“The CBILLS program of the DAP made me realize that we need to strategize more, continually benchmark other government practices, and stay passionate about what we do. Needless to say, this year’s program curriculum surpassed my expectations with the learning we gained. The facilitator indeed manifested mastery of the topic with surgical precision delivering to us only what is essential and critical knowledge for our learning. Lastly, may we all ponder this question as we go on, “Are we doing what is best for our legislators and for the people, or are we just doing what is convenient to us? Thank you.”

“On behalf of the Senate of the Philippines, I would like to thank the Hertie School for what has been a truly illuminating experience throughout the past few days. This overview of German governance—from finance and budgeting to federal politics, communications and engagement to risk management and resilience strategies—has given us invaluable insight, and a solid comparative model for us to analyze and adapt approaches from, in our ongoing efforts to improve and streamline our systems of government in the Philippines.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to learn from Korea’s experience and to adapt these lessons to our own development. Korea has shown remarkable innovation and leadership in various sectors, such as information and communication technologies, semiconductors, rechargeable batteries and displays, as well as emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and space exploration . Korea’s development strategies are based on the concept of 4S: smart, safe, sustainable and strong, which are worth emulating. We believe that these insights are very relevant and useful for our own country as we strive to achieve inclusive growth and development. We hope that we can apply these insights in our own work as part of the technical arm of Committee on Finance of the Philippine Senate, and that we can strengthen our partnership with South Korea through mutual learning and cooperation.”

“Through this training, I have learned and I was reminded to do the following:

• know my audience;

• know the climate;

• use gender-neutral terms;

• be courteous in how I want to get my message across;

• establish a relationship; and

• be credible and trustworthy;

While we go through this training to improve our skills at work, I cannot help but also view that DAP and our mentors were also teaching us life skills.”

“The best thing about the Risk Management course would be the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of various risk management in general: its concepts, methodologies, and best practices. This knowledge will equip us with the skills in identifying, assessing, and mitigating current and potential risks effectively.” – Atty. Karlo Krisanto B. Inocencio

“The module was new to me, thus, really learned a lot from the lecturers and the workshop interactions. I think that this module is essential in the success of any private organization or government institution.” – Ms. Suharni Candao

“What I liked about the Module on Risk Management is that it gives us more insights on how we can create a risk management policy. Through cooperation, knowledge sharing and the expertise of our esteemed speaker and lecturer, we were able to formulate more ideas from them.” – Anonymous

“The lecture particularly provided me with a more in-depth understanding of the present situation of the country in terms of policies and economic development — such as missed opportunities, gaps in our development as a country, and the need to tailor fit the policies with the real situation on the ground to help the country achieve sustainable and secure development as a nation. Perhaps, [there’s a need for] more public consultations not just with the stakeholders in the business society, but more with the ordinary Filipino citizen.” – Anonymous