At the same time, the sub-prime housing loan problems of the United States which began in late 2007 slowly but increasingly escalated into a financial crisis to such a point that we now face what has been described as the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Earlier this year, we saw the spiraling cost of oil wreak havoc on consumer prices, forcing low and middle income families to tighten their belts and some businesses to close. The global recession is now threatening the employment prospects of our overseas Filipino workers who have been propping up our economy for the most part of the past decade. Amidst all these, recent international reports have placed the Philippines among the countries with the highest incidence of hunger and with the worst record of corruption.

But we still see and sense hope – in the rise to the US Presidency of a young African-American who won on a platform calling for change, in our own reformist politicians like Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo, Pampanga Governor Among Ed Panlilio and Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, and in our development NGO workers and the youth volunteers who strive to build a better country for all of us.

BUILDING CAPACITY AND INSTITUTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY

It is with this hope that we have continued in the past year in our work of strengthening the capacity and governance of our member networks and their base organizations.

CODE-NGO completed in the past year a round of “Building Successful Boards Seminars” for all the Governing Boards of its member networks, with the last leg of the seminar conducted for CORDNET and CBD. The seminar series, which started in 2006, has trained 193 Board members of CODE-NGO member networks and affiliated organizations. CODE-NGO plans to secure funding support to sustain and further develop the training program and expand its coverage to more networks and NGOs.

Also, a total of Php 120,000 scholarship grants were released to PHILDHRRA, MINCODE and WEVNet to support the continuing education of selected staff and leaders of these networks. This amount so far represents 8% of the total P1.5 million Scholarship Fund that has been made available to member networks since 2007.

Greater demands for NGO accountability and sound internal governance motivated CODE-NGO to start developing a system by which it could better monitor and evaluate its performance as a network. The M&E system hopes to assess how CODE-NGO meets the needs of its various publics and measure the impact of its programs. The two CODE-NGO Commissions – Internal Reform Initiatives (CIRI) and Institution and Capacity Building (CICB) jointly convened for a workshop last June 2008 in Antipolo City to brainstorm on what an effective network is, what indicators should be measured, and how monitoring should be undertaken.

The delegates to the workshop were also encouraged to think through and undergo the same reflection and brainstorming processes for their respective networks. The CODE-NGO National Board agreed last year to require all CODE-NGO member networks to have their own Members’ Performance Monitoring Systems. Of our 12 member networks, three, namely AF, PHILDHRRA and PHILSSA, already have their own network M&E systems.

The past fiscal year was the first year of implementation of the new round of the Network Strengthening Fund (NSF), a 5-year grant program that supports the institution-building programs of CODE-NGO member networks. The new NSF now has three (3) funding windows, allocated equitably based on need and scope/size of member networks. The total amount of NSF released to member networks this year is P 2.1 Million.

POLICY ADVOCACY

It is also with hope that we have continued with our policy advocacy work. For the past year, CODE-NGO has focused its advocacy on constitutional reform and on good governance. While there is consensus that changes to the constitution are needed, there is still an on-going public debate on when and how to go about charter change. Good governance has also become an even more pressing issue with the explosion of new scandals and as corruption in the Philippines is widely perceived to have worsened over the past few years. The network has engaged in several programs aimed at curbing corruption and calling for greater participation, transparency and accountability in our government.

In the past fiscal year, CODE-NGO presented the results of its second round of PDAF/CA project monitoring in 5 regional PDAF Watch forums held in Baguio, Naga, Iloilo, Cebu and Davao. A National PDAF Watch Forum was also held in October 2007.

In October-November 2007, CODE-NGO wrote to all the legislators of the 14th Congress (2007-10) to request for information about their PDAF/CA projects. Follow-up letters were sent in April 2008. By July 2008, only 12 congresspersons and senators had provided such information. However, partly in reaction to the continued PDAF Watch, the House of Representatives has recently included in its website a section on PDAF, with the list of PDAF/CA projects of the congresspersons. As of November 18, 2008, 105 of the 238 House members had posted their reports on this site.

PDAF Watch volunteers will monitor PDAF/CA projects once every 3 years; with the next round scheduled next year.

CODE-NGO is an active member and serves as the secretariat of the Coalition for a Citizens’ Constitution (C4CC). In order to consolidate and further elaborate its members’ position on the substantial and procedural aspects of its constitutional reform agenda, C4CC focused on conducting consultations in 51 provinces/cities and a national leaders conference on the nine C4CC-commissioned researches. These processes yielded an affirmation of many and the re-thinking of some of the group’s earlier positions.

Eight substantive constitutional agenda were agreed upon while several others need to be further studied. Most C4CC members would like to further study federalism but those who believed it must be pursued, wanted it implemented asymmetrically and performance-based, i.e., given positive accomplishments of a particular region on key governance and asset-reform implementation indicators. There was also agreement on adopting a proportionate representation principle in governance.

C4CC affirmed that a Constitutional Convention mode in revising the Constitution is still the best way to go but it must be pursued after the term of the incumbent administration.

The explosion of the ZTE-NBN scandal and the abduction of Jun Lozada gave rise to a renewed clamor from church, school-based and civil society organizations for Truth, Accountability and Reform in our government. Different groups came together in the first quarter of 2008 and established a coalition of individuals and organizations which will work towards feasible and long-term reforms, thus giving birth to BUSINA or Buong Bansa Isinisigaw Tama na! Itama na!. CODE-NGO is a member of BUSINA.

Four regional meetings were conducted by the NGO-PO sector of BUSINA to formally introduce BUSINA to different organizations The BUSINA national leaders caucus was held last June 28-29. Several noise-barrage activities were also conducted in February and from June to October 2008 to express support for truth and transparency and opposition to government plans for charter change before 2010. As the national budget is one of the most important documents indicative of government priorities and policies, civil society organizations banded together to form the Philippine National Budget Monitoring Network which seeks to study the preparation of the national budget, monitor its implementation and advocate for reforms in the budget process and content. CODE-NGO is a member of this network which is being coordinated by INCITEGov and the La Salle Institute of Governance.

As part of the budget network’s programs and activities, a small competitive grant window was opened by Management Systems International for projects related to the national budget. CODE-NGO passed a proposal and was awarded a grant for its project on Monitoring the Budget of the Department of Agriculture.

Since June 2008, CODE-NGO conducted has numerous interviews and a focus group discussion in order to draft its analysis of the Department of Agriculture budget. It has also conducted two training workshops which helped 52 NGO and PO leaders understand the intricacies of budget formulation and the composition of the Department of Agriculture budget. The trained leaders will help undertake regional budget monitoring activities in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Western Visayas, Caraga and Davao Region.

In addition, we are actively involved in the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC), Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN), Philippine Misereor Partners (PMP), Black and White Movement (BnW) and the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE). We were also part of the Electoral Reform Groups’ Search Committee (for new Election Commissioners) and the convenor group of the National Social Accountability Conference last November 2007, Panibagong Paraan 2008, and the CSO Consultation on the Millennium Challenge Corporation last August 2008.

Also, our Democracy Fund provided a total grant of Php 629,250 to support 13 advocacy campaigns of people’s organizations in fiscal year 2007-2008.

REGIONAL ANTI-POVERTY PARTNERSHIPS

For the past decades, NGO and PO development efforts at the local level have given birth to numerous best practices in local governance. Despite these efforts however, the country continues to grapple with the problem of persistent poverty, especially in certain regions of the country that have remained poor and underdeveloped. One perceived cause of this is the weak coordination and lack of mutual support among the different sectors of society. Development efforts tend to be sporadic and isolated in particular location without strong provincial or regional coordination, inter-area learning and program/policy support.

Strengthening civil society development action at the regional level is one of the strategic thrusts of CODE-NGO. Thus, CODE-NGO launched the “Inter-Network and Multi-Sectoral Regional Anti-Poverty Partnership Program (IMRAPP)” in four selected regions: Bicol, Eastern Visayas, ARMM and Western Mindanao.

Through the implementing regional networks, MINCODE, EVNET and CBD, and with the support of the national working group that includes PBSP, PHILSSA and PHILDHRA, the program initiated work towards forming partnerships for regional development and poverty alleviation among civil society groups, local governments, business, church and academe within each of the identified regions. The project does not aim to build new formal organizations in the regions; instead, it aims to encourage civil society groups to exercise critical and broader type of leadership in formulating common development agenda and catalyzing energies for the effective implementation of needed development interventions.

The key outputs for the year were 1) a rapid review on the status of civil society, and the over-all situation of the region; 2) a general consensus among the NGO networks, together with other sectors, on the basic concept of IMRAPP; and 3) identified common development agenda and general framework or mechanism of partnership.

In the coming year, CODE-NGO shall pursue the IMRAPP initiative by continuously supporting the regional networks as they forge partnerships with various sectors in their respective regions.

INTERNATIONAL LINKAGES

We have also been active in international networking, both for advocacy and for capacity building purposes. CODE-NGO is the co-convenor of the United Nations Civil Society Advisory Committee (UN CSAC) in the Philippines. UN CSAC is composed of 15 NGOs and networks. It provides feedback to and partners with the UN Country Team on selected advocacies in line with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). UN CSAC works with the broader UN Civil Society Advisory Assembly (UN CSA). Members of UN CSA issued a Statement of Concern on Corruption and Poverty to the Philippine Development Forum (PDF) last March 2008.

We are the lead convenor of Philippines-Japan NGO Partnership (PJP), a network that promotes better relations between Philippine and Japanese NGO and advocates for reforms in Japanese official development assistance (ODA). PJP discussed and approved papers on ODA reform and on recommendations re Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP), and dialogued with officials of the Embassy of Japan. In July 2008, PJP assisted the Japan-based Japan Philippine NGO Network (JPN) in organizing the 2nd Japan-Philippines NGO Symposium in Tokyo.

We are an active member of the Civicus World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the Affinity Group of National (NGO) Associations (AGNA), as well as the newly formed National Platforms’ Coalition of Asia (NPC Asia). We also have ties to Synergos and its partners in different parts of the world. Last fiscal year, we worked with the International Programme of the Charities Commission of England and Wales on piloting an NGO Sector Assessment Tool.

Hope that we could continue to build on our past successes has also filled the transitions in our network in the past year. In March 2008, after months of discussion and study and consultations with the member networks, the National Assembly and other stakeholders, we approved the Strategic Plan for 2008-11 of CODE-NGO. We also continued implementing the new 3-year rotation policy of the National Board, so that four Board members ended their terms of office last year, and another four will end their terms this year.

And it is with hope that we face the months and years ahead, marshalling the collective energy and resources of civil society in fighting poverty amidst the economic crisis, promoting accountability and battling corruption, and engaging in the 2010 elections to ensure its integrity and to promote good governance and social reforms in our country.