1. Accomplishment Report for 2011-12
PHILIPPINES DEVELOPMENT FORUM
Working Group on Decentralization
and Local Government
Accomplishment Report for
PDF-WG Core Group Meeting
12 April 2013

2. Overview of PDF Working Group
The importance of decentralization in achieving development outcomes led to the constitution of the PDF-WG in 2005.
PDF-WG is a venue for discussing policy and achieving consensus on policy reforms and priorities in local governance.
In 2010, the Philippine Decentralization and Local Government Trust Fund (DIALOG TF) was established as a mechanism for pooling resources to support the PDF-WG Work Plan.
The DIALOG TF is a multi-donor trust fund which is administered by the WB. As of date, the AusAID and CIDA have contributed to the DIALOG TF.

3. Institution/Organization
PDF-WG Members
WG-DLG Role
Institution/Organization
Convenor
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)
Co-convenor
World Bank
Members
National Government Oversight Agencies: Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Finance (DOF) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)
Local Government Leagues of Provinces, Cities, and Municipalities of the Philippines; Liga ng Barangay National Secretariat; Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines
Development Partners: ADB, AusAID, EU, Agence Francaise de Developpement, GIZ, JICA, KFW Development Bank, Embassy New Zealand, UN organizations (UNDP, UN Children’s Fund, Population Fund), USAID, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)

4. PDF-WG Work Plan 2011-12 Development Agenda
Three broad development agenda of the WG-DLG were:
Improving Fiscal Autonomy for Local Development
Promoting Good Local Governance
Accelerating Local Economic and Sustainable Development
Developed with a planning workshop in Tagaytay back in Feb/Mar 2011.

5. Development Agenda and Goals
Outcomes
Improving Fiscal Autonomy for Local Development
Goal: LGUs with improved fiscal capacities for accelerating local development
More efficient local fiscal policies and procedures
Increased own-source revenues
Improved access of LGUs to financing
More efficient allocation of expenditures
Improved revenue management capacity
2. Promoting Good Local Governance
Goal: Accountable LGUs exercising transparent and participatory local governance
Meaningful engagement of people’s organizations in local governance
More transparent and accountable local operations
Improved local government performance
Devolution models identified for replication
Improved capacities of LCEs
More efficient local service delivery
3. Accelerating Local Economic and Sustainable Development
Goal: An enabling environment for local economic and sustainable development and effective delivery of basic services.
Streamlined business registration system
Improved LGU capacity to encourage investments
Better management of local public enterprises and utilities
Boost economic development through road maintenance
Disaster resilient LGUs and communities

6. PDF-WG Work Plan 2011-12 Structure: Basic Results Framework
WG-DLG Development Agenda or Goal
Desired Outcomes
Actual Outputs/Deliverables
of Projects/Activities
The development agendas were identified simultaneous with the categorization of the various activities and projects and identifying the desired outcomes.
Activities take four 4 forms: analytical studies, policy reforms, technical assistance and capacity building.

7. Evaluation Process for Accomplishment Report for 2011-12
Established the structure of the report to follow the Work Plan framework
Defined accomplishment and assess progress. This was challenging since outcomes:
had no identified benchmark indicators
were not empirically defined.
Because of this accomplishments are defined as completed projects or partially completed for projects with several components.
3. Drafting the accomplishment report:
Discussed the development agendas, highlighting completed projects attempting to link goals to policy efforts
Presented accomplishments and ongoing efforts in more detail according to desired outcomes
Motivation behind this accomplishment report is that this is the end of the Work Plan. It is a perfect opportunity to assess the progress made by the working group to aid in the drafting of a new Work Plan.

8. Accomplishments for Development Agenda 1: Improving Fiscal Autonomy for Local Development
GOAL: LGUs with improved fiscal capacities for accelerating development
Outcomes
Activities/Projects
Increasing own source revenues
Development of local business taxpayer database
Guidelines for the use of presumptive gross sales figures to estimate business tax liability
Facilitating and monitoring compliance on updating of the schedule of market values (SMV) of real property and the collection of idle taxes.
Increasing LGU access to external financing through borrowing
Strengthening the Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO) capacity to provide credit information and development financing
More efficient allocation of resources
Improving LGU utilization of Local Development Fund
More efficient local policies and procedures
Enhancement of the e-SRE modules and capacity building for treasurers
Most of these were efforts to add to/improve or enforce existing fiscal policy or institutions and therefore improve public financial management. Better information, data and the reporting of this would allow increased local income thorugh revenues or borrowing, imrpoved reporting that would feedback to plannign and budgeting enabling the better use of resources.

9. Accomplishments for Development Agenda 2: Promoting Good Governance
GOAL: Accountable LGUs exercising transparency and participatory local governance
Outcomes
Activities/Projects
More transparent and accountable local operations
Institutionalize the public disclosure of documents for the Full Disclosure Policy (FDP) and the creation of the FDP web portal
Technical assistance and analytical activities in support of national government programs that strengthen incentives for better local governance and performance such as the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) and the Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH).
Promote constructive engagement of civil society
Capacity building of CSOs to engage in local special bodies, promoting volunteerism among citizens and CSOs, and mapping and profiling of CSOs nationwide.
Much progress was made in efforts to improve governance through increased transparency and creating incentives for improved governance.

10. Accomplishments for Development Agenda 3: Accelerating Local Economic and Sustainable Development
GOAL: To create an enabling environment for local economic and sustainable development and effective delivery of basic services
Outcome
Projects/Activities
Streamlined business registration system
Technical assistance for scale-up of business permit and licensing systems (BPLS) among LGUs
Improved LGU capacity to encourage investments
Technical assistance and capacity building to promote local investment and competitiveness through draft policies on Local Economic Development
Support sustainable inter-local cooperation through the Local Governance Support Program-Local Economic Development alliances
Disaster resilient LGUs in communities
Technical assistance to vulnerable LGUs to assess vulnerability to DRR and CC and include these in the Comprehensive Development Plan

11. General Findings – Overall Accomplishments
A total of 32 projects/activities were completed/partially completed out of a total of 37 projects in the Work Plan:
Development Agenda
# of Projects/Activities
(% of 32 projects)
1. Improved Fiscal Autonomy for Local Development
12 (37.5%)
2. Promoting Good Local Governance
10 (31.25%)
3. Accelerating Local Economic and Sustainable Development
In some cases, the enhancement of the institutions were still in pilot or draft version still requiring full implementation to have an effect on desired outcomes and development agendas;
The more immediate effect could be seen in efforts towards governance through enhanced transparency (FDP) and the improved accountability (PCF and SCH)

12. General Findings – Overall Accomplishments
Twenty-eight out of 32 accomplished projects were directed to improving the policy environment
The impact of accomplishments on development outcomes are not yet observable since:
6 are pilots or for roll-out (e.g. e-SRE, Local Business Taxpayer Database, PBGS, BPLS, Methods for Presumptive Business Tax Liability, BCMA)
8 are draft policies (e.g. Local Economic Development and Local Investment Promotion)
2 limited scope/coverage (e.g. Bicol-CARAGA and Luzon-Visayas)
The impact of accomplishments in promoting good local governance were more immediately observable (e.g. FDP and PCF) primarily because these were high-level GOP priorities
In some cases, the enhancement of the institutions were still in pilot or draft version still requiring full implementation to have an effect on desired outcomes and development agendas;
The more immediate effect could be seen in efforts towards governance through enhanced transparency (FDP) and the improved accountability (PCF and SCH)

13. General Findings – Work-plan Monitoring and Reporting
Though clear and easy to understand, the work-plan lacked the information to identify and empirically measure progress because:
the desired outcomes had no empirical measure
there were no benchmarks indicators
Secretariat lacked a clear-cut strategy and regular effort to update the Work Plan
In some cases, the enhancement of the institutions were still in pilot or draft version still requiring full implementation to have an effect on desired outcomes and development agendas;
The more immediate effect could be seen in efforts towards governance through enhanced transparency (FDP) and the improved accountability (PCF and SCH)

14. General Findings – Working Group Coordination
Strengthened coordination among members
Consensus for common positions and recommendations was facilitated