CSO participation is critical pillar in local alliance building

Study Tour participants at the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of Bago City,
having conversation with CENRO staff on current programs and challenges.
Bago City mayor is the current head of CENECCORD. 

October 25, 2018, Isabela City, Basilan – Ms Meriam “Deddette” Suacito, Executive Director of Nagdilaab Foundation, Inc., expresses optimism over civil society participation in the Western Basilan Alliance (WBA) in a meeting with key government officials today at the Office of the Provincial Governor, in this city.

Ms Suacito is one of the three participants representing the local civil society invited to participate in the study tour conducted for WBA officials. The other two were Fr Angel Calvo and Ms Espie Humida, President and Executive Director of the Zamboanga Basilan Integrated Development Alliance (ZABIDA), respectively.

The two-week study tour was funded by AECID, the Spanish aid agency, and provided first-hand exposure for champions of the Western Basilan alliance (WBA) to areas where there are functional interlocal cooperation models. There a number of models throughout the country and closer home. However, the need for good models is an imperative for success – to learn from long experiences that have demonstrated resilience, continuity and competence through the years.

In conversation with Dr Herwig Mayer, GIZ consultant on the matter and a pioneer in inter-LGU alliance building in the country, two areas were identified as good models for the champions of the Western Basilan Alliance (WBA) – Metro Naga Development Council or simply MNDC organized in 1993 and Central Negros Council for Coastal Resources Development (CENECCORD) organized in 2005.

In her statement before the WBA tactical group meeting, Ms Suacito highlighted what she observed as the vibrant participation of the civil society organizations in both MNDC and CENECCORD; as well as similarities and differences between these alliances and WBA.

Western Basilan Alliance is the first interlocal cooperation in Basilan and is being capacitated by the AECID-funded MILAB Project, implemented by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) with the Zamboanga-Basilan Integrated Development Alliance (ZABIDA) as CSO partner.