Effective engagement between government and civil society is key to advancing governance reforms. Historically, civil society in the Philippines has been deemed crucial in governance for its ability to organize citizens for collective actions, identify the gaps and flaws in public decisions and actions and to serve as checks in the exercise of State power. Recent empirical evidence shows that for citizen engagement to deliver powershifting gains, a government that creates an enabling environment is a crucial part of the formula.
Multiply-Ed is a youth-led, multi-sectoral and multi-level accountability initiative in education. Informed by decades of citizen action for accountability by Government Watch (G-Watch), Multiply-Ed adopts an approach to civil society-government engagement called constructive accountability.
Constructive accountability refers to accountability efforts with the main goal of improving governance and public policies. These involve affirmative processes that help citizens claim their rights and entitlements, while supporting government's compliance with their own standards.
The undertaking is not ‘fault-finding’ or ‘witch-hunting,’ but to find the gaps and flaws in public policies and systems and propose solutions to it. Instead, it is about finding the gaps and flaws in public policies and systems to help propose solutions and get government to act on those solutions.
Constructive accountability qualifies as constructive, both in terms of the ends, goals or targets of accountability (usually to improve a service delivery/ program, policy or system) and the accountability approach itself (preventative/ preventive instead of punitive). Both are shared/ agreed upon by government and civil society. It builds on a common term ‘constructive criticism,’ which means the criticism can be negative or critical, but it is meant to improve and help. (Aceron 2022)
Multiply-Ed work in General Santos has only started on the second phase of the initiative in 2024. Based on the monitoring findings of Multiply-Ed that covered five (5) General Santos schools, interviewing 51 respondents, there remain key gaps in basic services such as classrooms, teachers and learning resources as well as inconsistent delivery of support to marginalized learners and teachers.
On the other hand, given the successful conduct of monitoring and subsequent dialogues, it is clear that there is now a working relationship between Multiply-Ed and governments in General Santos. To further deepen such engagement that can help address the issues and gaps identified and deliver substantive gains in education reforms, Multiply-Ed deems it fitting to share more comprehensively to government duty-bearers of General Santos its approach to accountability and governance.
On April 11, as a side event to the conduct of the Youth-Led Education Reform Regional Conference in General Santos, Multiply-Ed is holding a Briefing on Effective Civil Society-Government Engagement for General Santos government duty-bearers.
The briefing will cover the following topics:
- Participation basics
- Strategic approach to accountability
- Definition: strategic approach vs. tactical approach
- Constructive accountability
- Accountability Ecosystem
- State-Society Synergy/ Sandwich Strategy
- Vertical Integration
- Key points on G-Watch Monitoring Process
- Multiply-Ed Strategic Framework
To join and for queries, please contact Multiply-Ed at cyanpilipinas@gmail.com or G-Watch at 09171860298 or government_watch@yahoo.com
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