The Department of the Interior and Local Government Cordillera is encouraging local government units (LGUs) in the region to apply for the 2022 Galing Pook Awards: Search for the Top 10 Outstanding Local Governance Programs, which will recognize their adaptive and innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We have very capable and innovative LGUs in the region, and during the height of the pandemic, our local governments stepped up to the best of their abilities to thrive while promoting good governance. It is high time for their most adaptive and innovative programs to be recognized and replicated in other regions,” said DILG Regional Director Araceli San Jose.
The Galing Pook Awards, launched in 1993, recognizes outstanding LGU programs that show innovation and excellence in local governance.
San Jose said programs must be integrated in the processes within an LGU (barangay, municipality, city, or province) even if the program might have been initiated independently or jointly by non-government organizations, civil society organizations, and or an LGU.
Further, the program must have been in operation for at least a year before the deadline of submission and must have verifiable and significant results.
Awardees will be chosen from a national search of local governance programs and evaluated through a multilevel rigorous screening process based on positive results and impact (25 percent); promotion of people’s participation and empowerment (25 percent); innovation and adaptation (20 percent); resilience (10 percent); sustainability (10 percent); and efficiency of program service delivery and transferability (10 percent).
Beyond the awards, the winning programs will serve as models of good governance that are promoted for replication in other communities. They will offer useful insights and strategies for developing novel solutions to common problems and will demonstrate the community’s and the local government’s dedication to good governance.
Submitting more than one entry is permitted as long as the entries are unrelated. LGUs are encouraged to package programs that are directly related to a single comprehensive entry. If more than one entry from the same LGU makes it to the finals, only one can enter the top 10.
The Galing Pook will also allocate two spots in the top 10 for provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays, with the remaining spots for wildcard entries. However, even if spots are allocated, the entries must still meet the criteria, so if no LGU meets the criteria, the spots allocated for them will be added to the wildcard spots and open to all other LGUs that are more qualified.
San Jose reminded participating LGUs to provide all required information, including responses in both Filipino and English.
“I encourage LGUs to be concise and straightforward in providing all the necessary information to your entries because each part of the form will have a character limit,” she said.
Participating LGUs may submit its application by accomplishing the form through the link: bit.ly/ 2022GalingPookAwards on or before July 22. – Press release
April 27, 2024
