2015 citizenship award
Community-Based Monitoring of Government Programs and Services
Poverty in the province of Abra is partly caused by institutionalized corruption, which the Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government, Inc. (CCAGG) has reportedly been battling since it was organized 29 years ago. CCAGG has been mobilizing communities throughout the province to monitor the implementation of various government projects. Over the years, CCAGG has continued to undertake constructive engagement with government to secure information that is essential to monitoring public works projects and pushing the needed reforms.
Among the programs that CCAGG monitored is the Conditional Cash Transfer Program (CCTP) or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P). The CCTP Watch pioneered Third Party Monitoring and was conceived with the goal of validating the inclusion of the poorest in the list of beneficiaries. The CCAGG also assessed LGU performance on the Full Disclosure Policy (FDP) by monitoring the purchase of medicines particularly paracetamols. CCAGG wanted to evaluate, though Participatory Action Research Monitoring, how efficiently local governments have been purchasing paracetamol for use in public health facilities.
Results of the CCTP Watch showed that, while the CCTP was helpful in alleviating the plight of the poor, there were also far more de- serving poor who should be included in the program. The CCTP Watch Terminal Report was well received by DSWD-CAR regional office and became a basis for improving its services. The program was cited by Dr. Vinay Bhargava, the Partnership Transparency Fund Technical Adviser, as the only project undertaken by a CSO in the Philippines in assessing the implementation of the CCTP in his presentation during the Good Practices and Learning Workshop held at the Asian Institute of Management on March 2-3, 2015. In his presentation, Dr. Bhargava emphasized the discovery of the CCTP Watch that an estimated $95,500 were wasted in past cash transfers due to erroneous payments to ineligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the FDP compliance monitoring showed that many of the local government units need to improve compliance. The reports provided useful feedback to the Department of the Interior and Local Government on how the FDP has enabled and strengthened citizens to engage their LGUs.
The CCAGG has gained the confidence of some government agencies, so much so that the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Field Unit contracted CCAGG to take responsibility for the community mobilization and participatory planning aspects of the second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP).
The CCAGG has gained the confidence of some government agencies, so much so that the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Field Unit contracted CCAGG to take responsibility for the community mobilization and participatory planning aspects of the second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP). The CHARMP aims to reduce poverty and improve quality of life of rural highland indigenous peoples through increased farm family income, improved land tenure security, ensured food security and improved forests and watershed through sustainable practices.
Today, the LGUs of Abra are now more supportive of good governance initiatives and are improving compliance with transparency policies. More CSOs and POs are now also more vigilant and have become active members of the Bottom-Up Budgeting process and Local Poverty Reduction Action Teams.