University-community partnerships paved the way for more meaningful university engagements with the community. However, studies on university-community partnerships are still limited particularly in the area of local planning and studies prior to part...
University-community partnerships paved the way for more meaningful university engagements with the community. However, studies on university-community partnerships are still limited particularly in the area of local planning and studies prior to partnership formation. Hence, this study investigated university-community partnerships in local planning before the partnership begin. The objective of the study is to determine the actual needs of local government units and planning resources available from universities to assess partnership potential and draw out factors that will enable partnership sustainability. Mixed method research was used, and results showed that there is a need for university-community partnership in local planning as LGUs still experience technical capacity limitations in preparing their local plans. Further, assessment of university capability and resources showed that they can match the needs of the LGUs, thus, partnership potential was evident. However, there is a need to lay down the foundations of sustainable university-community partnership prior to partnership formation and this can be achieved through policies such as partnership institutionalization, secure funding, and systematic monitoring and evaluation system.