DRAWING SYNERGIES
to ADDRESS POVERTY and OTHER
DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
“Walking on Two Legs:Local and National”
Oscar D. Francisco
Vice Chair for the Basic Sectors
National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC)
13 October 2005
Hotel Dominique
Tagaytay City
My presentation can be summarized by the acronym
PATLEPAM:
Paradigm of Inter-Active Approach to State-CS Relations
Adjustments in Our Understanding of Poverty
The 5 Core Strategies to Fight Poverty
Lessons in Drawing Synergies to Address Poverty
Effective Partnerships or Democratic Interdependence at the
Barangay-Bayan Level
Pushing for Accountability and Bureaucratic Momentum Behind
KALAHI at the National Level
Adopting a Single Framework into the Politics of Dignity
and the Politics of Poverty
More Synergies/Partnerships Need to be Embedded in
State-CS Institutional Frameworks
PARADIGM of INTER-ACTIVE APPROACH to
STATE-CS RELATIONS
• The “inter-active approach” to state-civil society
relations in implementing social reform (SR) usually
results into positive outcomes.
• The different outcomes of social reform
implementation are caused by political dynamics in
general and the political strategies of key actors in
particular.
• Central to the social reform process is the
symbiotic interaction between reformist initiatives by
pro-reform state actors “from above” and social
mobilization by pro-reform civil society actors “from
below”.
• The need for strategy to achieve gains based on
cooperation and synergy between reformers in
government at different levels (central and local) and
reformers outside at different levels, especially
autonomous civil society organizations (CSOs). We
intersect in areas where there are common
agreements and create arenas to resolve differences
and conflicts.
• While we continue to accumulate power “from the
bottom –up”, our basic principle is to support NGO
development practitioners who have “penetrated” the
state apparatus (central and local) and are now state
social reform implementors.
ADJUSTMENTS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING of POVERTY
• There is a need to (re)define and understand
poverty within the context of human development to
determine the steps towards it resolution.
“Poverty has many faces. It isolates people from
meaningful social interaction and stifles full human
development. Poverty is redefined as not simply lack
of income and material resources, but also the
absence of capabilities, opportunities and power that
will allow an individual to fully assume his/her role
as
a member of a community.”
Human development is the process of enlarging
people’s choices, the most essential of which are the
3Ks: Kalusugan, Karunungan and Kabuhayan. HDI is
the measure which incorporates the 3 components.
THE 5 CORE STRATEGIES TO FIGHT POVERTY
Five strategies aim to address the multi-dimensional aspects of
poverty and constitute the National Anti-Poverty Agenda
(NAA), popularly known as KALAHI or “Kapit Bisig Laban sa
Kahirapan” (Linking Arms to Fight Poverty) Program. It is the
manifesto for a genuine pro-poor response to poverty and for
the identification and provision of basic services to the critical
and poorest communities. This serves as the social contract
which organizes and makes coherent the interests of the state
and the basic sectors. This social contract shapes the
partnership between the government and civil society.
The KALAHI has the merit of receiving inputs from
and is accessible to a broad range of POs and NGOs.
It aims to create
an enabling and empowering
environment to improve the capabilities of the poor,
exercise their rights and pursue their needs and
aspirations.
Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI)
Participation of the poor in governance and inclusion of
CSOs and Basic Sectors in policy making at the national
and local levels.
Human developments service to strengthen the human
capital base of the poor.
Asset Reform and redistribution of physical and
resource assets to the poor , especially land and credit
Social Protection and security of the vulnerable for them
to exercise their economic, social and political rights
Employment and livelihood opportunities for the poor
and strengthening the capacities of the marginalized
groups to engage in productive activities.
LESSONS IN DRAWING SYNERGIES TO
ADDRESS POVERTY AND OTHER
DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES: Local and
National Levels
Effective
partnerships
or
“democratic interdependence” at the
local,
especially
Barangay-Bayan
level between POs and NGOs and
their local governments and using the
KEEP BASES strategies to bring about
poverty reduction
I am the Managing Trustee of the Tacloban City-based
Institute for Democratic Participation in Governance (IDPG)
doing Participatory Local Governance (PLG) work in 17
municipalities and 4 provinces in Eastern Visayas. We develop
“democratic interdependence between citizens and local
governments (LG). The institutional expression of this is the
formation of a working Local Development Council (LDC) and
other related processes. We combine capacity building (CB) on
POs in governance and CB of LG officials and institutions
towards PLG.”
“IDPG helps build the capacities of LDCs through participatory
situation analysis, planning, budgeting, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation (SAPBIME) to develop the LDP and
use it to allocate internal and external resources. IDPG is
pushing for a shift in local-national relations. Instead of
talking about local implementation of national initiatives and
mobilizing local counterparts, IDPG talks about national
counterpart resources for local priorities and initiatives.”
KEEP BASES STRATEGIES
Know by interacting with various groups of poor people (1) to
learn and give value to their strategies for achieving well
being (2) and listen to their recommendations on how civil
society, government and private sectors can strengthen their
efforts.
Establish a working data base on poor and vulnerable groups
at the barangay, municipal and city levels that is integrated
into community planning, monitoring and evaluation.
Enable poor people to participate
in local governance, build
up social capital and strengthen local institutions that
prevent social exclusion
Plot the changes taking place among poor groups as various
anti-poverty programs are carried out at the barangay,
municipal and city levels and determine who are reached and
who are not.
Build capacities of poor and disadvantaged groups to:
1. Pursue their interests and sustain their gains
2. Clarify priorities and governance procedures to
assist the poor
3. Add to surveillance on corruption
Assist the poor in developing strong, autonomous POs
that effectively advocate their interests
Strengthen LGUs capacities to apply a poverty lens to
their programs and serve the poor better through
reformed institutional arrangements
Exact accountabilities on barangay, municipal and city
councils to their constituents.
Seek partnership with the private sector for programs
for the poor.
PUSHING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND
BUREAUCRATIC MOMENTUM BEHIND KALAHI
AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
The National Anti-Poverty Commission was
organized to spearhead the people’s war against
poverty. A strategic aspect in this contract is to
leverage the accountability of the state as agents of
their principal – the ordinary citizens who are
generally poor and vulnerable. The NAPC mandate
also accords it with the role of generating
bureaucratic momentum across departments and
the different levels of government to achieve
poverty eradication.
NAPC FUNCTIONS:
(1) Coordinate with different NGAs to assure full implementation
of all social reform (SR) and poverty alleviation (PA)
programs;
(2) Coordinate with LGUs in the formulation of SR and PA
programs for their respective areas
(3) Recommend policy measures to ensure the implementation of
the SRA;
(4) Ensure meaningful representation and active participation of
the basic sectors;
(5) Oversee, monitor and recommend measures to ensure the
effective formulation, implementation and evaluation of
policies, programs and resource allocation and management
of social reform and poverty alleviation programs;
(6) Advocate for the mobilization of funds by the national and
local governments to finance SR and PA programs and
capability building activities of POs;
(7) Provide financial and non-financial incentives to LGUs with
counterpart resources for the implementation of SR and PA
programs
THE NAPC: Giving poor
people choices and
empowering them to
make those choices
The National Anti-Poverty
Commission (NAPC) was
created in 1998 to coordinate
and monitor the national
campaign against poverty in
keeping with the spirit of
empowerment and
participation in governance, its
composition embodies the
synergy partnership between
government and civil society:
23 heads of NGAs, 4 presidents
of the Leagues of LGUs and 14
basic sector representatives
National Anti-Poverty
Commission
President of the Philippines is
Chairperson and assisted by
2 Vice Chairpersons
Government Sector
• heads of 23 national
government agencies
• presidents of 4 major
local government leagues
Basic Sector
• 14 sectoral
representatives from 14
basic sectors/CSOs
NAPC Sectoral Representatives (SRs) focus on the
task of monitoring the design, implementation, and
use of resource in anti-poverty programs. The SRs
exercise vigilance in the effort to open up the local
economy and in certain political projects such as
changing the constitution. NAPC SRs are into
participation and advocacy on the strategic economic
and social issues of agrarian reform, education, health
care, housing, and the social reform agenda.
Priority Tasks of NAPC SRs
• Participate as unofficial oversight committee in
government’s plans to further open up the economy.
Crucial issues such as the WTO review process and
beyond; retail trade and government procurement
liberalization, are informed by NAPC as to its direct
and indirect effects on poverty.
• Co-audit government’s Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan
(KALAHI) Programs. As partner of the government in
this undertaking, NAPC SRs focus their attention on
preventing subsidies from being captured by local elites,
and in ensuring that the spill-over effects of the subsidies
directly benefit other non-beneficiaries.
• Take the lead in ensuring that KALAHI is carried,
implemented, and monitored across government
agencies, and from national to local government. NAPC
has an inventory of all government programs towards
establishing COHERENCE and CONSISTENCY in the
pursuit of poverty eradication objectives.
• Strengthening advocacy and claim making for the local
institutions at the provincial and municipal/city level
engaged in social insurance and protection; labor market
policies, environmental standards and zoning rules,
infrastructure development, and food security. NAPC SRs
are involved in promoting, community stockpiling of food
and other goods, the identification and management of
common property resources, and the protection and
development of watersheds along ecological zones.
• Spearhead the rededication of local bureaucracies and
government line agencies towards fulfilling their social
contract with the poor. In the context of economic crisis,
NAPC SRs join the poor in calling for guarantees that
universal access to health and education be protected
from fiscal restraints.
ADOPTING A SINGLE FRAMEWORK INTO THE
POLITICS OF DIGNITY AND POLITICS OF POVERTY
“The challenge today, as many scholars have noted, is how
to bring the politics of dignity and the politics of poverty
into a single framework” and enable the poor to retain “the
capacity to aspire”.
• We reiterate the importance of adopting a human rights
approach to pro-poor, participatory programming.
• A major transformation in authoritarian attitudes of
superiority is essential on the part of many government
officials, elites and technical groups working with the poor.
• As Bituin, a 12-year old resident of Payatas, the 13hectare Quezon City dumpsite, commented when she was
asked about children’s rights: “The rights that I think are
more important are to have dreams and ambitions”.
(Racelis, Aguirre, et al 2005)
MORE SYNERGIES AND PARTNERSHIPS
NEED TO BE EMBEDDED IN STATE-CIVIL
SOCIETY INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS
But it is important to underscore the role of key
actors/actresses or “partnership cadres”
in pushing changes and development within
the bureaucracy and within the community
of CSOs and the academe. The going
will be rough! That is why state-civil society
partnership cadres should adopt as their theme song
“Quit Playing Games With My Heart”
-there is a line there which says
“only the impossible is difficult”