SN Aboitiz Power Group is pushing a program through its corporate social responsibility activities that would strengthen government-private sector partnership in community development projects.
Company officials said their CSR program took a special focus on governance in 2017 with the hydroelectric power group conducting a series of intensive trainings for its host local government units and communities under a program called Sustaining Collaboration and Cooperation for Execution Excellence in Development or Succeed.
The program aims to introduce strategic management principles in development management by LGUs.
Lawyer Mike Hosillos, Vice President and Chief Corporate Services of SNAP Group, said the program aligns SNAP’s CSR 2.0 with the development mandate of its host communities beyond providing CSR funds and resources.
Hosillos said a key challenge encountered in implementing community development project is “how to ensure that the projects funded and implemented by SNAP with the LGU address identified development gaps and are executed in a sustainable and effective manner.”
“By capacitating LGUs to align their proposed community investments with their development plans, SNAP aims to enhance its CSR 2.0 implementation and effectiveness and achieve its vision of powering positive change,” he said.
The program is an ambitious undertaking, with SNAP blazing the trail of a private-public sector partnership in governance probably not yet seen in CSR policy and practice in the Philippines, Hosillos added.
In May 2017, Succeed took off with training services commissioned from Prof. Fredelita Guiza, a development management expert and former secretary for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization.
Hosillos said seven trainings on strategic planning were conducted, kicking off with SNAP’s CSR and Sustainability Team and followed by sessions with host communities in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao; Cordon, Isabela; Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya; Bokod, Benguet; Ramon, Isabela; and Tinongdan Indigenous Peoples Organization.
He said Succeed will also support partnership capabilities and opportunities in the areas of project design and management, monitoring and evaluation as well as leadership and organization development.
“This year, the program will continue with strategic planning training for the remaining host municipalities in Benguet, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya,” Hosillos said.
As the owner and operator of Ambuklao, Binga, Magat and Maris hydropower dams, SNAP officials said they see the program as the seat of meaningful and sustainable partnerships with host communities in the next development decade.