MINDANAO - In recognition of the challenge of making public service delivery more effective,  efficient and accessible in Mindanao, the government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), through its Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG), forged a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the Localizing e-Governance for Accelerated Provision of Services (LeAPS) Program—a flagship program of the MILG, which will support the Office of the Chief Minister, all BARMM ministries, and several LGUs in using ICT solutions to simplify business processes, improving the quality and speed of local public services and making these more accessible to the Bangsamoro people.

The LeAPS Program is geared towards supporting the #DigitalBangsamoro vision of the BARMM government. An initiation phase was implemented from July 2020 to December 2021 with 2 pilot local government units (Butig and Piagapo) and the MILG. With the full support of the Bangsamoro government, LeAPS is now taking off as a full-fledged program that aims to transform local governance in BARMM thru governance decentralization and fostering a culture of innovation in the public service delivery from 2022 onwards.

Signed by MILG Minister Naguib Sinarimbo and UNDP Philippines Resident Representative Dr. Selva Ramachandran, the LeAPS Project Document covers a 2-year continuation of the program to expand the coverage to at least 29 additional municipalities and ministries. Through the expanded roll-out of the program, LeAPS, which is set to pave the way for the 5-Year Digital Transformation Roadmap of BARMM after 2023, aims to cover all the 116 municipalities, 2 cities, and all the barangays in the region.

MILG Minister Sinarimbo highlighted the critical goal of the program and noted that: “the Bangsamoro Region has been delayed in terms of development gains. It is therefore important that we move fast in terms of development so we can catch up not just with the rest of the country, but potentially with the rest of the world. The global experience is that technology can bridge the gap in development. We are expanding (LeAPS) to include all the Ministries and the Office of the Chief Minister for digitization and service simplification of the services of the different ministries.”

“We are here to turn the vision of #DigitalBangsamoro into reality. As the country starts to open gradually, businesses will have to continue. Here digitalization plays a particularly significant role in the provision of critical public services to make sure that we leave no one behind,” said Dr. Ramachandran in his message.

The ceremonial signing was witnessed by representatives from all 15 Ministries of the BARMM government, which will be part of the expanded implementation.

LeAPS aims to transform local governance in the Bangsamoro region by significantly accelerating connectivity in communities and opening governance through improved access to services and information, community enterprise development, assisted rural e-commerce, and skills development. The program also targets to overcome the reliance on archaic, paper-based, and manual processes within and among the local government units in the region.

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