LRED: A challenge to Mambusao town
The residents of Mambusao, Capiz take pride in the fact that their municipality is considered as one of the major economic centers in the Province of Capiz. Presently a fourth class municipality, it has high hopes of achieving even better and higher grounds in the months ahead. With pro-development local chief executive in the person of Mayor Jose O. Alba, Jr., Mambusao has embarked on a strategic and developmental planning process referred to as the Local/Regional Economic Development (LRED).
This is in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). LRED brings together people, both from private and public sectors, to have a dialogue and discuss possible strategic interventions to identified problems. The first in a series of activities under this process is the conduct of a Rapid Economic Appraisal (REA) which aims to capture the local economic condition.
Poised and getting ready to adopt the LRED process, LGU-Mambusao has worked hand in hand with the DTI and GTZ in the conduct of REA on 14 and 19 May this year. The appraisal involved 51 respondents from government and business sectors, academe, and non-government organizations. REA results will be presented during the LRED Workshop on 3-4 June 2009, at Naning’s Restaurant, Poblacion Tabuc, Mambusao, Capiz. Participants are elected officials led by Mayor Alba, key personnel of LGU-Mambusao, commercial establishment owners, and industry and civic leaders. Institutional Development Expert from Bohol, Ms. Rosalinda Paredes is the Resource Person who will facilitate discussion of critical constraints, burning issues, next steps and strategies that would enable the municipality to come up with a strategic plan. For the record, Region 8 was the first to implement the LRED Program in the Philippines.
LRED is one of the major interventions in the SMEDSEP program (Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Program). SMEDSEP is a development cooperation project between the Philippines and Germany which aims to improve business and investment climate for SME in the Philippines, especially in the Visayas. It is implemented in partnership with DTI at national, regional and provincial levels on behalf of the Philippine government and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Additional information about the event can be secured from the DTI Capiz at 036-6211151/6212637/5225887.