New Opportunities in Times of Challenge
Since 2005, the Caucus of Development NGO Networks together with the Coalition for a Citizens’ Constitution (C4CC) advocated for constitutional reforms, through a Constitutional Convention, to shift the form of government to a federal system. Unfortunately, constitutional reform became elusive in the past few years and remains to be “not a priority” with the announcement of the present Administration that constitutional reform should give way to more urgent and pressing problems of the country.
Given the current situation where the success of this advocacy seems remote in the next three years or until the next President in 2016, C4CC and CODE-NGO are maximizing the present socio-political environment of the country as a new “window” of pushing for federalism, for more empowered citizens at the local and regional levels, and for more decentralized and responsive development efforts in the country. Since the present government has shown significant openness to partnerships with civil society organizations (CSOs) and to transparent and participatory governance at the local and national levels, this new window would involve working to strengthen mechanisms for participatory governance and development at the local and regional levels and strengthening the capacity of CSO networks at the district, provincial and regional levels.
Beginning November 2012, C4CC and CODE-NGO started implementing a new project titled “Decentralized Governance and Multi-Stakeholder Partnership for Regional Development (DG-MSP for RD)”. This is a three-year project supported by Misereor, a development institution based in Germany. The project covers 4 regions, with focus on 8 provinces, namely: Region 5 (Bicol), with Camarines Sur and Sorsogon provinces; Region 7 (Central Visayas), with Cebu and Negros Oriental; Region 10 (Northern Mindanao), with Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon; and in Region 11 (Southern Mindanao) with Davao Oriental and Davao del Norte. The Coalition for Bicol Development (CBD), Central Visayas Network for NGOs and POs (CENVISNET), Balay Mindanaw Foundation Inc (BMFI) and Mindanao Coalition of Development NGO Networks (MINCODE) are the regional partners responsible for implementing the project in their respective areas.
In the next three years, the project intends to build stronger decentralized development efforts that are responsive and more effective in addressing the needs of the local communities in order to build the foundations for stronger federal-type regional governance for the future. Its specific outcomes will be (1) that the four partner regional CSO networks and their member CSOs are actively participating in public development planning and budgeting processes, engaging in relevant advocacies and have improved their CSO network management skills; (2) that local governance structures between local CSOs, LGUs and regional offices of NGAs in the 8 target provinces and 4 target regions are more participatory and effective and (3) that local basic sectors and poor communities organized in peoples organizations (POs), co-operatives and other civil society organizations in the four regions are empowered to effectively participate in local governance, ensuring that their priority needs are addressed and finally met.
A series of regional Project Orientation sessions are being held in January to February 2013 to provide a venue for those involved in the project to review its design and deliverables and finalize the implementation plan and finance and administration guidelines. The Mindanao Project Orientation was done last January 9 to 10, 2013 in Cagayan De Oro City for those in Region 10 and Region 11 and last January 25-26, 2013 in Dumaguete City for Region 7. The orientation for Bicol is scheduled on February 1 – 2, 2013. — By Mhafe Del Mundo, Project Monitoring Officer, CODE-NGO
Visit the C4CC website at http://c4ccph.org/main/