Planning for Development
By ARIES1973
@ARIES1973 (11426)
Legaspi, Philippines
March 20, 2021 6:08am CST
The year 2021 is probably one of the busiest years in so far as my offline job is concerned. It all started during the last quarter of 2020 when we were ordered to immerse in the villages in order to help them come up with their village development plan. With nearly 200 villages as our target for 2021, it is imperative that we start to conduct planning workshops for different villages as early as the first month of the year. However, due to the influx of projects during the last quarter of 2020, we spent our first two months trying to finish those projects we started during the last quarter. So, we were able to start this month. Our batch, which happens to be the third in series, started during Wednesday of the third week of March.
For the information of our friend's here, a development plan or we called it 'Barangay Development Plan' is a comprehensive plan for three years covering the different areas of governance such as social, economic, infrastructure, environment and institutional. Every village is required by law to come up with their own Barangay Development Plan. Our role being in the government sector is to assist them so that they may be able to craft the plan suited in their current situation to consider the different issues they are facing. And that is being done through series of training and workshops.
There was a slight deviation from last year's activity. The current activity was conducted through clustering of different villages in one venue. It was more challenging considering that we need to assist more than one village at a time.
I was at the venue for 3 days in a week starting last week and it will continue for 4 weeks. I hope we could complete all the needed plans.
9 people like this
9 responses
@allknowing (137822)
• India
21 Mar 21
@ARIES1973 Do othe villages have outlets to earn on their own?
1 person likes this
@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
21 Mar 21
@allknowing This is a very good question. Yes, villages have their own set of officials and they can impose taxes on some business activities. They can collect taxes through the issuance of community tax certificate and they get a certain percentage. However, villages located at the downtown or the city are the one enjoying these opportunity as compared to those located at the remote areas. They are our target. We are capacitating the village officials so they can stand on their own without relying much on the internal revenue allotment. At current situation, they are far from being independent, they still need to be guided. Oftentimes, village officials are those who don't undergone formal education so they lack in knowledge in governance.
1 person likes this
@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
21 Mar 21
Some of the programs, projects and activities can be funded through their internal revenue allotment. This is the share given to the villages coming from the government. Those programs that needs big amount can be funded by other national agencies. On top of that, the government has a promise in the amount of 20 million pesos or $400,000 per village.
1 person likes this
@jobelbojel (36030)
• Philippines
20 Mar 21
I hope you can complete the planning development or development planning in the villages. That's tiring but I know it is your passion.
1 person likes this
@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
21 Mar 21
Thank you Bojel. Yes, this is a challenging job but we need to do it.
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@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
21 Mar 21
Because of the pandemic, there will be major changes in the plans. For example, in the education which is part of the social sector, we must come up with a plan suited for the current's situation.
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@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
20 Mar 21
Yes, sis. Don't have much time for my online engagements.
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@Bhaskarjhborah (735)
• India
20 Mar 21
Nice to hear that you have work. All of my offline business was down due to the lockdown that happened in our place. This is why I have to suffer a lot. The account of all the expenses of Lockdown time has also been on the table. I am thinking that 2021 will be a very hard year for me.
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@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
20 Mar 21
Many businesses in our country also suffer from losses because of pandemic. I hope you could recover soon. Thank you for dropping by.
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@Bhaskarjhborah (735)
• India
20 Mar 21
@ARIES1973 welcome, Now I have a lot of time, so most of the time I stay online. And trying to fix everything.
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@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
20 Mar 21
Glad to know that. Planning may be difficult but can be a challenging and interesting activity.
1 person likes this
@luisadannointed (6308)
• Philippines
30 Aug 21
Be extra careful and always drink your vitamins, and be sure you are vaccinated already. It is good to work, but please don't forget to take care of yourself... just a concern citizen here. God bless the works of your hand and of your whole team.
@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
20 Mar 21
Thank you for your kind wishes. We're doing our best.
1 person likes this