ForwardBrowse our documents and publications covering G-Watch Monitoring Manuals, Governance Reform Studies, Political Democracy and Reforms (PODER) Publications, and Vertical Integration Research.
Going Vertical is a result of action-research collaboration between Government Watch (G-Watch) and the Accountability Research Center (ARC) on multi-level citizen action for accountability. This book investigates how one strategic approach to citizen accountability - vertical integration - enabled seven reform initiatives in the Philippines to gain meaningful results.
A National Meeting of G-Watch local core group members and partners was convened on February 23-25, 2017 held in Astoria Plaza in Pasig City. The discussion focused on how and why G-Watch should reboot, what are the processes it entails and what should be the priority issues and agenda it will tackle.
In 1988, the Philippines enacted a land redistribution policy known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). After almost three decades of implementation, an estimated 13 percent of the land targeted for redistribution remains in the hands of powerful landlords. This paper investigates the contestation involved in the implementation of agrarian reform through the lens of multi-level accountability politics.
This think piece shares key lessons of G-Watch from the Making All Voices Count (MAVC) experience in the Philippines based on a learning process with the MAVC grantees from March to August 2017, which focused on the role of strategic action and adaptive learning on the issue of sustainability. Alongside this piece are two case studies on two selected MAVC grantees, one focusing on when and how digital technology works and the other on how learning for a strategic shift happens which are to be published separately by MAVC.
"In anticipation of the 2016 election, the third Philippine action plan sought to institutionalize existing OGP participatory mechanisms and largely continued expanding the scope of activities from previous action plans. While general awareness of OGP remains low, the passage on an Executive Order on Freedom of Information and inclusion of new commitments on improving public service delivery indicates sustained energy on areas with immediate impact on citizens’ lives."
On August 17, Government Watch (G-Watch) organized and facilitated a forum-workshop aimed to discuss and reflect on the key lessons learned, evidence and gains on adaptive learning, strategic citizen action and use of digital technologies generated through Making All Voices Count (MAVC) support in the Philippines and other related initiatives. Around 40 MAVC grantees, key G-Watch leaders all over the country and other relevant partners of G-Watch in governance reform attended to reflect on their initiatives.
The Philippines has a long history of state–society engagement to introduce reforms in government and politics. Forces from civil society and social movements have interfaced with reform-oriented leaders in government on a range of social accountability initiatives – to make governance more responsive, to introduce policy reforms, and to make government more accountable.
Indigenous peoples have a rich and long history of struggle, and the case study of campaigning for indigenous peoples’ rights examines the work of the Teduray Lambangian Women’s Organisation Inc. (TLWOI), a federation of community-based organizations which is fighting for the rights of indigenous women in Mindanao.
The case study focuses on the organizing efforts of two national agrarian reform networks, the Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights Services (known as RIGHTS Network) and the Movement for Agrarian Reform and Social Justice (Katarungan), and their campaign with local farmers’ organizations on the Bondoc Peninsula.
The case study examines the work of the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) to push for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill, despite stiff opposition from the highly influential Catholic Church.