Some experiences from the Philippines in urban community development planning

This article describes the participatory method æBarangay Development Planning through Participatory Situational Analysis, Planning, Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation (BDP-Participatory SAPIME) used by ECPG (Empowering Civic Participation in Governance), an NGO working on village-level with local governance in the Philippines. The article gives a brief background to legislation and structures related to peopleÆs participation in governance, and goes on to explain the methodology the work of ECPG in Quezon City to improve urban participatory local development planning. In the BDP-Participatory SAPIME community members themselves identify and analyse their problems, the situation within which these problems are embedded, and the possible solutions. The key elements of the methodology are presented (social preparation and capacity-building interventions; multi-sector assemblies; preparation and mobilisation) together with the planning methodology. The article gives account of reactions from the community regarding the situation analysis, the process of participatory planning and implementation of the plan; it also looks at reactions from the local government. Some of the main issues and challenges encountered, and the possibilities of replication are discussed. It is concluded that the experience shows that the system is workable and practical and could be replicated in other villages (barangays). However, all the villages participating in this pilot were poor urban communities and the authors consider that another set of pilots may have to be conducted in dissimilar communities so that a more comprehensive set of guidelines and performance indicators can be developed.