G-Watch 2019 National Meeting and Learning Exchange

  • G-Watch 2019 National Meeting and Learning Exchange
    G-Watch 2019 National Meeting and Learning Exchange

On November 27-30, G-Watch will be holding in Ortigas, Pasig its 2019 National Meeting and Learning Exchange to be attended by its leaders and partners all over the country. 

The 2019 G-Watch Learning Exchange will delve on the agenda of how government can best enable citizen action for accountability. 

There is growing evidence that shows integrated/ strategic/ ecosystemic approaches to accountability are better in achieving lasting gains. It is not enough for citizens to have voice; government must also be capable of responding to citizen demands. It is not enough that localized, bounded and isolated issues are addressed, accountability efforts must also influence policies, which need to be monitored closely to ensure full implementation of its intent (See Aceron 2018; Fox and Halloran 2016). Strategic social accountability are Multi-pronged, Enabling environments for voice and teeth, Take accountability to scale and with Realistic assessment measure (See Fox 2015; Fox 2014).

One key point in this proposition is the role of governments in enabling accountability. Ensuring state accountability institutions and mechanisms are present and working is one. This necessitates citizens capable to exact accountability and make accountability institutions and mechanisms work.

The Philippines has vast examples of efforts of government enabling citizen participation. The learning exchange will look into these examples to answer the following questions:

(1) How is your initiative mobilizing citizens? What are the strengths and challenges of your initiative in mobilizing citizens at scale: vertical – levels of decision-making, horizontal – geographical areas and sectors?

(2) Based on your initiative’s experience, what were the factors, strategies or approaches that enabled citizen action for accountability? What role/ part did the government play, especially in achieving scale? Since responsiveness to citizen voice is the biggest challenge, how is this enhanced/ enabled? 

(3) Would you say that these factors, strategies or approaches that enabled citizen action for accountability in your initiative continue to be applicable in contexts of closing civic space? Does/ did your initiative deal with the problem of closing civic space? If yes, how did you grapple with the context of closing civic space, what are you doing differently given such context? 

Happening back-to-back with G-Watch’s national meeting, leaders from G-Watch sites all over the country and friends and colleagues from the broader G-Watch network shall be attending the learning exchange. The G-Watch national meeting will involve updating and planning of G-Watch Center and representatives from the 12 sites of G-Watch.

G-Watch has been convening a national meeting and learning exchange annually since 2014. 

Relevant references: 

Aceron, Joy (2019). The Pitfalls of Aiming to Empower the Bottom from the Top: The Case of Philippine Participatory Budgeting. Quezon City and Washington DC: Government Watch and Accountability Research Center. https://accountabilityresearch.org/publication/pitfalls-of-aiming-to-empower-the-bottom-from-the-top-the-case-of-philippine-participatory-budgeting/ 

Aceron, Joy, ed. (2018). Going Vertical: Citizen-Led Reform Campaigns in the Philippines, 2nd edition. Quezon City, Manila: Government Watch and Accountability Research Center. https://accountabilityresearch.org/publication/going-vertical-citizen-led-reform-campaigns-in-the-philippines-2018/ 

Fox, Jonathan and Joy Aceron with Aranzazu Guillán Montero (2016). Doing Accountability Differently: A Proposal for the Vertical-Integration of Civil Society Monitoring and Advocacy. Retrieved from https://accountabilityresearch.org/publication/doing-accountability-differently-a-proposal-for-the-vertical-integration-of-civil-society-monitoring-and-advocacy/ 

Fox, Jonathan (2014). “Social Accountability: What Does Evidence Really Say.” GPSA Working Paper No. 1; September. Retrieved from http://gpsaknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Social-Accountability-What-Does-Evidence-Really-Say-GPSA-Working-Paper-1.pdf 

Fox, Jonathan and Brendan Halloran, eds. (2016). Connecting the Dots for Accountability: Civil Society Policy Monitoring and Advocacy Strategies (Report from International Workshop, June 18-20, 2015, Washington, DC). London: Transparency and Accountability Initiative. https://www.g-watch.org/resources/vertical-integration-research/connecting-dots-accountability