Citizen Action Network for Accountability (CANA)
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
“Until now, we have always been looking at government from the outside as passive spectators and as bystanders: Not anymore.” — Citizen Action Network for Accountability
February 2016 End date
May 2017
Issue
Despite a flurry of anti-corruption efforts in the Philippines, the problem of corruption remains prevalent in the country.
This project builds on the belief that government should always work for and serve the people – and that the poorest among us should not suffer the most because nobody listens to them and they don’t have a voice. By measuring the local government’s performance via the delivery of public goods and services, citizens can really hold government officials accountable.
The more Filipino citizens understand how government works, the more they can effectively monitor, engage, shape, and ultimately ensure that the government will deliver public goods and services even in the most marginalised communities.
Project
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) has been training and mentoring citizens in 28 areas across the Philippines to better understand, highlight and engage with their local governments on key public finance issues.
Teachers, farmers, doctors and come together and form local citizen action groups to demand accountability and government responsiveness.
Building on IWPR’s previous work, this project uses the website We Can! and an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to help citizens engage with their governments regarding service delivery and to enable citizens to see and participate with local budget planning at 10 local government units in the Philippines.
IWPR doesn’t only help community members understand the usually complicated issues like audits, public budgets and anti-corruption laws but also equips them with journalistic and investigative skills. Through the project, they learn how to follow the paper trail, use social media, conduct interviews and participate in press conferences.
Related projects
Partner
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting is an Amnesty International Award winner for its work on human rights and justice. It supports civil society activists, local reports, and citizen journalists in three dozen countries in conflict, crisis and transition around the world. IWPR projects are innovative in their use of technology and intensive, hands-on training to empower and give voice to communities.