The 1st brainstorming session of i-budget.mo was launched Monday, 16 June 2014, at Barangay 176 Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. It was attended by around 140 citizen leaders and 25 members from civil society organizations. Because of the number of attendees and to maximize meaningful participation, the event was divided into two sessions of three hours each.
i-budget.mo (IBM) Project is a participatory budgeting initiative which aims to improve the participatory budgeting processes with the use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools to assist in community mobilization and citizen involvement in identifying project prioritization. The primary purpose of IBM is to establish a participatory budgeting initiative involving the use of ICTs, with a specific focus on constructive engagement and citizen monitoring of the local government budget by creating an online platform for community feedback and government response, as well as helping strengthen offline means of citizen participation in the local budget process.
The general objective of the 1st brainstorming session aimed to promote active participation of the citizens of Barangay 176 Bagong Silang in the pilot process of the IBM Project. Through the activity, IBM facilitated sharing of insights and imparting knowledge on Social accountability and Participatory Budgeting, as well as the IBM online-offline process. The brainstorming session began with Specific Needs Assessment and a list of potential solutions, clustered into key budgeting areas. It also provided a deeper perspective of how best to capture and disseminate the project in the barangay.
The brainstorming sessions were facilitated by Prof. Jalton Taguibao of the UP Department of Political Science. Mme. Emily Batalla, Barangay Administrator, represented Punongbayan Joel Bacolod for the LGU.
“A very open government, participative citizens, ready access to information and a culture of proactive engagement,” IBM Project Manager Chad Osorio noted. “It’s a bright future ahead for all of us.”
Stay tuned for more IBM activities at Caloocan City! The i-budget.mo Project is funded by Hivos through the Southeast Asia Technology and Transparency Initiative. For more details, check out www.ibudgetmo.org or email us at info@ibudgetmo.org.