GTZ inks MOA with Leyte, So. Leyte towns on cooperation, assistance
TACLOBAN CITY- Several towns in the provinces of Leyte and Southern Leyte have been selected by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) as beneficiaries of a German government technical assistance package promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, economic well-being, and ways to increase local revenues.
The municipality of Alangalang in Leyte and Bontoc town in Southern Leyte province were the first local government units to formally ink their cooperation with this comprehensive assistance program through a memorandum of agreement (MOA).
Dr. Andreas Lange, chief advisor of GTZ, along with Mayor Loreto Yu of Alangalang and Mayor Pedro Fustanes Jr. of Bontoc led in the MOA signing held at the GTZ Environment and Rural Development (EnRD) program office here which indicated the kick off of the program implementation in the two provinces.
Leyte Samar Daily Express learned that many more agreements of this sort are expected to be formalized over the next months between other Leyte and Southern Leyte municipalities and the GTZ that will ultimately bind them to jointly implement measures in environmental and natural resources governance, economic development and local revenue generation.
Particularly, the support to be given by GTZ to partner municipalities will come in three forms: (1) Provision of technical expertise and capacity building support for the pilot implementation of an integrated planning and budgeting process on two governmental levels – barangay and municipal – through its GTZ-EnRD Program, (2) Provision of capacity development in the area of revenue generation through the promotion of the integrated taxation management system or i-TAX through its Decentralization Program (DP), (3) Provision of technical expertise on Local and Regional Economic Development (LRED), together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its Private Sector Promotion (PSP) Program.
But almost simultaneous to the MOA signing recently between the GTZ and the towns of Alangalang and Bontoc, GTZ initially donated laptops, motorcycles, cameras, beamers, printers, GPS devices, among other things to ensure smooth and successful implementation of the many programs that GTZ has introduced to these municipalities.
GTZ is closely working with institutions on the national, provincial and local levels as part of the German and Philippine governments’ development-policy objectives carried through forward-looking ecological and socio-economic programs that deliver sustainable benefits to the society as a whole. (LEMUEL L. PAGLIAWAN)
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