Cagigas, C. N. N. (2017). Establishment of DOJ-PPA work improvement team with initial focus on the volunteerism program (Unpublished master's thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management Development Program Middle Managers Class Batch 11 Thesis (MMC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The Parole and Probation Administration is mandated under the law to rehabilitate probationers, parolees and pardonees to successfully reintegrate them to the fold of society and become productive citizens. These convicted offenders are given the chance to reform under a community-based rehabilitation program instead of languishing in jail. To be able to ensure their reformation and rehabilitation, the agency provides innovative interventions and new approaches patterned from the recent trends on probation and parole systems across the globe. Part of this trend is through maximizing citizen participation in the community through volunteerism. The concept of volunteerism is not actually new to the agency. Section 28 of Presidential Decree 968, which was signed into law in 1976, acknowledges the importance of volunteers in the rehabilitation of these clients. After several years of dormancy, the volunteerism program was revitalized in 2005 under Executive Order 468. The goal is to heighten community involvement and participation in the community-based rehabilitation program of the agency fr the prevention of crime and treatment of offenders. Volunteer Probation Assistants or VPAs are classified as Direct Supervisors (DS) or Resource Individuals (RI). Despite the issuance of E.O.468 and the agency's thrust, volunteer mobilization is still below target. The agency's measure for mobilization was based on the actual supervision of clients by the DS trough an evidence-based submission of reports, not accounting the participation of RIs. In 2015, DOJ-PPA Region 7 had an actual accomplishment of 48.86% which was far below the target of 75.61%. The first and second quarters of calendar year 2016 had the same trend of not achieving the desired target of 76%. This became the region's problem that needs to be addressed. Thus, this Re-entry Project, the establishment of Work Improvement Team with initial Focus on Volunteerism in DOJ-PPA 7. The project aims to provide solutions through a collaborative and participative effort of process owners who have personal knowledge and expertise on the process as a management strategy for problem-solving and decision-making. The implementation of the project started with the creation of a ReP Project Team tasked to formulate criteria for the selection of WIT members. The criteria is based on the actual performance of personnel in relation to the project based on their individual ratings or IPCR in CY 2015. Ten members were selected from among the personnel representing region 7 including the islands of Cebu, Bohol, and Negros and Siquijor. The selected members have undergone a two-day workshop on Quality Management Principles including problem identification and prioritization; and solutions formulation. The team identified several solutions as an outcome of the workshop. Based on the WIT Project Plan, it has identified the formulation and approval of a new VPA Accomplishment Form that will have an immediate result and impact with the given three-month period of implementation. The new form was developed to expand the concept of VPA Mobilization because the team saw the importance of the participation of RIs in the conduct of rehabilitation of clients through providing assistance and resources in the community befitting the clients as much as the participation of DS. The initial WIT Project Plan implementation showed an increase in the VPA mobilization based on statistics gathered. In the first two quarters, the VPA Mobilization were only 42.67% and 46.48%, respectively. The significant increase started in the third quarter upon the implementation of the Re-Entry Project including the conduct of VPA Strategic Planning and the use of the approved VPA Accomplishment Form. The mobilization of VPAs not only increased but also surpassed the desired target with 86.86% in the third quarter and 94.86% in the last quarter of CY 2016. The implementation of the project must be done beyond the three-month period to sustain the gains and to continue improving the processes of the agency in achieving the societal goal which is peace and order.