Do BUB projects improve the welfare of children?

Jenny Lyn Hernandez

CODE-NGO, in partnership with Coalition for Bicol Development (CBD), HealthDev, a member of Partnership of Philippine Support Service Agencies (PHILSSA), and National Council of Social Development with support from UNICEF, organized a series of training seminars on how to monitor and evaluate (M&E) effectively projects from the Bottom-Up Budgeting/Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (BUB-GPB) and to identify BUB practices and projects that improve the welfare of children. A total of 37 civil society organization (CSO) leaders participated; they came from Cardona, Rizal; Capalonga, Labo and Basud, Camarines Norte and Pasay City. These were conducted on January 21-23 for Cardona monitors at Boso-boso Highlands Resort, Antipolo, Rizal; on February 2-4 and February 20-21 for Camarines Norte monitors at Nazareth Training Center, Daet, Camarines Norte; and on February 9-10 for Pasay monitors at Kaibigan Center, San Andres, Manila.

CSO leaders were introduced to the M&E tool they will use in their interviews with local government unit (LGU) officials, CSOs involved in the BUB process and beneficiaries of the BUB projects. They also learned about the 24 commitments of LGUs to become a child-friendly municipality or city. These commitments are requirements or standards that the municipality or city will have to achieve to meet the needs and rights of children on health, nutrition, education, protection and participation in socio-cultural and development activities.

Participants appreciated the training and one said, “I hope that there will be more opportunities of CSOs working together for the welfare of children.” After the training, the CSO leaders became part of the M&E Teams of their municipalities and cities which conducted their assessments in March and April 2015.  These activities are part of the project entitled “Strengthening Monitoring of BUB Projects in Selected UNICEF-PH LGUs.” Results of the M&E will be released in June 2015.

Jenny Lyn Hernandez is the Project Manager of the Bottom-Up Budgeting for the Monitoring of Children’s Welfare (BUB-MC) Project of CODE-NGO and UNICEF.