PM 259 Special Problems in Local Government and Regional Administration

JOHNNY FRANCIS C. GONZALES, Ph.D.

1st Semester, AY 2011-2012

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INTRODUCTION: Hello and welcome to the course! Let us start by getting to know each other better. Please send me an email after receiving this course guide so that you can introduce yourself. My email address appears the end of this guide.

This is to introduce myself, Johnny Francis JOHN C. Gonzales, Ph.D., your Faculty-In-Charge (FIC) for PM 259 (Special Problems in Local Government and Regional Administration), 1st Semester, AY 2011-2012. After being with the University of the Philippines Los Baos (UPLB) and the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) for a combined period of over a decade, in extension, research and instruction, I have moved on into the private sector. I currently head a learning academy of a global business process outsourcing group of companies. While an Assistant Professor at the UPOU, I served as FIC and tutor under the Masters Program in Public Management, handling courses in Theory and Practice of Public Administration (PM 201), The Philippine Administrative System (PM 208), Local Government and Regional Administration (PM 251), Rural Administration and Development (PM 252) and Human Resources Management (PM 227). I was also involved in the UPOUs Continuing Education Program and was the Course Manager and Instructional Designer of the Certificate Program in Barangay Administration (CBAd) intended for the continuing education of barangay (local) leaders. I continue to be active in teaching and organizational development, this time in the corporate setting, towards sustaining a lifelong learning environment linked with continuous line productivity, shareholder value improvement and corporate social responsibility. The MA word that comes to mind in describing myself is, matulungin. I will be your guide-on-the-side, facilitating your experiential completion of this course.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the course, you are expected to be able: 1. To explain concepts and issues affective of people participation as they impact on local government and regional administration. 2. To present the interrelationship of mechanisms of your chosen people participation issue on local government units. 3. To isolate, identify and replicate factors essential in sustaining successful LGU-people partnership 4. To solidify the linkage of the previous courses in local government to your special problem of LGUpeople partnership.

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COURSE SCHEDULE AND WEIGHTS

Having signed up for this course, it is expected that you will be responsible in completing the assignments on time and accountable for producing quality papers that bring together your quest for learning and desire in improving your analytical skill in handling special problems.

The final exam is scheduled on September 24, 2011. Since this is an online class, there will be no face-to-face meetings. All of those enrolled should have Internet access and a working email address. Assignments 1 to 3 are to be submitted online on July 18, 2011, August 20, 2011, and September 17, 2011, respectively. The assignments comprise three-fifths (60%) of your grade with the balance accounted for the final exam (40%). Assignments 1 to 3 are assigned a weight of 15, 20 and 25%, respectively. Do take full advantage of the MOODLE interface. Through this electronic platform, the tables and matrices for the assignments are given. If you cannot access the MOODLE, send me an email so that I can provide you with the guide tables/ matrices. In the PM 259 MOODLE, you will be guided through a stepby-step model in handling special problems, from prioritizing concerns to recommending solutions. Such would allow you to come up with a more meaningful final paper that from which your chosen case community can actually benefit from. Essay Title: People Participation Rationale and Evolution in Philippine Local Government Using the above theme as the title of your essay
(1) Trace/ explain the historical evolution of people participation in the Philippines. This segment should include an analysis of the mitigating factors that led to the development of a platform encouraging people participation and tangible consequences/ benefits that either fosters or limits its growth. (2) Select a community that you are familiar with (barangay, municipality or city; personally I prefer the later two as it has both the size and complexity from which a problem analysis, which would be in the following assignments, can be applied to).and identify the NGOs/ POs in the area. In so doing, provide a description of each NGO/ PO noting their mission-vision-values system, clients served and brief history. (3) Finally, employ a surface analysis of the interaction of LGUs/ people-beneficiaries with the NGOs/ POs identified. Your surface analysis would be the basis for a more in-depth analysis in the continuing assignments.

ASSIGNMENT 1
Due on July 18,

2011
NOTES: *Not more than 10 pages, double spaced, Arial, Font 10 **You are to come up with your own references. Please cite them properly.

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ASSIGNMENT 2
Due on August 20,

Essay Title: LGU-NGO/ PO Collaboration in (Specialized Area): The Case of (Your chosen NGO/PO and community) Having identified a host of NGOs/ POs in your first assignment, select a specific case to base your second assignment on, focusing on a focus area (e.g. health, nutrition, disaster mitigation, livelihood, women empowerment, literacy, among others) (1) Justify your choice using the prioritization key posted in
the MOODLE. (2) Expand the surface description of your chosen NGO/ PO to include its accomplishments in the past (you may determine your own timeframe) while underlining its agenda/ motive for initiating/ sustaining LGU collaboration. (3) Detail the mechanisms/ strategies/ activities that it employs in partnering/ collaborating with the LGU.

2011
NOTES: *Analysis tools and matrices for this assignment will be posted in the MOODLE **Not more than 10 pages, double spaced, Arial, Font 10. ***You are to come up with your own references. Please cite them properly.

(4) Finally, using the decision criteria posted in the MOODLE,

analyze the efficacy of these mechanism employed in getting the NGO/ POs agenda across.
ASSIGNMENT 3

Due on September

17, 2011
NOTES: *Analysis tools and matrices for this assignment will be posted in the MOODLE **Not more than 15 pages, double spaced, Arial, Font 10 *** ***You are to come up with your own references. Please cite them properly.

Essay Title: Factors Affective of Successful LGU-People Participation: The Case of (Your chosen NGO/PO and community) This is your final assignment. This would be your contribution towards sustaining initiative and increasing the viability of LGU-NGO/ PO collaboration/ partnership. (1) Detail the collaboration of stakeholders by identifying the roles
of interest parties involved in the project) the one you have discussed in Assignment 2).

(2) Classify driving vs. restraining forces that either contribute to or

limit the successful LGU-NGO/ PO partnership vis--vis tangible gains of the selected project, then proceed with developing contingency plans/ (3) Explain how the political, economic, technological and sociolegal mechanisms involved have helped sustain the project. (4) Cull out conclusions that can be made from your final analysis that can be used as best practices or replicable guideposts for projects of similar nature.

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PENALTIES All or nothing. Everyone must complete the course.

Note that this is a building blocks course, where one assignment is a springboard of the other. If you are able to submit your assignments earlier, I will coach you on how to improve them. Do note that a weak paper at the start will not lead to a strong special problems analysis paper at the end. Make it a point, therefore to submit a best-effort paper before they are due so that your work-of-art can be improved further.

CONTACT ADDRESS

johnny_gwapo@yahoo.com Please send me an email after receiving this course guide so that I can add you to my mailbox.

LAST NOTE

Lets do our part in protecting the environment. Submit all of your papers online and save the articles on your computers rather than printing them. Thanks.

HERES TO A WONDERFUL SEMESTER AHEAD OF US!

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