Governance

1
Governance Social Accountability Mechanisms -
Naga City, Philippines

• JESSE M. ROBREDO
• Mayor, Naga City
• Philippines

2
Showcase Initiatives
3
Limitations and Challenges

• Not centrally located
• 377 kms south of Manila (national capital), 380
  kms north of Cebu (2nd biggest urban center)
• The core of Metro Naga
• A fast-growing area comprised of 14
  municipalities and Naga City belonging to Metro
  Naga Development Council (MNDC)
• A medium-sized city
• 137,000 population (2000 census)
• Daytime population of around 250,000

4
Kaantabay Mechanics

• Conceptually, program is a form of social
  housing. Its core is securing tenurial rights for
  urban poor beneficiaries
• Accomplished by acquiring occupied landholding
  through various innovative schemes
• City government plays a critical facilitative and
  mediating role
• When negotiations are completed, beneficiaries
  amortizes homelots under very affordable terms
  through community mortgage
• Urban poor embraced as partner-beneficiary of the
  program

5
Outcomes

• Innovative approaches to land acquisition,
  community development and project financing
  enabled achievement of near universal coverage
• Covered a total of 8,763 urban poor households,
  representing 30 percent of the total citywide, as
  of December 2005.

6
Accountability Mechanisms

• Community Organizing A necessary first step
• There are now around 80 urban poor associations
  belonging to the Naga City Urban Poor Federation
  (NCUPF) compared with the only nine in 1989
• Tripartism - Mechanism that enables involved
  parties to sit down and cooperate in solving
  disputes. Includes
• city government and other national government
  agencies
• urban poor associations, aided by NGOs and POs
  and
• private landowners

7
Institutional Structures

• Naga City Urban Development and Housing Board -
  defines, monitors and evaluates citys urban
  development directions sets policies governing
  Kaantabay program
• Composed of 20 members, half comes from
  government, other half from civil society. Equal
  sharing by NGO and NCUPF representatives
• Naga City Peoples Council (NCPC) - federation of
  local NGOs and POs. Mandated to partner with city
  government under Empowerment Ordinance of 1997.

8
NGO-PO Council

• Precursor of the Naga City Peoples Council
• A loose coalition of NGOs and POs which sought to
  work with City Hall in maximizing potentials of
  the LGC
• Initiated citys engagement with local NGOs and
  POs
• Facilitated by open city hall
• Built up confidence among progressive sector
• Affirming advantages of being inclusive and
  participative on the part of the city government

9
People Empowerment Program

• Multi-level consultation mechanisms
• Specific sectors, groups, or the entire
  constituency can participate in identifying and
  affirming developmental priorities
• Referendum on development issues
• On August 6, 1993, Naga pioneered a citywide
  referendum when three development issues were
  submitted to Nagueños for decision
• City government demonstrated that participation
  even at this scale works
• The Empowerment Ordinance and the Naga City
  Peoples Council
• Through landmark legislation, a system of
  partnership was established encouraging
  federation of NGOs and POs into the Naga City
  Peoples Council (NCPC)
• Institutionalized system of self-regulation among
  NGOs and POs in the city

10
Naga City Peoples Council

• Appoints NGO representatives to local special
  bodies of the City Government
• Observes, votes and participates in the
  deliberation, conceptualization, implementation
  and evaluation of projects, programs and
  activities of the City Government
• Proposes legislation, participates and votes at
  the committee level of the Sanggunian, and
• Acts as the people's representatives in the
  exercise of their constitutional right to
  information

11
Governance Framework
Guided by its experience, Naga City evolved its
own governance model

• Progressive development perspective. Seeks
  prosperity-building tempered by an enlightened
  perception of the poor
• Functional partnerships. Vehicles that enable
  the city to tap community resources for priority
  undertakings
• Participation. Mechanisms that ensure long-term
  sustainability of local undertakings

The Naga Governance Model
12
The i-Governance Program

• Identifies and uses various tools to
• encourage participation in government
  decision-making, especially by individual
  citizens and households
• concretize the governance principles of
  transparency and accountability
• Allows city government to meet the challenge of
  sustaining innovative approaches by
• Doing more with less
• Improving and ensuring equitable service delivery

13
Delivery Mechanisms

• 3. Mobile Governance. Uses cellphones which have
  higher penetration rate than dial-up internet.
  Around 67 of households own a mobile phone.
• TxtNaga
• 4. Network access improvement. Addresses digital
  divide through strategic IT investments
• Cyberschools (Click Project)
• Cyberbarangays

• 1. Analog or paper-based tools. Addresses need
  of around 67 of population without ICT access
• Performance Pledges
• Citizens Board
• Naga City Citizens Charter
• 2. Digital or ICT media (eGovernance)
• naga.gov initiative, through the citys website
  www.naga.gov.ph

14
The Citizens CharterGREATER ACCOUNTABILITY IN
SERVICE DELIVERY

• A guidebook on 130 key services being delivered
  by the City Government to customers
• Procedure
• Response time
• Personnel responsible for each service
• Requirements checklist to facilitate service
  delivery
• Schedule of fees (if applicable)
• Location maps sketching office/s handling the
  service
• A contract that can be enforced through
  feedback
• Provides for customer feedback form
• Directory of city hall agencies

15
www.naga.gov.ph

• Maximizes web technology
• Within reach of local resources and capability in
  a developing country
• Offers access to information on Naga, including
  city government financial reports
• proposed and approved annual operating budget
• quarterly financial statements
• bid tenders, and bidding outcomes
• Platform for communicating requests and
  complaints in cost-effective and efficient
  manner
• Contains a digital version of the Charter (called
  NetServe) and the Citizens Board

16
TxtServe NagaA MOBILE GOVERNANCE ENGAGEMENT TOOL

• Allows citizens to send complaints, other
  concerns to City Hall through SMS or text
  messaging
• Previously uses Smart Telecommunications 2960
  facility
• Reconfigured early this year to meet local needs
  more fully
• Owned by city government, instead of being Smart
  network dependent

WHY IS D YOUTH CNTER\'S POOL W/C S SUPPOSD 2 B
PUBLC POOL BEING CLOSED COZ PRIVATE SKOLS\' P.E.
STUDENTS R USING D WHOLE POOL EXCLUSIVELY? why?
17
TxtServe Naga, Reloaded i-GOVS MOST PROMISING
FRONTIER

• TXTNAGA Hotline a locally managed and
  controlled SMS messaging system

• Consists of
• a PC
• a GSM/GPRS modem
• TXTNAGA hotline with Globe Telecoms (0917-TXTNAGA
  or 0917-8986242), and
• SMS applications developed by local programmers

• ADVANTAGES
• Locally managed, customizable and therefore
  more flexible, instead of being network dependent
• More accessible to ordinary citizens. Less than
  P1 per SMS sent vs. P2.50 under the 2960 service
• More cost-effective in the long-run

18
Participative Planning and Budgeting

• Adopt the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
  the Public Governance System (PGS) vision-mission
  statement and scorecards as plan targets
• No need to reinvent the wheel and go through
  time-consuming visioning process
• Updating local land use and development plans
  with 9-year time horizon
• Revisit outputs and refine targets set
• Align city plans towards attaining these targets

19
PGS Roadmap for Naga
20
Sectoral Planning

• Tap 16 existing and mandated councils in coming
  up with sectoral components of local plans
• There is already more than adequate GO-CSO
  representation
• Deliverables
• Establish baseline data
• Assess needs
• Craft programs, projects and activities (PPAs)
  that will respond to these needs Cost out these
  PPAs, and
• Lay out 9-year action plan for implementation,
  monitoring and evaluation

21
Sectoral Councils as basic planning unit

• Social Sector
• Childrens Council, Womens Council, Health
  Board, Urban Poor, Senior Citizens, Youth Council
• Economic Sector
• Investment Board, Livelihood Council, Agriculture
  and Fisheries Council, Tourism
• Environmental Sector
• Solid Waste, Airshed, Watershed Councils
• Development Management
• Association of Barangay Councils, Peace and
  Order, Housing and Urban Development Board
• Infrastructure Sector
• Infra and Utilities, Transport

City Development Council
22
Advantages

• Higher data quality
• Stakeholders will have opportunity to validate
  and reconcile official (i.e. those collected,
  generated by the local government staff) and
  non-official data (community-based)
• Shared ownership and responsibility on outputs
• More strategic role for local councils and
  special bodies

23
Participative Budgeting

• Planning process involving NCPC has positively
  influenced local budgeting processes of the city
  government
• Ensured alignment of local budget with the city
  vision and mission statements and scorecards that
  incorporate the MDGs

Local Special Bodies
Departmental Planning and Budgeting with Sectors
NCPC
Sanggunian Committees
Sectoral Councils
24
Lessons

• Local society must secure strong voice
• Variety of social accountability mechanisms
  exist, one often building up on others
• Local planning and budgeting can further
  institutionalize accountability
• There is always a better way