Barangays showcase best practices in Best Performing Search
27 Barangays of the city showcased its best, promising and emerging practices in governance in the recently concluded first evaluation round for the Search for Best Performing Barangay which runs from 14 July to 13 August 2020.
“This is a program that is one of its kind, I believe, probably throughout the country. We have mobilized the 27 barangays towards a program that will change, not only change but transform the entire city of Koronadal”, City Mayor Eliordo U. Ogena said in his send-off message.
Some of the barangays highlighted their clean and green initiatives tagged as “brigada, dagyaw-tinlo, harap mo linis mo, etc.”, mobilizing the entire community in the simultaneous clean-up activity while harnessing their commitment to take responsibility in the proper management and disposal of waste. Also, part of the goal is to engage the citizens of all ages to make their own neighborhood green by protecting the green cover around them and add more sustainable and visually appealing plants in the landscape.
“In the part of the citizens, they are now being engaged to help realize the barangay’s ideal of a clean and green barangay by involving several private sectors in the respective puroks”, Architect Carlito Y. Uy, one of the evaluators said in an interview.
On the other hand, majority of the barangays steps up with gardening efforts. Part of the mandate is to provide residents with the opportunity to experience the benefits of gardening. The production and harvesting of healthy fresh produce helps augment people’s need for nutrition with high hopes that the community garden project can be seen as a successful example that encourages others to start their own backyard garden for them to gain access to nutritious food and physical activity opportunities using alternative methods to maximize space.
To boost the local tourism industry, several barangays have been working to enhance road accessibility while linking tourism with livelihood strategies.
Meanwhile, Col. Celestino F. Desamito, Jr., EnP, one of the evaluators said that the main purpose of the Barangay Empowerment Program is not only to give recognition but to transform the barangay. According to Desamito, it is the aim of the government to make the clean , green and beautification initiatives a culture and a way of life. “To empower the people to be self-reliant and to see them happy, that is what we call empowerment “, Desamito said.
In order to improve the efficiency of solid waste and waste water management, the barangays strengthened their delivery, collection, transportation, disposal method by issuing relevant policies, ordinances and resolutions.
While the evaluators are looking into the local initiative and best practices of the barangays, Mr. Carlito Uy shared some valuable inputs on how to improve their community mobilization initiatives. “What our barangay failed actually to conceptualize is that out of the community participation, they can actually scale up the participation into something of a more organize group. Like for example in a cooking contest, those who were able to attend can be organized into a mother or single women cooking club so that later on, if they are already organize, this can be a good potential community based practice, of course we know for a fact that our people just need a little test for them to be able to know the importance of organizing. This is what we wanted to see probably next year from our barangays”, Uy said.
Meanwhile, the local chief executive is optimistic that the Barangay Empowerment Program will have a positive multipliers effect. He said that through the program, the barangay will be given an equal opportunity to grow, inspire others to work on proper financial management and witness how their local officials lead towards the achievement of a shared vision.