PoS Department undertakes capacity building initiative for education policy making
The capacity building project entitled: “Capacity Development for Evidence-Informed Education Policy Making in Sub-national Government Level in the Philippines” has been undertaken by the Department of Political Science with a grant support from the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), and in partnership with the Union of the Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).
The team implemented phase 1 of its capacity development last March 10-11, 2015 with the province of Nueva Vizcaya in Region II, a largely mountainous and agricultural province located 268 kilometers north of Metro Manila. The attendees were (30) thirty policymakers and local government officials from the municipalities and the provincial government. Among them, Gov. Ruth Raña Padilla; Vice Gov. Epifanio Lamberto Danguilan Galima Jr.; Hon. Lucing L. Tan, Mayor of Aritao; Hon. Ramon T. Cabauatan, Jr., Mayor Bayombong; Hon. Ronelie U. Valtoribio, Mayor of Villaverde; and Hon. Kruwel JD. Dacumos, Vice Mayor of Villaverde. They brought with them their department heads and representatives from the local school districts and the Nueva Vizcaya State University.
The first day focused on the dynamics between the theory and practice of public policymaking. The workshops provided the participants the space to reflect and share their own policymaking journeys. An important learning outcome for day 1 was the ability of the participants to appraise the relevance and value of various sources of evidence that is currently available to them.
On the second day, the participants were introduced to the various useful indicators for education-related policymaking and how these can inform them on future policy decisions. Day 2 enabled the participants to re-assess their current priority inputs and effective use of these inputs based on these indicators. As a result, the participants agreed that justification of current policy commitments in sustaining and addressing gaps in local education must be based on evidence. There was also a call from among them to make evidence more accessible, which is an important first-step in EIPM.
There were also concerns raised about policy inconsistencies. Particularly, they pointed out that there are some policies that originate from central government that contradicted and/or impeded local policy innovations. The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) took note of these concerns and shall include these in their agenda with national government agencies. The next round of trainings shall tackle data management and communications topics as well as facilitate the planning for the execution and implementation of EIPM commitments.
