Issue No. 55/November 2021
BY: RIZZA JOY D. BARRAS, AO V
Refresher courses are designed to lead learners into the right track, to reintroduce information, and to ensure that everyone is on the same page in the delivery of the services.
Support to the OPCR Targets
With this in mind and in support of the thrust of the Department of Budget and Management Regional Office (DBM RO) VIII to deepen the knowledge of its staff on public financial management (PFM), the RO’s Technical Division B, the lead division for the Local Government Units (LGUs), held a one day in-house retooling course on Local Government Unit Public Financial Management (LGU-PFM) last October 27, 2021. Facilitated by the Division’s Chief Juvy A. Lobedica, the refresher course was participated in by all staff of the Technical Divisions.
“The course was conceptualized in support of the RO’s initiative effective this year to re-assign LGU coverage or related-tasks from one division to three technical divisions to better serve the LGUs in Region VIII. Thus, all technical staff who have been recently exposed to LGU work including those who had previously handled LGUs need to be reoriented to deepen their knowledge and understanding on LGU-PFM so they can better perform their functions.
This capacity building initiative on LGU PFM would also aid the RO in undertaking one of the Programs/Activities/Projects (PAPs) indicated in its approved FY 2021 Office Performance Commitment and Review (OPCR) - “Improve Local Government Unit Public Financial Management (LGU PFM) Systems and Procedures.” The success indicator of which is to have at least 36 percent of LGUs’ Status of Enhanced Public Financial Management Improvement Plan (PFMIP) Implementation with submitted tracking tables validated on-site at set deadline.
“This retooling is integral component in the successful performance of our individual commitment to make us more knowledgeable and efficient. As a result, an employee will need less supervision in performing his or her responsibilities,” Assistant Regional Director Aleli N. Hernandez said in her welcome speech.
She also mentioned that trainings such as this will help improve employees’ skills especially in the evaluation of the LGU-PFM, monitoring of the implementation of the PFMIP, and on- and off-site validation.
Session 1: Conceptual Framework
For this refresher course, three separate sessions were conducted. For the first session, Mr. Absal N. Abah, OIC-Supervising Budget and Management Specialist, discussed the LGU PFM System and the PFM Assessment Tool (PFMAT) for LGUs. In particular, he tackled the conceptual framework for the PFM assessment, its legal bases, goals, rationale of its assessment, and analytical framework for the PFM assessment.
He also highlighted the importance of the PFM Assessment Tool in aiding the LGUs assess and evaluate their PFM performance and in formulating strategies to build strengths and address weaknesses, as well as in summarizing the results of the assessment in the PFM Assessment Report. Mr. Abah also presented the Frequently Asked Questions on the PFMAT for LGUs to serve as a guide for all staff.
Session 2: PFMIP
In the second session, Ms. Solie S. Dosado, Budget and Management Specialist II, discussed the PFM Improvement Plan and Tracking its Implementation. She emphasized that “LGUs should be able to analyze the PFMAT Results in order to formulate sound LGU PFM Improvement proposals.” To further elaborate on the topic, she discussed the sources, prioritization and sequencing of the proposals.
Session 3: Implementation Status
Lastly, Ms. Lobedica presented the FY 2021 PFMIP Implementation Status Validation Workplan and the process and tools or templates. Recognizing the importance of understanding the Office Commitment in achieving the targets, she comprehensively discussed the parameters of the RO’s P/A/P on the LGU PFM particularly the conduct of on-site validation during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. She laid down the schedule of the activities for the on-site validation which was subsequently agreed by everyone. She also provided some tips on the conduct of desk and virtual validation.
For this year, due to the continuing risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, a two stage validation will be conducted, i.e., desk and off-site via Google meet. Pre- and Post Evaluation and closing remarks It is important to conduct a refresher or retooling course but it is also critical to evaluate the impact of such. Thus, to gauge the participants’ improvement in learning, a pre- and post-test was conducted. It yielded a result of 13.33% learning improvement from the average pre-test score of 11 out of 15 to the post-test score of 13 out of 15. “We hope we were able to help refresh and retool you for the FY 2021 PFMIP Implementation Status validation which is one of our commitments this year. Considering that we are one family, one team, we are always here to extend help and assistance to meet our commitment, not only in the validation of the PFMIP status, but also in all other tasks and functions that need coordination,” Ms. Lobedica said in her closing remarks.
