreciate the inclusion of
Alaminos City in this partnership
with EU and La Liga. We look forward
to enhancing our capacities to
achieve important MDG targets that
will truly benefit the people,”
Alaminos City mayor Hernani Braganza
said.
Braganza said Alaminos City and La
Liga have been partners in
implementing various programs and
activities that promote the
sustainable development of Alaminos
City and he expects that the EU-funded
project will further improve the
living conditions of the people.
“The project will complement our
on-going programs around very
important MDG targets,” he said.
Alaminos has initiated various
programs that promote sustainable
agriculture, e-governance, and
feeding program to help improve the
health and nutritional status of the
city.
He said the EU project will also
help strengthen regional cooperation
among members of the One Pangasinan
Alliance of LGUs, an alliance of
LGUs in Western Pangasinan which
aims to boost local government
capacities for local economic
development in the province.
For his part, Renacia said the
inclusion of his town in the project
“will provide us with the
much-needed technical assistance to
see to it that MDG targets are being
met.”
“We are closely working with Social
Watch before this. With EU, we hope
to get more information to know
whether we are on the right track,”
added said.
Both Alaminos City and Sibulan town
are currently undertaking MDG-related
projects, and the partnership with
the EU will provide them the
much-needed inputs to better improve
the basic social services of the
people, the two local chief
executives said.
Braganza and Renacia said the
project will also help other LGUs in
their provinces by being a model of
best practices on localizing MDGs.
Specifically, the project aims to
mainstream nationally-committed MDG
targets and incorporate these
targets into local government
programs and budgets.
The project will be implemented in
two LGU clusters in Pangasinan and
Negros Oriental. The first, within
the first district of Pangasinan in
Luzon, which include Alaminos City,
Bani, and Burgos, while the second,
within the Negros Oriental in the
Visayas includes Sibulan, Dauin, and
La Libertad.
“To cement pathways to financing the
MDGs means being able to strengthen
coherence and harmony towards
achieving international commitments
by channeling of public funds for
the MDGs,” Cabigas noted.
Cabigas said that through
partnerships, the project will
hopefully bolster delivery of basic
social services to the 1.6 million
people of the project’s target
sites, especially to the
marginalized sectors of fisherfolk,
farmers, women, school children and
out of school youth.
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