BusinessWorld, the leading business newspaper in the Philippines, has featured Bayanihang Eskwela (Community Spirit for Schools), a project that monitors the quality of construction of government school buildings in this country. According to the BusinessWorld story, Bayanihang Eskwela is based on “trust and openness between the government and the people”. As the story explains:
“More than ensuring that the school buildings are of high quality, the program promotes government and citizen partnerships, and helps build trust and openness between the government and the people in the area of service delivery. Community involvement proved vital in ensuring quality government services, and in showing citizens their critical role in good governance. At the core of the program is commitment to social accountability: allowing ordinary citizens to take part in the entire process of school building construction, thus, helping prevent corruption. It has also made contractors responsive to the needs of the government and of the community by immediately rectifying errors found by volunteer monitors.”