Civil society participation and education spending of Philippine cities

• Main Authors: Aceron, Joy, David, Rafaela, Vital, Marianne Joy A., Santos, Julius, Parrera, Krisna
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Subjects: Education—Economic aspects—Philippines; Civil society; Philippines—Appropriations and expenditures; Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/11035
• Institution: De La Salle University

The paper presents the result of the exploratory research conducted by a research team of Ateneo School of Government that studied the impact of civil society participation on the responsiveness of local spending for education. Employing both quantitative and qualitative research methods, the said research explored the following: (1) developing a composite index on civil society participation in local education governance; (2) measuring how much of prioritization and utilization of local budget for education is determined by the level of civil society participation in local mandated participatory bodies; and (3) understanding the contextual factors that impact the effectiveness of civil society participation in influencing local education governance. Due to constraints in data, the Composite Index and Regression Analysis results are indicative and inconclusive. However, the conduct of the exploratory research has brought to surface many governance and policy issues on local education governance and civil society participation in local government units or LGUs, as well as research and learning issues on determining and measuring the impact and effectiveness of participation.It is shown in the study that the processes and mechanisms for participation themselves do not guarantee a responsive government. There are many factors that come into play. One is the nature of CSOs and the quality and substance of their participation. The study posits that citizen participation can only positively contribute to responsive governance if citizens constructively engage the government through claim-making and accountability activities. The study also points to a rather popular interpretation of Philippine politics: the prevalence of elite democracy, which in this case is seen at the local level in the education sector in particular. Participation is largely facilitated through a top-down approach, instead of independent initiatives from below. Finally, the paper presents the areas that still need improvement in order to maximize the capacity for local education governance, such as strengthening of fiscal capacity of LGUs, and establishment of a reporting and monitoring system that will check on the effectiveness of the existing mandated mechanism for citizen participation at the local level.