Anticipatory, Adaptive, and Agile (AAA) Local Governance in the Philippines for Agenda 2030

Innovation methods

Data sources

SDG(s)

Sustainable Development Goal(s)

11Sustainable cities and communities

16Peace, justice and strong institutions

17Partnerships for the goals

Disclaimer:

Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.

Title

Please provide a name for your action learning plan.

Anticipatory, Adaptive, and Agile (AAA) Local Governance in the Philippines for Agenda 2030

Challenge statement

Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge. Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.

EXPLORATORY

Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)

How can new capabilities that are hinged on anticipatory, adaptive, and agile ("AAA") governance principles be nurtured among local governments so they can become more responsive to the needs of their citizens and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? How can AAA principles and methods help capacitate LGUs to identify future risks and opportunities, prepare for different scenarios, and act on exigencies as they occur? How can AAA governance promote more meaningful multi-stakeholder collaboration and make LGUs more accountable to their citizens?

Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?

Strengthening the capability of local government units (LGUs) to deliver inclusive social services, bolster safeguards against risks, and facilitate prosperity for their respective jurisdictions is seen to accelerate the attainment of the SDGs in the face of increased poverty and deep socioeconomic scarring from the COVID19 pandemic. This recognition comes at the back of the landmark Supreme Court decision on Mandanas, Garcia, et al. vs. Ochoa, et al. in 2018, which took effect in 2022, and has effectively increased the national tax allocation (NTAs) of LGUs by about 38% in 2022 to almost PHP 1 trillion (about US$19 billion). The Mandanas-Garcia ruling is seen as a major opportunity to pursue the long-overdue devolution agenda, localize socioeconomic services, and hopefully make governance more responsive and effective. However, the devolution of resources and functions may not necessarily lead to better service delivery. First, most LGUs are unable to generate their own revenues and thus depend on the NTA, which in 2023 has decreased by nearly 15% to PHP820 billion (about US$15 billion). Second, before the pandemic, LGUs only utilized about two-thirds of their budgets annually, with the largest underspending rates for local development funds, local disaster risk reduction funds, social services, and economic services. Third, LGUs have shown disparate capacities and performance through the years in different areas of governance, based also on their geographic and socioeconomic contexts, necessitating a tailor-fit approach to strengthening their capabilities. Such divergence and deficits in capability is seen in the ability of LGUs to adapt, learn quickly, and build resilience from crises both natural and man-made. Finally, there is weak governance accountability as LGUs continue to be dominated by political clans and dynasties which may not necessarily work for the benefit of their constituents and, worse, promote corruption and other social ills. Despite these challenges, the Mandanas-Garcia transition is seen as a major opportunity to enact reforms in local governance to achieve the SDGs (including SDG16 that reflects the quality of governance) locally. Moreover, reforms to promote open governance through budget transparency and citizens’ participation are seen to continue following the change in administration. As part of its upcoming Country Programme for 2024-2028, UNDP Philippines is keen to build on its past local governance strengthening efforts and put together a portfolio offer on Anticipatory, Agile, and Adaptive (AAA) local governance. It has deployed the Accelerator Lab PH (ALab PH) to collaborate with Country Office units (mainly Institutions & Partnerships Programme and the Pintig data lab) to incubate such an innovation-driven programme for LGUs.

Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.

A quantitative analysis by Magno, Capistrano & Cases (2022; chapter in https://www.undp.org/philippines/publications/decentralization-digitalization-and-development-strengthening-local-governance-crisis-response-recovery-resilience-and) found that LGUs only utilize about 78% of their annual budgets on average. The underspending was worse for capital expenditures (64%) as well as for local disaster risk reduction funds, education, housing, and local develoment funds. Using a regression analysis, it was found that increased size of the budget as a whole and for capital expenditures, vulnerability to disasters, and compliance with good financial housekeeping standards have the effect of dampening budget utilization.

Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.

In scoping conversations with key stakeholders, the following signals (whether weak or strengthening) have emerged: (1) after the Mandanas-Garcia ruling, LGUs have become more assertive of their autonomy and protective of their devolved functions; (2) this has posed a challenge to the national government agencies, who continue to struggle to provide ample guidance to LGUs on the standards of services to be devolved locally; (3) the statement that "LGUs underspend" continues to be contentious among LGUs, especially provinces and municipalities which have relatively narrower fiscal spaces compared to cities, where bulk of the unutilized resources are concentrated; (4) with the national government promoting and incentivizing citizens' participation in LGUs, the latter have improved their compliance to the legal requirement that at least one-fourth of local development councils are comprised of non-government organizations, although the quality of such participation is still to be measured; and (5) the pandemic and subsequent recovery efforts has affected the programs of CSOs and NGOs, but also heightened demand on improving quality of service delivery.

Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?

UNDP Philippines has been engaging in the local governance space in past Country Programme Document (CPD) cycles. In reinvigorating such, ALab has been tasked to bring in its social innovation approaches and demonstrate their application to challenges that LGUs face. In formulating this new programme offer, UNDP PH sought to (i) draw lessons from previous interventions and consolidate and scale approaches that work, particularly those that build new capabilities in both local government institutions and multi-stakeholder networks (ii) strengthen the analysis of LGU capacity gaps and capacity development needs, and (iii) prototype civic tech solutions and multi-stakeholder approaches to support AAA governance. This inception phase, which was supported by the Bangkok Regional Hub (BRH) AAA Governance programme, was implemented by UNDP PH in 2023 through the Accelerator Lab PH (ALab PH) and the Institutions and Partnerships Programme (I&P) Team.

Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?

Local governments are key to meeting the SDGs in the remaining seven years. Join @UNDPPH @UNDPAccLabs in discovering new anticipatory, adaptive, and agile approaches to local governance for #Agenda2030

Challenge classification

Partners

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)

What sector does our partner belong to?

Government (&related)

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

DILG supervises local governments and implements programmes to strengthen their capacity. It will serve as the main partner for the envisaged AAA local government programme.

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

Department of Budget and Management (DBM)

What sector does our partner belong to?

Government (&related)

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

DBM oversees public expenditures and, related to LGUs, manages the release of local allocations from the national budget and works with DILG and other key agencies to manage the devolution process. DBM is also the ministerial point of contact for the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

Zero Extreme Poverty (ZEP) 2030 Philippines

What sector does our partner belong to?

Civil Society

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

ZEP2030 PH is a coalition of more than 140 non-government entities—including the biggest civil society federations in the Philippines—aimed at converging their efforts to lift millions from poverty. ALab PH has been collaborating with ZEP2030 PH as a coalition and with its individual members to accelerate the nurturing of local convergences or multi-stakeholder networks.

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

Local Convergences

What sector does our partner belong to?

Civil Society

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

ALab PH has collaborated with 15 local convergences or multi-stakeholder networks to introduce AAA governance-inspired methodologies for participatory planning for post-COVID recovery in 2022. ALab PH is currently checking in on these local convergences to gather insight for the envisaged AAA local government support programme.

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Yes

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

OGP Support Unit

What sector does our partner belong to?

Government (&related)

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

As UNDP PH seeks to strengthen its engagement in open governance as part of the AAA local governance programme, it has increased its collaboration in recent years with the OGP Support Unit—the global and regional body that is helping to steer the OGP—to harmonize and converge their support to DBM, DILG, and civil society organizations.

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Yes

Learning questions

Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?

Will the idea and principles of AAA governance resonate with key stakeholders? Is AAA governance already being done in the Philippines and how can they be nurtured?

To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?

Sense, Test, Grow

Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

While the process of conceptualizing the envisaged programme on AAA local governance will build on what UNDP has been doing in the past CPD cycles on local governance, it nevertheless seeks to check on the pulse of key stakeholders. At the minimum, participatory design methods will be employed to involve key stakeholders at key stages of programme design, beginning with understanding their needs, pain points, and perspectives. Systems thinking will be an underlying framework to deepen the understanding of these needs. Some post-evaluation of the early prototyping of ALab PH in 15 LGUs to facilitate multi-stakeholder networks' participatory planning using AAA tools in 2022 will be conducted through a stocktaking exercise. Findings will feed into the AAA local governance programme conceptualization

Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

The starting point will be a good literature review not only of recent local governance issues in the Philippines but also of the emerging concept of AAA governance, which is not evenly developed across the three principles. In depth interviews and focus group discussions will be needed to provoke stakeholders’ reactions and insights on the concept of AAA governance and what should form part of UNDP’s programme offer. Issue mapping will be used in the analysis of issues that emerged and how these are intertwined in the system.

Closing

Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?

In summary, the AAA initiative has helped to introduce the concept of AAA Local Governance and testing its resonance among key stakeholders in national agencies and LGUs as well as CSOs. This was done during the process of consultations and dialogue with such stakeholders in developing a programme document on AAA Local Governance. Data analytics and qualitative field research on local government finances, capacities, and performance have also been undertaken. Knowledge products are expected to be refined and released in early 2024. However, the planned conduct of field experiments had to take a back seat given the need to prioritize the deepening of exploration into AAA local governance issues. Priority was also given to bolstering the process of developing the Philippines’ 6th National Action Plan to the OGP, which the team saw as an important platform to introduce AAA governance by deepening citizens’ participation.

END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.

Hello folks, creation of an additional Learning Questions section is buggy. I was supposed to create a 2nd but (a) form doesn't allow me to toggle the choices and tags and (b) form is not recognized as publishing (preprint) ready. So here's the content of the 2nd Learning Questions section: What does the existing data say about the financial behavior, capacities, and performance of LGUs and how can AAA governance principles and tools be introduced to address gaps? Sense, Explore Data Visualization, Machine Learning, Positive Deviance Building on the initial analytics conducted by UNDP on LGU fiscal affairs and performance, additional analytics were conducted to (a) further identify the drivers of LGU spending efficiency particularly in terms of budget utilization and (b) explore LGU governance metrics (based on the Seal of Good Local Governance) to surface clusters of LGUs based on capacity and performance. Apart from visualizing the available data, regression and clustering analysis were conducted to pursue these two questions. Positive deviance may also employed to identify outlier LGUs in terms of spending behavior, capacity and performance. Administrative records, Quantitative data, Open data Administrative quantitative data on local expenditures and local governance metrics were utilized. On the former, the analysis builds on a data set already produced by the World Bank through novel means: by scraping official audit reports on these LGUs. On the latter, UNDP has received access to the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) data set of the DILG. Ironically, these are not “open” data but a subgoal of the exercise is to produce these into machine-readable and relatable data sets that could eventually form part of open data.

Innovation methods

Data sources

SDG(s)

Sustainable Development Goal(s)

11Sustainable cities and communities

16Peace, justice and strong institutions

17Partnerships for the goals

Comments

Location(s)

Tags

SDG(s)

Sustainable Development Goal(s)

Action plan