Category: Service Quality

Name of the Organization

Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rice Research Institute

Name of the Office/Unit that leads the implementation of this best practice entry

Gender and Development

Focus Area of the Best Practice

Human Resource

Date the best practice was first implemented

24 June 2016 – up to present

Summary of the Best Practice

The Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) is effectively mainstreaming gender and development (GAD). As mandated by the Magna Carta of Women (MCW) or Republic Act 9710, GAD serves as a strategy to help eliminate discrimination through the recognition, protection, fulfillment, and promotion of the rights of Filipino women, especially those belonging to the marginalized sectors of society.

In congruence with this, DA-PhilRice mainstreamed GAD in four major entry points in the gender mainstreaming framework: policies, people, enabling mechanisms, and programs/projects/activities. One unique key feature of its implementation is the firm policy and management support resulting in the issuance of several policies that aid in the institutionalization of GAD in its entire operation. Significantly, the policy on integrating gender dimensions into relevant projects and studies spelled the ‘human face’ of rice science in its implementation. In 2019, 30% of total projects were attributed to GAD,35% in 2020, and 47% in 2021. PhilRice catered to 7,863 women and 9,333 men in its development works through training since 2018, and 1,048 women and 1,519 men were reached through its Rice Competitiveness enhancement program since 2019.

Another is the customization of capacity development materials in the context of rice science for development for DA-PhilRice staff for better internalization and integration of GAD in its program, projects, and activities. These customized training materials were also instrumental in the continuity of GAD capacity-building activities despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, 60% of staff completed gender sensitivity training, and 70% of project/study leaders were equipped with gender analysis to ensure that we have a gender-responsive mechanism in fulfilling our mission at PhilRice.

PhilRice ensures that sex disaggregation can be easily analyzed for gender-responsive planning, monitoring, and evaluation purposes in the database management systems. This is a major enabling mechanism in mainstreaming gender in the Institute’s research and development activities.

The Challenge

Due to the lack of mechanism and capability, the DA-PhilRice management found it challenging to institutionalize GAD. Hence, it was only in 2016 that the first GAD mechanism was established, which was the creation of the GAD Focal Point System (GFPS), internally called the GAD Initiatives (GADi) team, comprised of the head of the institute as the chairperson, 1 GAD focal person/coordinator, and ten management committee members at the central office, and branch stations with one support staff as GFPS members.

Introducing GAD in the Institute was a challenging journey as this is new to the staff. Many of the team used to think that was just an additional burden and an added responsibility to them.

On the other side, it was always a struggle to ensure the sustainability of R&D projects. More often, the projects forgot to consider the needs of the clients as well as the gender and social dynamics in the target communities, which could significantly affect the adoption and sustainability of the technology. In the end, many technologies have been developed, but their desired impact on the target beneficiaries takes much work to measure.

Solution and Impact

To implement gender and development (GAD) mainstreaming in the Institute, the organization undertook four critical steps.

Initially, GAD-related policies were issued to facilitate GAD mainstreaming in all PhilRice stations. These policies include the creation of the GFPS, which leads GAD-related efforts in the institute; the creation of a Project Review and Evaluation Committee (PREC), which evaluates all project proposals to ensure GAD inclusion; other policies that create enabling GAD mechanisms; and directives to encourage staff’s participation to GAD-related activities and training. Since 2016, a total of 59 GAD-related policies have been issued by the Institute. These policies are also being adopted in all of PhilRice stations, and one critical adaptation is the creation of local GFPS, which helps ease GAD monitoring in PhilRice as a whole.

Secondly, DA-PhilRice continuously conducts capacity development activities among all staff to sensitize and educate them on GAD concepts and capacitate them on GAD mainstreaming. In line with this, more than 50 training, seminars/orientations, and workshops have been conducted in the Institute since 2017. Through these activities, the Institute managed to capacitate about 70% of all staff on gender sensitivity, gender analysis, GAD agenda, use of Harmonized Gender and Development Tools, and the importance of sex-disaggregated data, among others. Only recently, capacity development activities’ conduct was hampered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this, the Institute developed two customized training manuals on gender sensitivity and gender analysis implemented through online platforms (Google Classroom and Zoom) to continually capacitate the staff despite the limitations of face-to-face interactions. About 163 staff graduated with the asynchronous gender sensitivity training and 38 project leaders and GFPS members graduated with the training on gender analysis.

Another important step is the establishment of GAD-enabling mechanisms in the Institute. These include institutionalizing a sex-disaggregated database to monitor the number of beneficiaries (both women and men in various age groups and communities) reached by DA-PhilRice projects. It is also helpful in crafting specific strategies and interventions to address the client’s needs. As of 2021, about five sex-disaggregated databases are being maintained by the Institute.

A physical and online GAD corner is also established to promote GAD-related information to external and internal clients. All stations are now maintaining one physical GAD corner, and one centralized online GAD corner is housed on the DA-PhilRice website.

Gender-fair language is also promoted and applied in producing various information, communication, and education (IEC) materials. In 2021 alone, about 115 knowledge products were made and distributed to around 2.1 million stakeholders–primarily farmers and rice extension intermediaries.

Lastly, the Institute ensured that its programs, activities, and projects (PAPs) had mainstreamed GAD in its implementation. Every year, a GAD Plan and Budget are crafted to ensure PhilRice PAPs are fully responsive to the GAD mandates and gender issues it has to address. The GAD accomplishment report is also submitted at the end of every year to verify if GAD targets have been met. As mandated by law, at least 5% of the organization’s total budget should be attributed to GAD. DA-PhilRice has achieved and even surpassed this target. As of 2021, percent of GAD attribution in the institute is 38.63%.

In terms of the level of deployment, DA-PhilRice was ranked level three in gender mainstreaming based on the 2019 PCW assessment. This means that GAD-related activities are already institutionalized within the organization.

Innovation

On policy, the most effective innovation is the empowerment of the management committee on GAD implementation. In other agencies, GAD matters are often left to committees where they need a firm decision and on-the-ground approach to operationalizing GAD in the context of their mandate. AtPhilRice, the management committee reviews and recommends measures to operationalize GAD in research and development activities properly. It is more than lip service or compliance. The commitment to inclusivity and gender equity is explicitly articulated in all our project documents and adequately analyzed and acted on.

Also, the creation of local GFPS across all stations through the issuance of a local memorandum adopted from the one issued in the central office. This speeds up the conduct and monitoring of GAD mainstreaming in the institute.

In terms of capacity development, by far, the most innovative strategy that PhilRice made was creating customized gender sensitivity and gender analysis training manuals. DA-PhilRice packaged this into more relatable content by tailor-fitting it to rice production and agriculture. This made GAD integration into programs, activities, and projects more accessible. In addition, the manuals were also used in asynchronous training to address the needs of time and the limitations of face-to-face interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, the most valuable and innovative strategy for creating enabling mechanisms was using online databasing to capture sex-disaggregated data (SDD). One outstanding example is the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) – Seed and Extension Program database, which records the SDD of RCEF seed recipients and training participants, including other useful information such as age, special needs/disability, affiliation to indigenous communities, among others. These data were used in developing strategies to implement the program better.

Lastly, in integrating GAD into the institute’s programs, activities, and projects, a very effective innovation was the creation of the Project Evaluation and Review Committee (PREC), which assesses all research proposals to ensure GAD integration. These results in a higher number of projects attributed to GAD and generally an increase in the institute’s total percentage of GAD attribution.

Performance & Results

Before GAD mainstreaming was institutionalized at DA-PhilRice, the program and projects of the institute did not consciously incorporate gender and development in its operations. While there might be efforts to make our projects inclusive, there was no means to measure how gender-sensitive or gender-responsive they are or how much of the institute’s budget could be attributed to GAD.

While GAD was institutionalized in 2016, its full-blast implementation only took off in 2017. Based on the annual GAD accomplishment report, from 2017 to 2021, the percentage of GAD budget attribution is increasing. In 2017, 5.36% of the total institute’s budget, or about 27.7 million, was attributed to GAD. It gradually increased to 5.76% in 2018, or 44.8 million. In 2019, it grew to 14.5% – more than twice the 2018 budget attribution – about 111.8 million. Then in 2020, GAD attribution rose to 44.33%, equivalent to 1.6 billion, almost similar to 2021’s 38.63% or around 1.4 billion. These budget figures mean that consultation, equitable participation, sex disaggregation, gender analysis, monitoring, and evaluation were properly integrated with all GAD-tagged projects to ensure equity and inclusiveness. Further, this budget attribution is evidenced by the Harmonized Gender and
Development Guidelines.

GAD mainstreaming at DA-PhilRice also created opportunities for women farmers to be reached by our development programs and projects. One of these is the Rice Business Innovations System (RiceBIS) Community Program, which conducts training on rice production, organizational building and management, and farm business school. Data shows an increasing trend of women’s participation in the said training. For rice production, women trainees comprised 41% of the total participants in 2018, 43% in 2019, 40% in 2020, and 45% in 2021. In organizational building and management, there were 45% of women participants in 2019, 39% in 2020, and 45% in 2021. Meanwhile, on farm business schools training in 2019, around 45% were women, 52% in 2020, and 56% in 2021. The RiceBIS communities have grown from 7 communities in 2017 to 23 in 2021. As a result of the rice production training conducted in RiceBIS communities, yield increases were observed from 4.37 tons per hectare in 2016 to 4.49 tons per hectare in the 2020 wet season; and from 4.67 tons per hectare in 2017 to 5.38 tons per hectare in 2021 dry season. In addition, yield loss has decreased16.46% in 2016 to 14.63% in the 2020 wet season; and from 16.47% in 2018 to 14.64% in the 2021 dry season. As of 2020, there were also 40 RiceBIS Agroenterprises venturing into brown rice and oyster mushroom, earning a total net income of Php 687,469.

Another gender-responsive program that PhilRice has is the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Program. Since 2019 a total of 1048 women (40%) have been trained in rice production through the program. On one of its components which is seed distribution, RCEF distributed 10.29 million bags of certified seeds during 2020 to 2022 dry and wet seasons. This benefited more than 1 million rice farmers cultivating approximately 1.5 million hectares per year across its target provinces. This contributed to achieving the record-high palay output of almost 20 million metric tons in 2021. About 36% of RCEF seed beneficiaries are women, and 32% are senior citizens. Another important GAD initiative of this project is the establishment of RCEF-SMS, which monitors data on program implementation, particularly on seed positioning, inspection, distribution, and digital documentation of farmer-beneficiaries. As such, the RCEF-SMS enables age- and sex-disaggregated report generation and can capture other GAD-related information given the resolution of data collection. A gender-related analysis is used as a decision-making and policy management tool to formulate targeted interventions and improve the program’s services.

Replicability

GAD mainstreaming at DA-PhilRice had been benchmarked and often used as a model in various regional and national government institutions. At the national level, GAD initiatives were benchmarked by the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Agricultural Research, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), among others. Even the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) recognized DA-PhilRice GAD mainstreaming efforts and often used the institute as a model organization in some GADmainstreaming initiatives in their training presentations with other institutions. At the regional level, DA-PhilRice was tapped by a local government unit to conduct GAD orientation among their staff. Local agencies also look up to DA-PhilRice as a model institution regarding GAD practices.DA-PhilRice GAD mainstreaming initiatives were showcased and recognized in the country and the international arena.

In 2021, DA-PhilRice participated in the Women Agribusiness Summit Townhall Consultation as part of the United Nations Food System Summit wherein one of the resource speakers was a woman farmer in one of DA-PhilRice agribusiness communities (one of the gender-responsive projects of the institute).

In June 2022, DA-PhilRice will be among the delegates of the 2022 Global Summit of Women held in Bangkok, Thailand. During the event, the case of PhilRice was presented as one of the best practices in public/private sector partnerships for advancing women’s economic opportunities in the agriculture sector. The entire Philippine delegation has won the Ministerial Award for the country’s presentation. Moreover, DA-PhilRice was also invited by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to review their one CGIAR research portfolio, which includes gender equality and social inclusion as impact areas.

As a recommendation to those other institutions implementing GAD mainstreaming, we strongly recommend getting solid policy and management support and bank on increasing staff knowledge through capacity development activities. These two strategies would be great enablers to mainstream GAD in organizations successfully.

Next Steps

To ensure the sustainability of GAD mainstreaming in DA-PhilRice, the institute has put supportive policies and various enabling mechanisms. These include the creation of the GFPS, various committees, and even systems and facilities which could facilitate GAD mainstreaming in all ofDA-PhilRice stations. Continuous capacity-building activities are also conducted to ensure staff can mainstream GAD in their respective program, projects, and activities. The planning and monitoring system is also strictly followed through the annual GAD Planning and Budgeting and the submission of the Accomplishment Report to the Philippine Commission on Women as a monitoring agency. Furthermore, GAD also undergoes a yearly audit by the Commission on Audit (COA) to ensure that GAD funds are appropriately spent on GAD initiatives.

For the following steps, the Institute is planning to strengthen the capacity of staff to conduct gender analysis in their programs, projects, and activities. These would help the institute have a more in-depth GAD integration and social inclusion in its operations. Also, as the Institute is on its way to crafting a new Strategic Plan, GAD is being consciously integrated into crafting the DA-PhilRice vision and mission. This is to constantly remind the staff that achieving sustainable development in agriculture and the rice sector calls for more inclusive interventions. Moreover, the Institute is also preparing for another round of GMEF evaluation by PCW to check/very its status/level of gender mainstreaming and determine how it could be further improved.

Milestones

Among the most significant achievements of the GAD mainstreaming in DA-PhilRice is the institute’s high and increasing GAD budget attribution from its full-blown implementation in 2017 until the present. In 2017, GAD attribution in the institute was at 5.36%; 5.76% in 2018; 14.50% in 2019; 44.33% in 2020; and 38.63% in 2021. Because of this, DA-PhilRice (Central Experiment Station and branch stations) received three commendations from the Commission on Audit for consistently meeting the 5% budget allocation; addressing gender issues and integrating gender perspectives into the agency’s policies, activities and projects; and for having supportive management. These commendations are consistent with the level three GAD mainstreaming assessment result of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) on the institute’s GAD efforts in 2019. This means that GAD is already institutionalized within the organization and that gender planning and budgeting have become more strategic, resulting in more gender-responsive programs and an increase in GAD attribution.

GAD mainstreaming at the institute has also received both internal and external awards/recognitions nationally and internationally. Internally, the management recognized the GAD capacity development team for its excellent conduct of the Gender Sensitivity Training in 2021 using customized modules and online training platforms. At a national level, the DA-PhilRice GAD research paper won second prize at the National GAD conference in 2019. And a more recent development is the confirmation of one of DA-PhilRice’s GFPS members as a new member of the PCW’s Resource Pool of GAD experts. At the international level, DA-PhilRice was one of the presenters of the 2022 Global Summit of Women, which earned the Philippines the Ministerial Award.

These achievements helped DA-PhilRice to be recognized as a model institution in GAD mainstreaming, and these efforts will continue as long as there is GAD.

Testimonials

Based on the 2021 COA audit observation report, they “commend the management for supporting the objectives of GAD and further recommend continually adhering to the related laws, rules and regulations concerning GAD planning, budgeting, and implementation.”

Positive feedback was also gathered during capacity development activities among DA-PhilRice staff. During the two batches of asynchronous Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) in 2021 and one batch of asynchronous Gender Analysis Training (GAT) in 2022, for example, all participants found the overall conduct of the training excellent. For the GST, their most common feedback is that they “appreciated the training and grateful for the learnings,” and for the GAT, they find it “very insightful and informative,” and it helps them “understand the real importance and concept of gender mainstreaming in research and the rice sector.”

External clients have also provided good feedback for benefitting from the gender-responsive programs of the institute. For the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) – Extension Program (one of the gender-responsive banner program of DA-PhilRice) for example, which give equal learning opportunities for women and men farmers, a 64-year-old Emma Tolentino attested that she learned a lot from the RCEF training and that her age was not a hindrance for her to join the training contrary to what she formerly thought.

On the other hand, Ms. Marites A. Benico, one of the women members of a Farmer’s Cooperative under the Rice Business Innovations Systems (RiceBIS) Community Program (another gender-responsive program) that DA-PhilRice served, testified how she was empowered by the program to venture into agribusiness. According to her “huwag nating limitahan ang ating mga sarili sapagbebenta lang ng palay sa mga traders. Kailangan natin mag-isip ng iba pang mga paraan parakumita.”

Name of the Organization

Technology Application and Promotion Institute

Name of the Office/Unit that leads the implementation of this best practice entry

Invention Development Division (IDD)

Focus Area of the Best Practice

Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management, Risk Assessment

Date the best practice was first implemented

16 July 2015 – up to present

Summary of the Best Practice

One or two decades ago, technology transfer enticed potential takers to adapt, use, or buy a technology package. When the Philippine Technology Transfer Act (Republic Act No.10055) came into law in 2009, due diligence seemed like a textbook theory. But things changed in 2015 when the DOST-Technology and Promotion Institute (TAPI) started to prepare for the possible receipt of requests for fairness opinion issuance that the said law requires in all commercialization efforts from publicly-funded research.

DOST-TAPI, through its Invention Development Division (IDD), developed its intellectual property (IP) due diligence mechanisms, in particular, Freedom to Operate (FTO) and IP valuation, essentially to provide technical support to the Fairness Opinion Board. The efforts either can be supported by or lead to the pioneering publication of FTO and IP valuation books, issuances of guidelines and protocols, and later adoption by the regional offices of the DOST that serve as the current Fairness Opinion Board Secretariat.

The Challenge

In bringing a research product into a market, there is a need to ensure that preparatory works are in place to increase its success and avoid waste of government resources or unnecessary legal battles. Part of the work requires looking into possibilities that there could be blocking patents that would impede market entry through Freedom to Operate assessment, IP valuation to serve as leverage during negotiations and licensing, and dealing with regulatory requirements. On equal footing, the Philippine Technology Transfer Act of 2009 encourages technology commercialization and explicitly requires that publicly funded researches undergo fairness opinion. Since there were no existing models, local or abroad, to use before the first request was received in 2015 for fairness opinion issuance, the DOST-TAPI, as the then secretariat of the Fairness Opinion Board, established the mechanisms from scratch, which included issuances of guidelines and protocols, and later fast-tracking of the services. The Best Practice is now being used by DOST’s regional offices and is now adopted by Research and Development Institutes (RDIs) around the country.

Solution and Impact

DOST-TAPI’s best practice is a due diligence mechanism that was first assessed through environmental scanning to determine whether there are existing models that can be adopted for the instant takeoff of the fairness opinion issuance. There appeared to be none, which became the basis to secure funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that aimed to support the commercialization of locally-developed technologies and the operationalization of the Fairness Opinion Board (FOB) Secretariat by the DOST-TAPI. In-house capacity building, drafting and issuance of protocols and guidelines, and later training of other agencies were done. Towards the end of 2019, the experiences obtained from the development and use of the Best Practice inspired the amendment of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Republic Act (RA) No. 10055, which decentralized the role of the FOB Secretariat from DOST-TAPI to the regional offices of the DOST. DOST-TAPI capacitated all of the DOST regional offices to allow them to absorb requests for fairness opinions from their respective jurisprudence.

The best practice of the Institute led to the issuance of several memorandum circulars, such as guidelines to determine licensing royalties, technology commercialization policies, and fast-tracking options to issue fairness opinion reports. It also led to capacity-building activities of DOST stakeholders where thousands of researchers, scientists, policymakers, technology transfer professionals, intellectual property (IP) professionals, government specialists, professors, and students around the country were trained on fairness opinion issuance, Freedom to Operate (FTO), and IP valuation.

The most striking impact, however, that the best practice contributed to public sector innovation is the amendment of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 10055. While many parts of the IRR were revised after thorough public consultations around the country, it would be highly distinguishable that Rule 11 was overhauled to present a better modality to issue fairness opinion reports. The following summarizes the revision as triggered by the best practice:

1. What cannot be considered as commercialization (Section 2)
2. Minimum required documents (Section 6)
3. Criteria for fairness, which guides the Fairness Opinion Board to evaluate the financial capability of the technology transferee and its ability to sustain the production, competitive position of the technology transferee, marketability of the product or service that shall be produced from the subject technology(Section 7)
4. Contents of the Fairness Opinion Report (Section 8)

The pre-commercialization due diligence mechanism of DOST-TAPI also contributed to the separation of the fairness opinion report to focus on the financial aspects of the transaction and to be issued by an independent third-party body of experts, with that of a Written Recommendation, as elucidated in DOST Memorandum Circular No. 002 s. 2019.

Milestones

With the due diligence mechanism getting handy, the DOST-TAPI was able to operationalize the FOB and created and streamline the processes, in particular Rule 11 of the IRR of RA 10055, leading to 102 IP valuation reports, 313 licensing agreements and term sheets, 61 written recommendations, and 159 fairness opinion reports from 2016 to 2020 as commissioned by theDOST. This also motivated launching of a technology transfer fellowship known as HIRANG: Honing Innovations, Research, Agreements and Negotiations of the Government-Funded Technologies Internship Program, which led to the graduation of 23 technology transfer interns and the signing of 12 licensing agreements.

In 2017, the pioneering team was nominated for the First Annual Awarding Ceremony of BCYF Innovation Awards in Malacañang Palace. The FTO and IP valuation teams of the DOST-TAPI were able to assess several local technologies, including the portfolio of potentially the country’s first unicorn. In July 2021, DOST-TAPI launched its Week-long Accomplishment and Culminating Activity of Special Projects (WACAS) to honor the project team’s accomplishments and included specialized public presentations dubbed “The Specialist” where the Best Practice was presented on two (2) topics, “Assessing IP Quality and FTO through IP Analytics” and “Demystifying IP Valuation”.

The specialists comprising the pioneering team from the Invention Development Division are now recognized as subject matter experts on the Best Practice. As proof of interest and adoption, DOST-TAPI specialists are now regularly requested as experts and resource persons by other agencies to teach or discuss FTO, IP valuation, and fairness opinion issuance.

Organization

Department of Science and Technology II

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Human Resource

Year Implemented

January 2019

This is a GBPR entry

Summary

The World Health Organization underscored that a healthy workforce plays a vital role in social and economic development at the global, national, and local levels. Employees are considered important assets of any organization, contributing to delivering quality services. Hence, organizations should consider employees’ health a top priority.

Considering the employees’ exposure to various health hazards such as pollution and diseases, as well as having a sedentary lifestyle and stressful environment, the Department of Science and Technology Regional Office 02 (DOST 02) decided to launch the DOST Care. This is spearheaded by its Human Resource and Health and Wellness Team to monitor and promote the overall health of the DOST 02 employees. The DOST Care was implemented in January 2019, starting with the patient profiling of employees and the provision of basic healthcare consultation and counseling by the DOST Care Team.

The monitoring of employees’ health serves as the basis for the constant provision of health care tips, necessary first aid, medication counseling, and recommendation to visit a physician if recorded vital signs are continuously abnormal. With the support of its Human Resource, DOST Care also initiates health-related seminars with themes that depend on the current problems the workforce is facing. The practice is still for improvement, but it has already provided vital health information to the DOST 02’s employees, most of whom had not known about their health risks. Now with DOST Care, all employees can keep track of their current health status and can prevent different possible diseases.

Background and Problem

The DOST 02, the lead agency that promotes and supports science, technology, and innovation, implies that it has a vast responsibility. From its flagship program, the Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP), and the different regional committees it handles, the agency has a huge workload for its limited number of employees, making them vulnerable to certain diseases.

The agency staff spend most of their work hours in their respective offices drafting proposals and doing clerical work and are hardly deployed for field assignments. Aggravating the lack of physical exertion is the mental stress experienced by staff who usually resort to stress-eating, which further contributes to risk factors of non-communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus type II and hypertension. Other diseases may also arise from these practices, like stroke and cancer. The combination of (1) minimal physical movements to burn excess calories and body fat and (2) relying on fast-food as a means of immediate comfort makes it almost inevitable for DOST 02 employees to be at risk of developing non-communicable diseases.

In the last quarter of 2018, the regional director and the human resource management observed that employees were gaining weight and increasing utilization of their sick leaves. The agency is aware of the hazards of exposure to situations that may affect an employee’s health and recognizes their need for protection. Additionally, the agency heads acknowledged that health challenges may still be unknown to some staff, and they anticipate the staff may ask for help in the future. These concerns led to establishing the DOST Care Team, which would provide healthcare services to the entire agency workforce.

The overall objective of DOST Care is to monitor the basic health status of the DOST 02 personnel by offering the following tests: blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and fasting blood glucose/ random blood glucose. These tests provide important information and impose a concern for health among their staff, encouraging them to be checked by a physician and educating them on the advantages of possibly obtaining an early diagnosis should they have a disease or condition needing attention. The project also raises employees’ awareness of their health situation and enables them to seek immediate intervention. Other than that, DOST Care also provides basic health interventions to address health issues experienced by the DOST 02 employees, enabling them to be more efficient in the organization by preventing further damage to their health.

Solution and Impact

DOST Care was one of the workplace health promotion practices of the agency targeting the prevention of non-communicable diseases brought forth by unhealthy habits and sedentary lifestyles. This practice provides the necessary information on the health of the DOST 02 employees, limited to blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and blood glucose. The DOST Care thus serves as a health promotion program that instills in its employees a mindset to prioritize their health. With continuous improvement, they will eventually consider it an effective practice in improving health-related outcomes and preventing or decreasing health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes.

It was also observed that most of the agency’s senior leaders had already been diagnosed with non-communicable diseases, making them unable to undertake their respective duties. DOST Care addresses this problem by constantly monitoring senior leaders’ health to improve their health status, enhance productivity, reduce sick leaves, reduce turnover and absenteeism. They also hoped that the junior employees, who will soon be the senior leaders, would become more aware of their health status and start considering a healthy lifestyle, rendering them physically ready and fit for future responsibilities in the agency.

The practice started with profiling DOST employees to determine who already had underlying diseases and who were prone to acquiring such so they could be prioritized in health monitoring. The priority health check is immediately conducted upon request of the employees or those staff who are manifesting symptoms. From that point onwards, the team has been conducting the tests once a month, analyzing the results so that those whose numbers fall outside the normal range are provided with non-pharmacological interventions.

They gathered normal values for the different tests from these reliable sources: American Lung Society for Oxygen Saturation, American Heart Society for Heart Rate; Joint National Committee -7 for Blood Pressure; and WebMD for Blood Glucose.

The team records all data gathered in its database, which is kept confidential and can only be accessed by them. Thus, they can monitor the trends in each employee’s health status. The employee may request the results from check-ups for personal purposes, and if results continue to fall outside the normal range for three (3) consecutive check-ups, they would advise the employee to see a physician.

DOST Care, with the support of the agency’s Human Resources, has initiated seminars necessary to provide additional knowledge regarding one’s health. They conducted a seminar last October 2019 that addressed two health issues the agency currently faces: Tobacco Smoke and Mental Health in the workplace.

Milestones/Next Steps

The DOST Care was recognized as one of the agency’s leadership approaches contributing to the agency’s success in achieving PQA Level II, considered the highest award given to an organization. It will also expand its tests to include Body Mass Index (BMI) monitoring, which is essential in managing and preventing non-communicable diseases.

DOST Care will also provide statistics and necessary information to HR to plan other health-related seminars that will provide additional health information to its employees. The agency initially planned a seminar focusing on non-communicable diseases, basic over-the-counter drug knowledge, and coping with workplace stress. However, these activities were postponed because of the pandemic but will resume once everything goes back to normal.

With the current situation of the country, persistent and more tedious health monitoring is needed. People with co-morbidities like hypertension, diabetes, respiratory illness, and other diseases are more prone to be infected by the coronavirus. DOST Care promotes the welfare of its staff through the early provision of the necessary information for monitoring their health, indirectly preventing the spread of COVID-19.

In coordination with its HR, DOST Care is currently crafting systems that would monitor other necessary information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The system would include a temperature monitoring and symptoms survey, which will greatly help the DOST 02 employees prevent the spread of the virus, especially if a DOST 02 employee is found to be a COVID-19 carrier. DOST Care, through HR, also initiated its Contact Information Sheet and monitoring system for clients; it will be useful in contact tracing if one of their customers is diagnosed with COVID-19.

Agency staff is asked to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep their immune system strong. Through DOST Care, the DOST 02 employees are constantly aware of their current health status, which helps prevent the spread of diseases and other health issues that would be detrimental to them.

Organization

Governance Commission for Government-owned-or-controlled Corporations

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Human Resource, Operations

Year Implemented

11 May 2020

This is a GBPR entry

Summary

At the onset of the pandemic, GCG personnel experienced several difficulties concerning their regular work operations. Their issues were around adopting work-from-home arrangements and health concerns around the ongoing pandemic. In light of this, the agency implemented interventions specific to each problem they observed. Namely, their interventions were remote access to their Data Management System (DMS), a weekly health status survey, reformed policies on alternative work arrangements, an Identification Barcode System, and an Online Employee Information Management System (EIMS). These interventions have helped their personnel adapt to the new normal, and these interventions were so successful that they continued to be implemented long after.

Background and Problem

At the onset of the pandemic, GCG personnel experienced a number of difficulties in relation to their regular work operations. One of the main issues was around the adoption of work-from-home arrangements. Personnel raised many questions relating to other office policies. For example, what to do if they contracted the virus, to whom they should report, how they could file a leave, how their leave credits would be charged, and alike. And in relation to the previous point, monitoring personnel’s time-in and time-out of GCG became near-impossible given the disruption in work arrangements. Also, given the alternative work arrangements, there were some difficulties in delivering outputs as some outputs are heavily dependent on official documents or submissions from their stakeholders. These were only accessible via the agency’s Data Management System (DMS), their central repository for official documents.

There were some health concerns around the pandemic. Health Monitoring was limited and relegated to immediate supervisors rather than some formalized system. Moreover, there was concern about the agency’s dependence on the Biometrics System in timing. This was a concern since the virus can be contracted through surface contact.

Solution and Impact

To address these problems, the agency employed solutions addressing each problem.

1. Remote Access to the DMS was enabled so that even those who are working from home could access the agency’s central repository for official documents.
2. A weekly health status survey was developed by the Human Capital Management Division (HCMD) to have a centralized weekly monitoring system for the health and well-being of its personnel. Particularly, it is cascaded every Wednesday of the week, and the report per office is sent to the respective Directors for them to be apprised of the health and well-being of their respective personnel every week. This was further improved to include monitoring those who have already been vaccinated or are waiting for their respective schedules.
3. Policies on alternative work arrangements were also developed for GCG personnel on what to do, who to report to, what their rights are with respect to their leave availments, and their respective work arrangements.
4. An ID barcode system was developed to circumvent the biometrics system’s necessity of touching surfaces.
5. An online Employee Information Management System (EIMS) was developed to enable even those working from home to time-in and time-out through the comfort of their homes using their laptops or cellphones. Daily Time Records could be generated for payroll purposes as an added benefit. Directors were also given their dashboards to monitor the physical reporting of their personnel as well as the time-in and time-out.

Overall, the aforementioned best practices gave the agency and its personnel ways to adapt to the new normal while ensuring the continuous operations of the agency despite the pandemic. And in terms of their long-term impact, the agency had the luxury of only needing to make minimal changes in light of changing pronouncements, given they already had the required programs in place.

Milestones

Remote access to the DMS is still being implemented in the agency, especially for those working from home. As a way forward, the agency is looking to have personal laptops that can access the DMS while also implementing supplementary protocols to ensure the confidentiality of official documents.
The weekly health survey was used in conceptualizing other programs in the agency. One program, in particular, was an onsite vaccination program. The survey is continuously improving to include personnel’s mental health. In the future, the revised survey may lead to other programs.
Policies on alternative work arrangements are still ever-changing, subject to the official pronouncements from the Office of the President. However, recent developments to the policies have been instrumental in allowing GCG personnel to physically report to the office as needed, with the added benefit of free motor pool services from the agency.

The online EIMS has been a critical monitoring tool for personnel’s observance of health protocols and their time-in and time-out. This monitoring has given directors the necessary information to change the schedule of physical reporting and WFH every month. The tool has also been updated to allow their Human Resources department other functions, such as changing whether selected personnel will work from home or on-site, generating ID barcodes for newly-hired personnel and allowing them access to the Online EIMS, and deactivating those who are separated from service.

Organization

Capiz Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Strategy

Year Implemented

25 June 2018- Present

This is a GBPR Entry

Summary

The Capiz Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (CaPENRO) recognized the primary responsibility of locals in addressing environmental problems. They initiated the 1M Kahoy Project. It is a province-wide tree-growing activity in which the component city participates. It has also grown to support the livelihood of communities.

Background and Problem

In September 2017, the Capiz Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (CaPENRO) was created to focus more on effectively governing the environment in the Province of Capiz. Since its establishment, it has been committed to developing, promoting, and implementing programs toward an ecologically sustainable and resilient Capiz. And in recognizing the primary responsibility of locals in addressing environmental problems, they initiated the 1M Kahoy Project.

Specifically, the 1M Kahoy Project aimed to address the following identified gaps in Capiz directly:

1. There was no existing agency in the province that conducted sustainability programs. Relatedly, there was also a lack of environmental programs being implemented.
2. The degradation of forest cover in the province was substantially high. Particularly, Capiz only had nine percent (9%) remaining forest cover;
3. There is a need to create Climate Change Mitigation at the local level.
4. There is a lack of coordination and collaboration among the various local stakeholders of Capiz, from NGAs, LGUs, NGOs, Academe, and other sectors on environmental conservation, protection, and restoration.

Solution and Impact

The 1 Million Kahoy Project was formulated as a province-wide tree-growing activity. And aside from the component city, municipalities, barangays, Local Government Units (LGUs), National Government Agencies (NGAs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, the business sector, civic organizations, religious organizations, People’s Organizations (POs), and even private individuals were also encouraged to join. And every Capisnon who is 12 years old and above was also eligible to participate in the activity.

The CaPENRO’s efforts brought the following results for the 1 Million Kahoy Project:

1. 1,146,755 trees were planted in 2018, and the activity had 167,195 participants
2. 667, 160 trees were planted in 2019, and there were 41,874 participants
3. 1,747,518 trees were planted in 2020, and there were 40,026 participants

Across all years, not just one sector but various sectors were represented. The 2018 implementation had 74,608 from NGAs, and the 2019 implementation had 34,689 from academic institutions. The reforestation of deforested areas in the mountains of Capiz.

Over time, the project’s scope has also grown to create livelihood opportunities for communities from coastal or upland areas. One community, particularly, was from the Integrated Social Forestry’s (ISF) beneficiaries. The ISF is also a greening project initiated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which has been devolved to the LGUs of Capiz.

As part of the 1 Million Kahoy Project, ISF beneficiaries were given materials to kick off their livelihood projects, and they were also partnered with business sector stakeholders in Capiz. On the other hand, business sector stakeholders were also encouraged to metaphorically adopt certain ISF beneficiaries by financially supporting their production of seedlings for reforestation. Through these arrangements, business sector stakeholders have supported the 1 Million Kahoy Project and helped the ISF beneficiaries who are also part of a greening effort in Capiz.

Milestones

The project’s success led it to be recognized as a significant contributor to the DENR’s National Greening Program. Moreover, the project’s success has also come to be critical for the Philippine Coconut Authority Agricultural Research Program for Climate Mitigation, Resiliency, and Response, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Education’s Tree Planting and Greening Program, the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (CCAM) through enabling cash for work. And because it has been so successful, other LGUs and organizations have also started their initiatives similar to it.

Organization

Central Bicol State University of Agriculture

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Strategy

Year Implemented

22 August 2020 – present

This is a GBPR entry

Summary

The Philippines called upon its higher education institutions to adhere to the Internationalization Policy Framework Transnational Higher Education Law. As such, Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) decided to form partnerships with foreign higher education institutions, crucially establishing their International Credit Transfer Program (ICTP). Because of this program, students were able to enroll in foreign universities, and as a bonus, their faculty was also able to engage in speaking engagements and research projects with other universities despite the onset of the pandemic.

Background and Problem

With Globalization on the rise, the Philippines, through Its Commission on Higher Education (CHED), called upon the country’s higher education institutions, including the CBSUA, to adhere to the mandates stated in CHED Memo No. 55, s. 2016, the Internationalization Policy Framework. This is made all the more pertinent given the issues raised in the Transnational Higher Education Law or RA 11448 authorizing SUCs to engage in internationalization programs and activities. And crucially for CBSUA, internationalization is vital since it is one of the key areas for their SUC Leveling, their Quacquarelli Symonds Ranking, and their AACCUP Accreditation Level IV.

Solution and Impact

The CBSUA, through its Office of the Vice President for Business and External Affairs and the College of Development Education (CDE), focused on the intensification of its internationalization initiatives, giving special attention to the formation of international partnerships and linkages with universities across Asia and Europe. Through many meetings and planning, Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) and Understanding (MOU) were arranged with some of the world’s leading universities to participate and sponsor various activities for CBSUA.

A notable result of these partnerships was that, during the onset of the pandemic, more students than ever before were able to enroll in foreign universities through the International Credit Transfer Program (ICTP). And despite the pandemic, CBSUA faculty were also able to continue participating in research projects, lectures, webinars, and presentations sponsored by both local and foreign partner universities. Said faculty research projects were even set to be published in international-refereed journals. And through the lectures and presentations facilitated by these partnerships, CBSUA faculty and students also become more aware of the cultural and social practices and values of the partner universities and the respective countries.

Milestones

In December 2020, their internationalization endeavors allowed the College of Development Education (CDE) to attain the highest score in its Phase II, Level IV Accreditation by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP). Their endeavors also led them to be among the Top 16 in the First Philippine Higher Education Internationalization Award in May 2021, organized by the CHED and the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU).

Notably, they were the only SUC from Region V to receive such an award. And because of this distinction, CBSUA, through the College of Development Education, was invited to co-host the 54th ASEAN DAY Celebration in their region, an event where internationalization efforts of state universities and colleges are awarded. And because of the successes of CBSUA’s internationalization efforts, other state colleges and universities have also started to benchmark and employ the university’sCDE’s best practices.