Tacloban City (June 21) -- The newly-elected mayors in Region are set to start on June 21 a two-day training at Sabin Resort Hotel in Ormoc City, to prepare for their duties and responsibilities as leaders in their respective localities.

The training dubbed as "My First 100 Days," aimed at helping the newly-elected local chief executives get acquainted with their tasks and responsibilities, will be conducted by the Department of Interior and Local Government through the Local Government Academy led by its Executive Director Marivel C. Sacendoncillo.

With the just-concluded elections bringing forth new faces and new hopes in local governance, the LGA-DILG in partnership with development partners and other stakeholders, designed the 2010 Newly-Elected Officials (NEO) Program to strengthen the individual and institutional capacities of the local government units and improve the delivery of basic services and be able to map out the development direction of their respective localities.

The NEO program has four major components, namely: Ensuring Smooth Transition; Laying the Foundation; Building Alliances; and Sharpening the Saw.

The first component aims to facilitate smooth transition of powers and authorities from the outgoing to the incoming local officials through the creation of transition teams in each LGU.

On the other hand, "Laying the Foundation" is implemented in two tracks: Track 1?A or "My First 100 Days in Office" ? a rundown to the critical steps of the first 100 days in office of the local chief executives; and Track 1-B or "Knowing My LGU" is a presentation of the state of local governance report, state of development report and financial capacity in their respective LGUs.

Track 2 or "Fine Tuning My Competencies" is a venue for peer-based sharing of innovative ways of tackling the duties and responsibilities of local officials.

In "Building Alliances," the output will be a Provincial Development Roadmap which identifies the common points of collaboration and cooperation of cities and municipalities to bring about development in the province.

The fourth and last component of the NEO program or "Sharpening the Saw" is a market-driven program where LGUs match their requirements with the existing capacity development services and training packages.

The training "My First 100 Days" is a component of the Laying the Foundation component, the LGA Executive Director informed.

Among the modules in the training is that on Financing LGU Operation which will provide the participants an overview of the LGU Fiscal Management so that they will understand the LGU financial condition, learn the sources of local revenue and alternative external sources of revenue, formulate the LGU financial strategies, thus promoting financial accountability of LCEs.