AGUHON 2050 started in September 2021 as an initiative under the Quezon City Futures Lab which aims to craft scenarios for Quezon City 2050 with a particular focus on the leadership development sector. Aguhon—a Filipino word which literally means compass—seeks to infuse trailblazing ideas and spark meaningful discourse with the end in view of giving direction to the long-term development of leadership in Quezon City through a multi-sectoral approach engaging the government, the private sector, the academe, and the civil society, among others.

AGUHON 2050 began with a group of undergraduate students pursuing their Bachelor of Public Administration from the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG) who engaged numerous sectoral figures in a conversation about the future of leadership development in the City. Policy brown bag discussions will also be held to serve as a venue for a holistic discussion on what is our vision for the City’s leadership development sector by 2050 and what are the ways to fulfill it into a reality. Through these endeavors, various concepts and approaches of leadership in different contexts and sectors will be brought to the fore towards underscoring why leadership development should be everybody’s agenda.

As of 2021, there are a handful of institutions, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations devoted to leadership development in Quezon City. On the other hand, there is no city office or even task force duty bound to pursue leadership development. It is in this decade of the 2020s, therefore, that the synergy among the local government unit (LGU) of Quezon City and these aforementioned leadership development organizations be forged and maximized. Since the current institutional set-up handicaps government in this pursuit, these organizations will collectively support the Quezon City Futures Lab. In the process, there should be a special legislative committee on leadership development whose primary purpose is to reach out to these stakeholders and craft a leadership development plan for the city and its constituents. It will identify the roles and challenges of the involved stakeholders as it acknowledges that leadership development of the City demands a multi-sectoral approach. The primary goal of this committee is to create a city office for leadership development by 2030.

By 2030, we envision a Quezon City with a stronger capacity-building program spearheaded by the City’s newly established leadership development office which shall focus on active citizenship in local government affairs and as well as participation in civil societies.  Programs for strengthening leadership development must be present in every primary, secondary and tertiary education institution. These specialized leadership development programs will cater to the needs of all the sectors across the city—leadership in local bureaucracy, urban management, public health, education, peace building and security, environment, and economic empowerment. Futures thinking will also become a major part in the program to equip leaders not only with the vision but the motivation to achieve that vision such as through backcasting. The office must also start identifying the gaps that limit people from taking part in leadership opportunities and provide recommendations to relevant offices on how to bridge these gaps. The development of continuity plans of all organizations, institutions, and agencies shall be advocated for. It is projected that through this decade’s aggressive campaign in developing leaders that by 2040, a significant number of these newly trained leaders will comprise the leadership development office of Quezon City.

Beginning 2040, there will be a boom on the new generations of leaders and as well as a boom on volunteers for the many projects of the LGU. Cognizant of the looming climate crisis, many of this new breed of leaders are to be deployed in aiding in disaster risk reduction (DRR) planning and efforts. Speeding up this leadership development agenda is the adoption of digital learning platforms which enable all citizens, regardless of age, to partake in these leadership development programs. What will emerge then is a community of leaders, composed of the many leaders both trained and rekindled by this push of the Quezon City for leadership development. To facilitate better coordination and fruitful cooperation, a digital community platform for these leaders will be established. This will be a venue for the sharing of best practices, exchange of insights, and redress of grievances. Although we project that the demographics of this community is predominantly young, a significant portion will also be comprised of young adults and adult professionals who will volunteer their free time to support leadership endeavors. Sustaining this trend will be at the heart of Quezon City leadership development by 2050.