PRO-Health Workshop Series on TPA-enabled Health Units

A key feature of the Universal Healthcare Act is the strengthening of the health education and promotion in the country to improve Filipinos’ health-seeking behavior and general awareness of government programs and services on health.

PRO-Health, in its monitoring of  257 health units and interview of 1,364 citizen-beneficiaries and 794 health workers in 13 localities all over the country from April 2023 to February 2024, noted in its report the uneven capacity of localities when it comes to information, education and communication efforts of their health units. PRO-Health monitoring also shows the general lack of functioning feedback mechanism, weak participatory/ consultative processes and inconsistent stakeholders engagement in many health units all over the country. 

PRO-Health or Promoting Rights Organizing for Health is an initiative of G-Watch with Accountability Research Center (ARC) in partnership with other partner civil society groups and local governments that aims to strengthen transparency, participation and accountability in public health governance by building coalitions and alliances among citizens, groups and communities around health rights issues, and by facilitating learning and problem-solving among accountability frontliners and rights defenders to come up with pro-people and bottom-up solutions to systemic barriers and hurdles to reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health services. 

PRO-Health review of evidence shows that Local Health Boards (LHBs) in many localities in the country are not yet functional. Based on the groundwork of PRO-Health so far, while there are localities with working LHBs, in general, the representatives from civil society in the LHBs can still be capacitated and empowered in voicing out citizen voice. Meanwhile, by and large, based on PRO-Health groundwork and as common knowledge, Barangay Health Councils are non-functional. 

On the other hand, there are existing multi-sectoral participatory boards at higher levels that can be engaged to address RMNCAH needs and gaps identified on the ground, such as the  National Nutrition Councils, the Philippine Council for Mental Health and Reproductive Health National Implementation Team. 

There is a need to create new champions of transparency-participation-accountability (TPA) at the local level given the mixed openness/ receptiveness of duty-bearers to PRO-Health monitoring and the challenge in accessing useful, quality and accurate information.

Meanwhile, there is much to learn from the experience and evidence gathered by ARC showing more effective community-based healthcare through transparency, participation and accountability:

In the light of the rationale discussed above, PRO-Health is conducting a series of workshops enabling local health units by building the capacity of local health stakeholders on application of transparency, participation and accountability in health governance.

Dubbed as TPA-Enabled Health Units Workshop Series, the event's objectives are:

  • In general, strengthen community-based health service delivery through transparency, participation and accountability (TPA), particularly capacitating health units and helping activate local health boards and barangay health councils
  • Form a core of TPA for health champions in communities consisting of the following:
    • a barangay official who is a (prospective) member of the barangay health council who plan to or who can commit to make the barangay health council functional
    • a CSO leader who is part of or intend to be part of/ engage the barangay health council and local health board
    • a health unit official who plan to or who can commit to make the health unit TPA-enabled
    • a health worker who is a TPA champion, a G-Watch ally or a G-Watcher
    • a local government official who is a TPA champion (can be the same member for all the barangayss)
  • Capacitate and support the formed core group of TPA for health champions in enabling TPA in the health units of their barangays, particularly on health education and promotion
  • Sustain PRO-Health advocacies and work

What is a TPA-enabled Community Health Unit?

  • Undertakes efforts that promote health-seeking behavior and create awareness on health programs and services through:
    • An interactive and engaging social media page
    • A transparency board
    • Regular information dissemination campaigns
    • Informative and easy-to-understand information, education and communication materials
  • Addresses gaps and needs of the community by:
    • Having a regular updated inventory of medicines stocks and available equipment and facilities as well as the gaps and needs
    • Being informed of the budget and service allocation for them from the city/ municipal, provincial, regional and national governments
    • Being able to engage and advocate to higher levels of governments, such as the local health board, local government and DoH, to ensure that the gaps and issues are addressed
    • Works with a functional barangay health council
    • Undertaking efforts to make the local health board and barangay health council are working, particularly in addressing the needs and gaps in the community and in responding to monitoring
  • Ensures citizen satisfaction while constantly trying to improve its services and performance through
    • A working feedback and grievance redress mechanism
    • A Citizen Charter that provides information about the available services and personnel, when and how
    • Proactive measures to enable third party and/or citizen-led monitoring
    • By being inclusive, gender-sensitive and with preferential treatment of marginalized sectors

Target participants

  • barangay officials who are (prospective) member of the barangay health council who plan to or who can commit to make the barangay health council functional
  • CSO leaders who are part of or intend to be part of/ engage the barangay health council and local health board
  • health unit officials who plan to or who can commit to make the health unit TPAenable
  • health workers who are TPA champions, G-Watch allies or G-Watchers
  • local government official who are TPA champions

Learning objectives

At the end of the 3-day workshop, the participants should have:

  • an improved knowledge and understanding of the following topics: Philippine health governance (in general); Key policy actors in Philippine health governance; Universal healthcare; Health education and promotion framework of the Department of Health; Health literacy; Role of the barangays in health; Functions of the Local Health Boards (LHBs); Functions of other Multisectoral Participatory and Consultative Bodies in Health; Good governance; Transparency, participation and accountability (TPA); Participatory monitoring; Stakeholder analysis; Citizen charter; Feedback and grievance redress mechanism; and Consultation
  • An improved competencies/ capacity on the following skills:
    • How to develop and maintain an effective social media page
    • How to develop an effective information, education and communications (IEC) material
    • How to conduct an effective a past awareness-raising activity
    • How to conduct an effective advocacy and engagement to fill up the needs and gaps of the health unit
    • How to set up an effective citizen charter
    • How to set up an effective feedback and grievance redress mechanism
    • How to conduct an effective consultation
    • How to conduct an effective participatory monitoring
    • How to sustain participatory efforts to improve health units’ performance

To inquire on how to join and for more information, email government_watch [at] yahoo.com or text 09171860298.