BUTIG, LANAO DEL SUR - Around 60 employees from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's (BARMM) Ministry of Interior and Local Governance (MILG), specially from the municipalities of Butig and Piagapo, have been trained last December 2020 to prepare for the digitalization of basic services this 2021.

The Localizing E-Governance for Accelerated Provision of Services (LeAPS) project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) based in Cotabato City ended 2020 with various blended trainings intent on priming key personnel of the two pilot municipalities for the delivery of essential services through digital technology.

In his welcome messages for the different batches of trainees, Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo, Minister of Interior and Local Government of BARMM, repeatedly emphasized the magnitude of utilizing technology to “bring the services closer to the people” and even cited the pandemic as the perfect scenario where societies can conduct cost-efficient and quicker transactions by using technology.

The trainings involved designing service processes and prototypes of e-services and even using DevLivePlus for improving municipal planning. It aimed to transform how services and information are delivered to the public and introduced how each municipality may build a platform to transform their work into something more efficient, effective, enjoyable and user-friendly to both service recipients and service providers.

One unique output of the trainings was identifying ‘pain points’ or areas that might cause the citizen difficulty during the transaction. This may include instructions that are not easily understood or the lack of directions or stairs that may difficult for persons with disabilities.

The various trainings not only necessitated review of the current service processes in each municipality but also exposed the participants to ‘blended trainings’ via Zoom. Some of the trainers based in Manila and France coordinated with on-site facilitators who physically guided the participants at the training site. The learning approach provided the ideal backdrop for the participants who would soon be responsible for the training of other service providers in BARMM.

A collaboration between MILG and UNDP, LeAPS is geared towards transforming local governance in BARMM by significantly accelerating connectivity in communities and enabling citizens to capitalize on the benefits of digitalization and capacity-building through improved access to services and information, community enterprise development, and skills development.

Butig and Piagapo, pilot sites for the project are likewise undergoing technical assessment to determine the requirements of each municipality for the implementation of the project this year.

Piagapo has been classified as a 4th class municipality, while Butig is a 6th class municipality.

LeAPS is constructed by the experience of the Government of Bangladesh’s Access to Information (a2i) program but is adapted to the specific socio-cultural and economic context of the Bangsamoro region. Bangladesh's a2i had similar starting challenges with BARMM like poor connectivity and local governance in remote, rural locations. A2i has already achieved a recognized status as a leading global program that has dramatically improved citizens access to services and information, and expanded opportunities for community participation at the local level.

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