Civic Enagement in Local Budget Planning – Community Capacity-Building (PH0035)

Status quo - Poverty, non-inclusive development, elite capture in project identification and implementation, corruption. Main objective - Communities in the target municipalities become empowered to achieve improved access to basic services and to participate in more inclusive local planning, budgeting, implementation and disaster risk reduction and management. Brief Description of the committment - KC-NCDDP aims to capacitate communities to be active partners in local development and to support improvement in local governance.
Community capacity building is done through trainings, coaching and providing community volunteers the space to exercise these skills in the Community Empowerment Activity Cycle. In Program implementation, KC-NCDDP adopts barangay assembly decision making, participatory situation analysis, inter-barangay forum for prioritization, community procurement, community finance, community monitoring, grievance redress and accountability reporting as vehicles to promote participation of community members and other citizen groups.
On the governance side, continuing capacity building is provided to LGUs, supporting them on local poverty reduction action planning, resource mobilization, and implementation of CDD.
Additional program level activities were adopted to further strengthen open governance include geo-tagging, hazard
mapping, issuance of DRRM guidelines and Municipal Talakayan (where LGUs and citizens discuss development issues). Relevance - Transparency – Involvement of communities in planning, procurement, financial management, grievance redress ensures that the whole community knows and understands resources flowing to their communities, processes in planning and implementation, and output of their initiatives.
Engaging civil society in public audit - Accountability reporting and Municipal Talakayan discloses to the public local needs, available resources, identified activities for funding and how these are delivered and how resources were utilized.
Enhance government procurement – the use of community procurement presents an alternative system for government where communities themselves are involved in every step of the process. Accessible data (single format and portal) – information on completed sub-projects are consistently being uploaded to the Open Data website. Protocols for geo-tagging are consistent with DA, NEDA, DENR and other government agencies for uniformity of format and easy data sharing.
Enhance performance bench marks for local governance – utilization of PSA monitoring, and survey data in assessing the quality of LGU projects and services and the level of development in the municipality.
Grassroots participation in local planning and budgeting – promotion of localized and demand driven decision making through mobilization of grassroots organization and communities in planning, implementing and managing subprojects that address local poverty and disaster response operations and ensuring that barangay development plans are integrated into municipal development plans. Ambition - It is envisioned that with the conduct of trainings and other capacity building activities, communities will actively and effectively participate in improving the quality of their lives by taking part in identification of community needs and solutions, and in regular local planning and resource allocation
Meanwhile, LGUs will actively deliver quality and inclusive basic social welfare and development services by being responsive to community identified needs, and being providing access to information on local resources, plans and processes.

For Commitment details, see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/philippines-mid-term-progress-report-2015-2017.

7. Community participation in local development planning

Commitment Text:

Status quo or problem/issue to be addressed

Poverty, non-inclusive development, elite capture in project identification and implementation, corruption.

Main Objective

Communities in the target municipalities become empowered to achieve improved access to basic services and to participate in more inclusive local planning, budgeting, implementation and disaster risk reduction and management.

Description of Commitment

KC-NCDDP aims to capacitate communities to be active partners in local development and to support improvement in local governance. Community capacity building is done through trainings, coaching and providing community volunteers the space to exercise these skills in the Community Empowerment Activity Cycle. In Program implementation, KC-NCDDP adopts barangay assembly decision making, participatory situation analysis, inter-barangay forum for prioritization, community procurement, community finance, community monitoring, grievance redress and accountability reporting as vehicles to promote participation of community members and other citizen groups. On the governance side, continuing capacity building is provided to LGUs, supporting them on local poverty reduction action planning, resource mobilization, and implementation of CDD. Additional program level activities were adopted to further strengthen open governance include geo-tagging, hazard mapping, issuance of DRRM guidelines and Municipal Talakayan (where LGUs and citizens discuss development issues).

Relevance

Transparency – Involvement of communities in planning, procurement, financial management, grievance redress ensures that the whole community knows and understands resources flowing to their communities, processes in planning and implementation, and output of their initiatives. Engaging civil society in public audit - Accountability reporting and Municipal Talakayan discloses to the public local needs, available resources, identified activities for funding and how these are delivered and how resources were utilized. Enhance government procurement – the use of community procurement presents an alternative system for government where communities themselves are involved in every step of the process. Accessible data (single format and portal) – information on completed sub-projects are consistently being uploaded to the Open Data website. Protocols for geo-tagging are consistent with DA, NEDA, DENR and other government agencies for uniformity of format and easy data sharing. Enhance performance bench marks for local governance – utilization of PSA monitoring, and survey data in assessing the quality of LGU projects and services and the level of development in the municipality. Grassroots participation in local planning and budgeting – promotion of localized and demand driven decision making through mobilization of grassroots organization and communities in planning, implementing and managing subprojects that address local poverty and disaster response operations and ensuring that barangay development plans are integrated into municipal development plans.

Ambition

It is envisioned that with the conduct of trainings and other capacity building activities, communities will actively and effectively participate in improving the quality of their lives by taking part in identification of community needs and solutions, and in regular local planning and resource allocation Meanwhile, LGUs will actively deliver quality and inclusive basic social welfare and development services by being responsive to community identified needs, and being providing access to information on local resources, plans and processes

Performance Target by 2015:

· 177 municipalities with increased membership of POs and CSOs in local development councils and special bodies

· 5574 barangays with poverty reduction action plans prepared, involving community members

· 6,735 community projects completed

Performance Target by 2016:

· 325 municipalities with increased membership of POs and CSOs in local development councils and special bodies

· 6,889 barangays with poverty reduction action plans prepared, involving community members

· 7,713 community projects completed

Performance Target by 2017:

· 345 municipalities with increased membership of POs and CSOs in local development councils and special bodies

· 7,184 barangays with poverty reduction action plans prepared, involving community members

· 5,061 community projects completed

Responsible institution: Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)

Supporting institutions: National Steering Committee: National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Finance, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Department of Budget and Management, Department of the Interior and Local Governemnt, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Work and Highways, Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, League of Provinces, League of Municipalities, League of Barangays, Regional Development Councils, Municipal and Barangay Local Government Units. World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Australian Government DFAT, AECID, Millennium Challenge Corporation Task Force Participatory Local Governance

Start date: 1 January 2015

End date: 31 December 2017

Commitment Aim

The commitment aimed to strengthen community participatory processes and facilitate citizen involvement in local development planning through a Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) program called Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI)-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Service (KALAHI CIDSS) (KC)[Note: See Aceron, Joy. 2017. Philippines Progress Report, 2015-2017. Open Government Partnership Independent Reporting Mechanism. ] Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Service (KALAHI CIDSS) (KC) National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP ).[Note: CIDSS and NCDDP are different components or are enhancements of KALAHI. They are treated as different programs by the government.]

For steps would be needed to achieve this commitment: first, the number of representatives on local development councils and special bodies from people’s organizations (POs) and CSOs needs to be increased; second, thousands of villages need to submit their poverty reduction action plans and complete the relevant community projects; third, the DSDW must document community experiences and the quality of participation; and fourth, the Task Force Participatory Local Governance (TF-PLG), or the civil society commitment holder, must conduct a further study on citizen participation.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

Substantial progress had been made at the midterm. More POs and CSOs became involved in in local development councils and special bodies during the period. 173 municipalities out of a targeted 177 increased their PO and CSO membership in 2015, 325 out of a targeted 585 municipalities increased membership in 2016.[Note: See Aceron, Joy. 2017. Philippines Progress Report, 2015-2017. Open Government Partnership Independent Reporting Mechanism. ] The other two deliverables (i.e. submitting action plans and completing community projects) were still short of the targets.[Note: Ibid. ] Finally, the studies on civil society participation in KALAHI-CIDSS had not been started yet.

End of term: Substantial

According to the midterm progress report, all the deliverables for this commitment were on target to be completed. However, the government’s end-of-term self-assessment reported that none the deliverables were fully met: 800 municipalities increased membership of POs and CSOs in local development councils and special bodies, 94 percent of the target; 12,846 barangays/ villages have developed action plans, 65 percent of the target; and 20,184 community projects completed poverty reduction plans, 94 percent of the target.[Note: PH-OGP End-of-Term Self-Assessment Report. October 2017.] As such, the status of the commitment has been downgraded from complete to substantial.

The progress report stated that the main causes of delays to the implementation of projects was the reporting schedule and documentation requirements of agencies. XX[Note: Pre-publication review comment, DSWD-KALAHI CIDSS Team (April 2018):

“Reasons for the non-achievement of targets in deliverables are due to the following: 1) KC NCDDP coverage depends on LGU enrollment to the program. Some target municipalities decided not to enroll due to reasons such as lack of cash counterpart. 2) KC NDDP follows a timeline of implementation - usually 6 months of social preparation and 6 months of subproject implementation. Those that were funded in the latter part of 2017 would only be completed by end of December or 1st quarter of 2018.”]XX Jesse Robredo from the Institute of Governance (JRIG) reported that funding constraints had delayed the completion of the case study, thought JRIG and its local academic partners in Regions VI, V, and IX had conducted the research.[Note: Jesse Robredo Institute of Governance (JRIG). Response to Questionnaire for the End of Term IRM Report. ]

Did It Open Government?

Civic Participation: Major

KC-NCDDP has enabled citizens to identify, implement, and monitor projects that are needed in their communities. A total of Php 19 billion (approximately USD $283 million) has been disbursed to community projects through KC-NCDDP. The entry of new community leaders from in local development councils has allowed a new set of citizen leaders to influence decision making in these bodies. An impact study by the World Bank provides an affirmative account of the citizen mobilization: “Available evidence indicates that KALAHI-CIDSS subprojects were not subject to elite capture, at least in its most malign form […] Barangay captains (elected village officials) did not appear to be an overwhelming force behind proposals put forward to the MIBF (subproject prioritizing committee), as their preferences and those of community members were equally represented in community proposals. Not surprisingly, however, individuals who were already active in community affairs prior to the project are more likely to have their preferences represented in the submitted community proposal.”[Note: Phillipines KALAHI-CIDSS Impact Evaluation: A Revised Synthesis Report. World Bank January 2013 https://bit.ly/2rbuGmv. ]

Plans generated through KC-NCDDP processes are being used in other programs, facilitating a convergence of government and civil society efforts.

Carried Forward?

The commitment has not been carried on in the next action plan. According to a DSWD official interviewed by the IRM researcher, while other monitoring systems focus on efficiency and effectiveness, OGP adds value to the commitment by monitoring participation and access to information for KC-NCDDP.[Note: Silli, Eleonora Gretchel, Monitoring and Evaluation Office, KALAHI-CIDDS NCDDP PMO-Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Interview on 3 November 2016 at KALAHI-DSWD Office, Quezon City.] In the future, KALAHI-CIDSS’ monitoring system will need to pursue this without it being included in a PH-OGP action plan.