The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) announced the launching of the Local Governance Watch or LG Watch, a social accountability mechanism that will encourage greater civil society participation in local governance.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo said LG Watch primarily aims to facilitate the systematic and sustained engagement of civil society organizations (CSOs) in local public administration to ensure transparency and accountability in local service delivery and program implementation.

“Through LG Watch, the Department will be actively collaborating with CSOs in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of local government programs and projects,” said Robredo during the program’s official launching at the Gateway Suites in Quezon City.

“The end goal here is to make LGUs more responsive and efficient because they now have the CSOs as active partners in development,” he said.

DILG Asst. Secretary and concurrent Bureau of Local Government Supervision (BLGS) Director Rolando Acosta, whose bureau is on top of the implementation of LG Watch, said that this new initiative has three major components namely, the Citizens Satisfaction Index System (CSIS); Civil Society Participation Fund (CSPF); and the Capacity Development for Civil Society Organizations (CDCS).

The CSIS generates feedback on local government’s performance on service delivery and serves as a third party assessment on the results of the DILG’s Local Governance Performance Management System, a self-assessment tool on the key areas of local governance. The CSPF, on the other hand, involves a mechanism that provides incentives to CSOs that are actively engaging with LGUs in local development, while the CDCS aims to strengthen the knowledge and skills of CSOs in performing their roles as partners of government in various governance processes.

During the launch, partner CSOs signed a Pledge of Commitment to support LG Watch and other DILG initiatives. The DILG Secretary also forged a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the People Power Volunteers for Reform and International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance.

Guests include Ambassador Guy Ledoux, Head of Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines; Jing Lopez, national convenor of Task Force Participatory Local Governance; officials from other national agencies, local government officials, donor agencies and representatives from the tri-media. ###

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