CODE-NGO presented its assessment of and insights on its engagement in the 2020 and 2021 Dagyaw Virtual Town Halls at an international conference held in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The conference, entitled “Beyond the Pandemic and Facing Forward, Stakeholders Conference on COVID-19 Funds Transparency and Public Participation in Fiscal Issues,” was organized by the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) in collaboration with the Europe Foundation on December 7-8, 2021.
Philippine civil society organizations (CSOs) and government counterparts involved in the Dagyaw Virtual Town Halls were invited to speak online about their experience in collaboration and promoting citizen engagement and how, in the process of dialogue, the engagement may impact government spending to deliver basic services effectively. CODE-NGO provided the CSO perspective.
“Dagyaw” is a Hiligaynon term for “bayanihan” or “togetherness”. The term “Dagyaw” is used in connection to the town hall sessions to describe its aim to bring together citizens and government actors and discuss current government programs and how these affect the citizens. The Town Hall sessions began in 2018 in different areas in the Philippines. In 2020, the sessions transitioned to Virtual Town Halls broadcasted via Zoom and live-streamed in Facebook. CSOs and CSO networks jointly participated in organizing the Dagyaw Virtual Town Halls.
Running the Dagyaw in a virtual version produced eight episodes in the national run and a total of 16 episodes in the regional runs in 2020. From government agencies solely reporting, the format changed and included reactions or insights from experts, development partners, and CSOs. The question and answer portion was expanded and participants viewing the episode via Facebook and Zoom were encouraged to send questions for government officials to answer. In 2021, the format further improved to limit the time for sending out information and focused on the dialogue between the panelists and CSO representatives. Because of the longer preparation needed for the new format, the Dagyaw run at the national level produced three Virtual Town Halls with three weeks in between each episode.
Some of the Dagyaw Town Hall topics include the following: Usapang Edukasyon [Talk on Education], Usapang Ayuda [Talk on Assistance], and Usapang Citizen Mobility sa COVID-19 [Talk on Citizen Mobility during COVID-19].
CODE-NGO’s active membership and involvement in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) monitors how accountability is exercised in various government programs covered by the National Action Plan of the OGP. The government invited the network in 2020 and 2021 to be a co-organizer of the Dagyaw Virtual Town Halls, a major program of the NAP. Through this, CODE-NGO has been able to suggest improvements in the conduct of the sessions in terms of dialogue and closing the feedback loop. Questions that participants raised during the sessions were compiled in the Dagyaw Tracker, a good initial step to close the feedback loop.
The presentation emphasized the importance of a long-haul engagement between CSOs and the government to make lasting changes in program implementation. Questions and concerns raised to national government agencies should be answered not only during the session. After the session, CSOs and the government should be able to track the action of the national government agency as a result of the Dagyaw dialogue process. Then, the town hall sessions would have realized the effectiveness of government service delivery.
Learn more about the OGP here. Watch all the Dagyaw Town Hall episodes on OGP’s YouTube Channel.