Regional summit calls for support to civil society amid crackdown
More than 96 civil society representatives from Asia including 7 delegates from the Philippines identified government, international, and technological support as among the most urgent and important challenges of the Asian civil society. Such discussions were made at the Asia Regional Civil Society Experience Summit held in Jakarta, Indonesia on September 8-10, 2014.
The Summit was held in response to the Stand with Civil Society agenda that emerged from the roundtable chaired by President Barack Obama and Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson at the United Nations General Assembly of 2013. President Obama explained then that amid the worldwide “crackdown” on civil society, “The focus today is on civil society, because it’s my strong belief that the strength and success of all countries and all regions depends in part on protecting and supporting civil society,”
NGOs and other civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Philippines have recently been given a bad name by the pork barrel scandal involving the use of bogus NGOs and have been threatened with restrictive government regulations.
The summit participants acknowledged civil society’s important roles to promote democracy through inclusive and participatory advocacy for all; monitor and evaluate governments’ performance and hold them accountable; provide services to local populations; and educate the public on policies, laws, and rights. Seeing the importance of CSOs for democracy and development, the participants issued a statement calling on donors, governments, and international community to ensure continued financial and political commitment to civil society. The summit participants identified the following as essential issues that need to be addressed:
- Build an enabling environment for civil society,
- Promote innovative partnerships with diverse actors and change agents,
- Leverage information and communication technologies to build and strengthen local and regional networks,
- Explore innovative means to provide technical, institutional, and financial support to civil society, and
- Build and strengthen civil society transparency, accountability and effective governance.
Additional challenge for Philippine CSOs
While the Philippine CSOs face similar challenges as their Asian neighbors, the pork barrel scandal has recently plagued legitimate CSOs in the country. Purportedly 10 billion pesos of government funds have been funneled to fake non-government organizations (NGOs) thru the discretionary funds of legislators.
“The reported scam unfairly tarnishes the image of legitimate NGOs,” said Sixto Donato C. Macasaet, executive director of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO). CODE-NGO is the largest network of CSOs in the country with 12 member networks and 1,600 base organizations nationwide.
To prevent similar incidents in the future, Macasaet gave the following suggestion, “We believe that incidents like this can be avoided and government resources can be utilized more effectively and responsibly if an independent or third party validation, such as certification by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) or similar certification bodies can be supported by the government.” CODE-NGO participated in the deliberations on separate bills in the Senate and House of Representatives filed to standardize CSO accreditation. Similar bills institutionalizing citizen participation in the budget process have also been filed in both houses of Congress.
The Summit was organized by The Asia Foundation, Kemitraan, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). #
Related Links:
Civil Society Statement from the Asia Regional Civil Society Experience Summit
GPB Statement of Support from CSOs
Media Contact: Cel de Jesus
Email: cdejesus@code-ngo.org