The Development Academy of the Philippines, through its Productivity and Development Center (PDC), conducted training for the third batch of innovation facilitators on May 6-10, 2019 to strengthen the capacity of its Public Sector Productivity (PSP) Innovation Laboratory.

DAP President and CEO Engelbert Caronan, Jr., in his opening remarks, said innovation is needed in the government for it to remain steadfast and adapt to the changes in the industry. He also underscored the Academy’s important role in providing spaces for innovations to occur in government. Thus, the institution has to put innovation at the forefront of its systems and practices for this role to be realized, he added.

Meanwhile, DAP Vice President Arnel Abanto, disclosed that there are a lot of opportunities for innovation and the challenge for facilitators of the PSP Innovation Laboratory is to ensure that solutions to a problem are co-created with stakeholders and for them to be able to ask the right and powerful questions to get insights from the participants. He also shared that one of the activities of the PSP Innovation Laboratory Program is to facilitate the creation of an innovation project for the DAP and encourage the participants to support the Program.

Some 16 participants from different DAP centers and programs went through an intensive workshop to help them understand the Co-Creation Innovation Process, enhance their creativity and innovative skills, and demonstrate effective facilitation of the various components of the PSP Innovation Laboratory.  At the end of the course, they were given a chance to practice facilitating a workshop in the PSP Innovation Laboratory.

The Facilitator’s Course on PSP Innovation Laboratory is part of the various capability-building activities of the Program[D1]  that aims to strengthen the Academy’s capacity to deliver the different components of the PSP Innovation Laboratory. To date, the PDC has trained some 30 DAP innovation facilitators who shall assist various government agencies in bringing out innovative solutions that will transform the public sector and improve the delivery of its services.