Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and Pacific (ANSA–EAP) trained civil society organizations (CSOs) facilitating and using Community Scorecards (CSC) as a tool for citizen monitoring of local health services in Binalonan, Pangasinan last 23 to 25 May 2012.
“The CSC is a participatory, community-based evaluation tool that enables citizens to assess the quality of public services,” explained Mr. Adelfo Briones, capacity building specialist of ANSA-EAP. “It informs the community members about the available services in the community, as well as their entitlements. The CSC combines the service providers’ self-assessment of their performance and users’ feedback on the quality, efficiency, and accessibility of public services.”
The event is part of the knowledge sharing and learning support of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and Pacific (ANSA EAP) to CSOs based in Northern Luzon, Philippines under the Enhancing Transparency Impact (ETI) project. The workshop’s overall objective was to “facilitate an initial working knowledge among participants of the CSC tool and processes, and how these can be utilized by ordinary citizens in engaging with local governments towards improved health services.”
The CSC is conducted by two major parties—service users and service providers. Staff and partners from Apayao People’s Organization for Good Governance (APOGG), Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Governance (CCAGG), and Responsible Citizens, Empowered Communities In Solidarity for Social Change (RECITE, Inc.) played the role of service users while municipal health officials and barangay health workers from Mangaldan, Pangasinan acted as service providers in the learning simulations and exercises.
The participants also came up with their analyses of the local health governance context, which provided inputs on the discussion on the value of scorecards as a social accountability tool. After the two parties produced their separate scorecards, they simulated an interface meeting to come out with shared action points that could address identified issues.
At the end of the workshop, the CSOs presented their plans in incorporating CSC into their current good governance initiatives.
The ETI is a joint project of the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF), Coalition Against Corruption–Makati Business Club (CAC–MBC), and ANSA–EAP. The project primarily aims to provide capacity building and grant support to citizen groups in monitoring the performance of local governments.
