Citizens Action for Local Leadership to Achieve MDGs

Background and Objectives

The project Citizens Actions and Local Leadership to Achieve MDGs in 2015 or CALL 2015 aimed to promote transparent and accountable governance in meeting the MDGs on time by 2015 through the engagement of citizens, especially women, in instituting anti corruption initiatives.

The project was expected to organize and capacitate MDG integrity circles composed of local citizens' groups especially local women leaders, assist citizens-government face to face dialogue and voice mechanism, and demonstrate and replicate sound MDG practices that promotes anti-corruption practices.

The project was part of the UNDP-UN-HABITAT partnership to localize the MDGs and campaign for good urban governance among the cities. Localization primarily involves institutionalizing key processes in local governance: performance indicators, planning, target-setting, budgeting, gender-mainstreaming, and policy-making.

Activities

The main activities include:
* Organized and capacitated MDG Integrity Circles composed of local citizens group especially local women leaders;
* Established citizens-government dialogue and voice mechanisms;
* Adapted and replicated sound MDG practices that promote transparency and accountability.

Results (2008)

* Ten (10) Integrity Circles were organized and capacitated in the five (5) cities;
* The following citizens-government dialogue and voice mechanisms were established:
- In Tuguegarao City, Barangay Tagga IC conducted poverty profiling using the Community-Based Monitoring System CBMS) as basis for identifying the development needs and priorities of the barangay;
- In the Science City of Munoz, an Integrity Circle Covenant was developed and adopted by the IC members, mostly health workers;
- In Pasay City, the project strengthened the integrated HOPES program for out-of-school youth, and sustained the OSY program by the city;
- In Dumaguete City, a survey on the quality of government service was conducted and the results disseminated through participatory community validations;
- In Cagayan de Oro City, the project complemented and was integrated into Xavier University's advocacy programs in the area of good governance;
- The experiences of the 5 CALL 2015 cities have been documented and a CALL 2015 Manual has been published.