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Milestones

In advancing the goals of the Good Urban Governance (GUG) and Secure Tenure (ST) campaigns in the Philippines, the Philippine Urban Forum has essentially achieved these milestones:

• The PUF nurtured and strengthened human and institutional relationships.
  Building on the gains of previous trust-building efforts of the members, the Forum offered opportunities for the members to gather together in identifying common interests and allowing them in the process to downplay their personal, functional, and institutional differences.
  
• The PUF articulated goals, roles, and responsibilities.
  The PUF facilitated the launching of the twin campaigns of GUG and ST. A common framework, indicators, local actions, and commitments have arisen from the debate and consensus-building. These are embodied in the Bahanggunihanan.
  
• The PUF energized a process that led to a better and faster way of doing things.
  The tediousness inherent in a bureaucracy did not deter PUF in reaching decisions. The level of informality and trust among the members resulted in an effective and efficient way of resolving issues. No matter how complex the issues may be, the process adopted was simple.

Some of the specific accomplishments of PUF to date are listed below:

• Produced baseline studies concerning policies, programs, and resources.
• Applied the GUG and ST campaigns in the Philippine context.
• Enlisted media as a stakeholder rather than an observer.
• Adopted a process biased towards a highly decentralized and participatory approach (regional, city, community).
• Built on the gains of previous commitments and consultative processes (e.g., Project 10.10.10, Housing Summit, etc.)
• After a process of facilitation, has given the ownership and leadership to five agenda lead convenors of the Bahanggunihanan
• Provided a framework for donor mobilization.
• Assigned primary responsibilities to the LGUs (City Action Plans, CDS-2, L-EPM).
• Contributed to the strengthening of the mandate of HUDCC and key shelter agencies as the urban development national government agency.
• Influenced national government policies, programs, and resources to focus on urbanization.
• Triggered the urban poor sector leaders to seriously take on the networking and capacity-building of the sector from the national to local level (NUPSC, POST-net).
• Facilitated the healing process of the urban poor sector, particularly in addressing core issues around the PO-PO dynamics.
• Brought in professional groups and other advocacy groups, such as the environmental planners, academe, advocacy groups for heritage conservation and urban revitalization, petroleum dealers, management organizations, business chambers, realtors, among others.

The PUF has also initiated an equitable process of distributing leadership accountabilities and distributed six sub-contracts that produced the following:

1. Good Urban Governance Campaign, championed by the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP)
2. Secure Tenure Campaign, managed by the Urban Poor Colloquium (UPC)
3. Formulation of the Urban Management and Development Framework, managed by the Local Government Academy (LGA)
4. Special Citation for Good Governance, managed by the Galing Pook Foundation
5. Publication of the State of Governance in the Cities Report, managed by the University of the Philippines – National College of Public Administration nd Governance (UP-NCPAG) upon the request of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)
6. Media Support for Good Urban Governance, managed by the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD)

Other relevant achievements include:

1. Institutionalization of urban governance and shelter at the national government
2. Mainstreaming of the GUG and ST with the anti-poverty effort of the government
3. Stronger presence within the United Nations (UN) system
4. Engaging with international development partners
5. Participation in local and international for a, conferences, and workshops
6. Organized and facilitated UN-Habitat missions in the Philippines