TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 10 (PIA) – The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is eyeing to formalize the establishment of the Local Governance Resource Center (LGRC).

The LGRC aims to advance knowledge management among the agencies in government, non-government organizations and service sectors and the academic knowledge management institutes by serving as a common resource center accessible to its multi-sectoral members who would also like to access the information fast, for their development planning and community capacity development interventions and activities

While national government agencies keep knowledge management systems of their programs, projects, processes and even directory of contacts and clients, these data could be of even better use if these are accessible to anyone who would need them, said DILG Bohol Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales in an organizational meeting held recently

During the organization meeting for the Multi-Sectoral Advisory Council (MSAC) held at the DILG Provincial Office on March 9, Gonzales said such a resource would ultimately be a valuable shared “go-to” platform for information, when government agencies and sectors implement their specific community capacity development programs and projects and want data as back up. 

When the new developmental planning tends to be scientific in their approaches, information would be useful to their plans, but oftentimes, these are hard to access, or is not systematically filed that one has to pore through the agency office archives to get it.

This would no longer be an issue once the LGRC goes live and operational.

“When it does, it would be a step towards building a culture of learning,” said Lindsey Marie Vismanos, a local government operations officer at the DILG.

But prior to this, agencies need to pitch in their consent, which prompted the DILG to convene the Multi Sectoral Advisory Council (MSAC) for the LGRC.

The center can take on its initial steps once the agencies agree to share their kept knowledge systems and databases, except for information that are protected by the freedom of information exclusions.

According to the DILG, this would  be a dynamic resource center building on its own updated information, and possibly aiding governments in simplifying its processes as practiced by other agencies.

This can also facilitate harmonized standards for development, benchmark thresholds, and facilitate further development as it transforms to be truly accessible and relevant.  

“This should also unify the system and information which the civil society organizations seek in helping their assisted communities,” added Francis Bernard Batoy of the Bohol Integrated Development Foundation, a local non-government organization.

DILG hopes it could convince agencies to bank on the usefulness of the LGRC and also trim their systems and processes without the need for reinvention. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)