MMSU and the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Region 1 (DILG-1) are pushing for the establishment of a citizen’s feedback mechanism in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, a move that will effectively gauge people’s awareness of the mandated services of this local government unit.

In a memorandum of agreement signed last February 23 between MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis and the representatives of DILG, the feedback tool, called the Citizen Satisfaction Index System (CSIS), will generate relevant feedback from the people of Bacarra on its service delivery performance, particularly on health, support to education, social welfare, governance and response, public works and infrastructure, environmental management and economic, and investment promotion.

The DILG-1 has tapped the MMSU to extend its expertise in areas of community development for the training of people that will be involved in the CSIS implementation. The two agencies and their partner LGU will use CSIS results as benchmark for planning, policy formulation, decision-making and other processes related to improvement of the town’s programs and initiatives.

For the DILG alone, CSIS results may form part of the criteria of its awards and recognition programs such as the Seal of Good Local Governance that it is implementing. CSIS results will also serve as inputs for LGU-Bacarra in crafting its citizen-driven priority action plans, which will include strategies for making their services more responsive to the needs of the people.

 DILG started this partnership with MMSU in 2013 when the first CSIS project was implemented in Laoag City. Subsequent implementations were in the City of Batac in 2014; in San Nicolas in 2015; and in Paoay in 2017.

In this year’s tie-up with the DILG, Dr. Agrupis challenged the MMSU research team to maximize its opportunity of having a stronger impact to the community, saying that the University will be more responsive to the people’s needs through the CSIS project.

CSIS is a component of the Local Governance Watch (LG Watch) that the DILG wants to establish in Bacarra. In a nutshell, the LG Watch will keep local executives honest, because the public can keep a close watch on the activities of local government officials.

The LG Watch will allow civil society organizations to keep track of the performance of local executives and it will serve as a social accountability mechanism that will encourage greater civil society participation in local governance.

The DILG said that local officials should not be threatened by the word “watch” because the goal is not to spy into the affairs of the local government, but to make civil society governments empowered, to give them the chance to be heard and participate in good governance. That is, it will put into the hands of civil society a very useful set of tools that will allow organized citizens to engage with local authorities in a more systematic and structured way in order to make them more transparent, accountable and efficient.   

Aside from the CSIS, the LG Watch shall also have two other components – the Civil Society Participation Fund (CSPF), and the Capacity Development for Civil Society Organizations (CDCS).

The CSPF will involve a mechanism that provides incentives to CSOs that are actively engaging with LGUs in local development, while the CDCS will strengthen the knowledge and skills of CSOs in performing their roles as partners of government in various governance processes