CEBU CITY – Aiming to assist local government units (LGUs) in promoting sustainable alliances that will address pressing issues on the environment, governance and health, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), European Commission (EC) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) is set to strengthen existing mechanisms on inter-local cooperation.

The three foreign agencies are currently in Cebu, participating in a three-day forum dubbed “2nd Inter-LGU Summit” that started Wednesday at the Park Lane Hotel in this city. Key leaders and various local government officials, along with representatives from the private sector and non-government organizations are also attending the same forum.

Keynote speaker was head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, while University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance Dean Alex B. Brilliantes, Jr. gave the Welcome Address.

Issues on health and environment will be thoroughly tackled as it concerns the community.

The forum also aims to assist LGUs in learning from already established best practices so that they can better formulate common solutions and take immediate actions on pressing problems plaguing their respective constituents.

Moreover, the Summit will highlight the validation of the GTZ-sponsored "Cookbook" on setting up the institutional, financial arrangements and legal instruments in starting, managing and sustaining an inter-LGU alliance.

The program is also part of the EC-funded Dialogue on Governance: Strategic Projects Facility (SPF2) project initiated last year which is designed to strengthen capacity of the LGUs to improve governance and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Meanwhile, during the three-day summit, participants are encouraged to form or strengthen their coalition with the private sector and NGOs to better address common problems facing their communities, such as the depletion of marine resources due to illegal fishing or the encroachment
of commercial fishers into local waters, severe erosion, illegal logging and indiscriminate capture of wildlife.