SUGA Center concludes health leadership training
The Silliman University Government Affairs (SUGA) Center concluded the training of municipal leaders in Bohol and Negros Oriental in improving healthcare systems under the Municipal Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP), December 3, 2021.
The MLGP is one of the program components of the Health Leadership and Governance Program, a program partnership between SU and the Department of Health (DOH) where selected mayors and municipal health officers (MHOs) or doctors are trained on leadership and governance in order to deploy leadership acts in improving their health systems for better health outcomes.
Municipal Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP) Retreat and Colloquium 2021 for the Provinces of Bohol and Negros Oriental.
Under the MLGP, the SUGA Center trained 13 mayors from Bohol and seven mayors from Negros Oriental, together with their respective MHOs and development management officers.
The first module of the MLGP was done in November 2019 for Bohol and January 2020 for Negros Oriental but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The MLGP continued its second and third modules virtually in March, August, and September 2021.
“After a period of 2 years, the mayors and MHOs are expected to have improved their municipal health indicators after undergoing the [MLGP]. Specific outputs and outcomes affecting these health indicators are expected to be delivered by the mayors and his/her health leadership team during the practicum through the application of knowledge and skills they have gained after attending three modules of training activities,” said Dr. Michele A. Naranjo, SUGA Center director.
The SUGA Center conducted the MLGP Colloquium and Retreat last December 2-3, 2021 at the Henann Resort in Panglao, Bohol to conclude the MLGP.
The trained mayors shared about the health challenges they encountered and their experience in using the “Bridging Leadership Process” during the first day of the colloquium and retreat.
The Bohol Mayors, MLGP Bridging Leaders Champions
The Bridging Leadership Process, said Naranjo, requires leaders to acknowledge that they cannot solve complex challenges on their own and that they must engage key stakeholders, such as their community, to produce a collaborative response to the challenges.
“Through this collaborative response, new institutional arrangements are created and outcomes are produced that are sustained by continuous societal response,” added Naranjo.
The colloquium is the final defense of the accomplishments that the MLGP modules and trained mayors and MHOs had achieved within a period of one and a half years in the program.
Colloquium panelists were Dr. Jaime S. Bernadas, DOH Central Visayas Center for Health Development (CVCHD) Region 7 director; Dr. Jonathan Neil V. Erasmo, DOH CVCHD Local Health Support Division chief; Dr. Earl Jude Paul L. Cleope, SU Vice President for Academic Affairs; and Mardonio Roxas, Department of Interior and Local Government Bohol Province local government operations officer VII/cluster head.
“Build a good bridge. Effort and hard work construct the bridge that connects your dreams to reality Come, let us build bridges of love with each other with the cement of kindness and pillars of trust”. Dr. Cleope
Governor Roel R. Degamo with Negros Oriental Mayors, Municipal Health Officers, DMO, SU and DOH Staff
During the second day of the colloquium and retreat, the trainees shared insights about their experiences as leaders and a colloquium ceremony was conducted.
Negros Oriental Governor Roel Ragay Degamo, who completed the Provincial Leadership and Governance Program, also attended the colloquium and retreat.
The MLGP meets SU’s goal of establishing more partnerships in different sectors of society since SU President Betty Cernol McCann signed the Memorandum of Agreement with the DOH CVCHD for the program.
The MLGP is also aligned to the thrusts of DOH’s Primary Health Agenda, FOURmula ONE for Health framework, Universal Health Care law, and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
