Health Governance is one of the most challenging work for Local Government Units for they are in the front line of service delivery and are expected to provide programs that will directly take care of the welfare of the people.

The current situation of drug use in the Philippines and the corresponding national policies and social climate created a lot of challenges for local governments, particularly in terms of responding to the demands of the national government as well as their capacity and desire to care and save lives.

IPG sees the need to assist in the capacity building of Local Government Units to respond effectively to these challenges by seeing the problem on drug abuse as a public health issue and putting forward approaches and strategies that will build a community-based health, safety, and support system for people who use drugs.

IPG is partnering with some LGUs through providing training and education on collaborative community assessment, planning for context specific responses, establishing referral network, building linkages with civil society organizations and health and social welfare agencies, and empowering people who use drugs as well their families and communities.

IPG has been implementing the following related activities/ projects:

• National conferences on Harm Reduction approach from a multidisciplinary perspective:

IPG has been organizing a series of activities that explores the framework of Harm Reduction as an approach to the problem of drug abuse. The most recent endeavor was the two-day National Conference on Harm Reduction (supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung). The said conference was attended by 33 local government officials and staff (city and barangay) nationwide and with resource persons from the Department of Health, Dangerous Drugs Board, Office of Senator Risa Hontiveros, No Box Philippines, the Psychological Association of the Philippines and the College of Criminal Justice of the Cavite State University.

• Shaping Local Health Governance with Harm Reduction project:

The project aims to achieve two objectives: 1) provide an alternative framework to address the drug situation by mainstreaming/ popularizing harm reduction among local government officials and communities; and 2) support the development of community-based health intervention program for persons who use drugs by training community facilitators of partner Local Government Units (LGUs) using holistic and multi-faceted modules.