Public Disclosure Authorized Civic Engagement In

has faced longstanding administrative abuse,as soon he entered office in 1999, the newmayor, Martin Sabatella, promoted the ‘Programfor Transparency and Modernization.’ PoderCiudadadano and Sabatella worked together tointroduce an innovative contracting process forthe city’s waste collection. Sabatella requestedPoder Cuidadano to help establish a programthat combined the use of public hearings withan ‘integrity pact.’ This program achievedactive citizen engagement at every step of theprocurement process.Making the Public Procurement System Work(Naga City, Philippines). Faced with a city in astate of economic decline, Mayor Jesse Robredopromoted the use of information technology to bringabout more inclusive and effective governance.Revising procurement practices was a major partof this. Two key elements combined to bring aboutmore open governance; first, proactive disclosureof information and performance standards; andsecond, institutionalized civic engagement,notably though the establishment of a citizenwatch-dog, the Naga City People’s Council,which monitored the procurement processes.The OPEN System (Seoul, South Korea). Rapideconomic growth in Seoul and the expansionof the municipal bureaucracy had resulted inextensive and complex systems of regulation,which in turn created opportunities for corruption.A key aspect of the Seoul MetropolitanGovernment’s response was the creation of aninternet portal to make information relating togovernance processes publically available. Inaddition, the government introduced new types ofperformance benchmarks, which were based oncitizens’ perceptions of governance.Tracking Government Service Delivery (SouthAfrica). The Public Service Accountability Monitor(PSAM) produces research and monitors keyaspects of service delivery and governmentperformance in the Eastern Cape Province. Inaddition to research on expenditure, in orderto improve strategic planning and reportingprocedures, PSAM has developed training8courses for parliamentarians and non-stateactors on integrity and accountability and on theuse of public expenditure monitoring tools.PartnershipsinProcurementReform(Philippines) Procurement Watch Incorporated(PWI) was established with the support of variousdonor agencies in 2001 with the objective offighting corruption through improved publicprocurement oversight. A key component of itsstrategy is using print, television, and radio mediato raise awareness over the leakage of funds. Thepassage of the Procurement Act has significantlyaided the institutionalization of PWI as both awatch-dog and a partner in procurement reform. Byinforming the public of the new provisions and theirconsequences, PWI has actively promoted civilsociety participation in monitoring procurement.Five Key Issues emerging fromexperienceFrom this wide canvas of experiences emergesa number of common themes that can helpstimulate new thinking about how to best supportenhanced civic engagement in procurement.1. Procurement work is a part ofpublic expenditure monitoringWhen promoting civic engagement as a wayto improve transparency, there is often animplicit assumption that alternative practicescan be ‘mapped’ directly onto the formalproject processes. This is rarely the case. Oneof the reasons that demand side procurementwork is fairly nascent is due to the inherentdifficulty of isolating this component of a publicexpenditure cycle in a way that attracts theactive participation of civic actors. Globallymany good examples exist of civic engagementin budget monitoring, expenditure tracking andoutcomes monitoring, and some of the bestexamples of civic engagement in procurementhave evolved as an extension of these otheractivities.While supply side initiatives have soughtto open the procurement process to public

scrutiny though enhanced public disclosure,demand side initiatives have tended toapproach procurement work from the broaderperspective of outcomes. For example, in thecase of G-Watch in the Philippines, whilethe monitoring agency was given access torecords on contracting, this was found to beless meaningful than the issues of distributionand quality assurance. It is therefore importantto consider the comparative advantage thatcivic actors have when promoting new formsof procurement monitoring.2. Importance of entry pointsCivic engagement tends to be more successfulwhen it is oriented toward tangible issuesand specific cases, rather than procurementprocesses in general. For example, the issueof funding allocations for HIV/AIDS whichled to the Provida corruption scandal actedas a focal point for Fundar’s initial activitieson government monitoring. From this entrypoint, the organization rapidly expandedits scope to broader issues of monitoring inthe health sector. In this case, the scandalwas also important because it galvanized abroader coalition of civic and political actors,which Fundar supported through advocacyand awareness-building activities.Broader shifts in the political context – orcrises - can also create important entrypoints for civic engagement. In the case ofMorón in Argentina, a history of malpracticein the administration was one of the mainreasons why the new mayor decided topromote transparency as a key issue in hisadministration. In Seoul, a high level ofeconomic growth provided the backdrop forthe establishment of a new, simplified, andtransparent system of governance processesto cope with the increasingly complexchallenges of administration.3. Non-linear process of evolutionIn all these cases, the dynamic natureof state-society collaboration should beemphasized. A valid entry point and anenabling context provide opportunities for civicactors to effectively engage with governanceprocesses in the short-term. However, longterm sustainability depends on the capacity ofboth state and civic actors to evolve towardsthe production of new procurement practices.In many of these cases, involving the mediawas important in expanding the reach of civilsociety organizations. In others, civil societyactors were successful in securing theirrole in the procurement process by not onlyoffering training and capacity-building supportto administrators and politicians, but alsosharing tools or methodologies for monitoring.One of the best examples of this nonlinear evolution process is G-Watch inthe Philippines. Starting with the narrowobjective of monitoring the procurement ofschoolbooks, the ‘Textbook Watch’ evolvedas a social campaign to monitor a highlydecentralized program. Equally remarkablewas the partnership that was forged with aprivate sector firm (Coca-Cola) to provide alow-cost solution to the problem of delivery atthe elementary school level.The evolution of initiatives is not alwayspositive. Following a change in leadershipin the Greater Karachi water supply project,the memorandum of understanding was notrenewed, and as a result the Integrity Pact onlyapplied to the initial stages of the procurementcontract. This case highlights the fact thatsound and comprehensive technical designof improved procurement practices cannotbe insulated from changes in the social andpolitical context. This finding reinforces theneed to develop strategies that are based onprinciples that emerge out of current practice,rather than externally driven blueprints.4. Information is key, but informationflows are more importantAccess to information is one of the foundingprinciples of new approaches to governance.As these cases show, however, the creationof effective information channels is not an9

issue related to the supply side alone. Rather,the engagement of ‘users’ in the design ofboth the type and channels of informationis an important component of effectiveness.One good example of this is the developmentof common information formats for demandside monitoring by the Public ServiceAccountability Monitor (PSAM) network inSouth Africa, which allowed a broader networkof civil society organization to collaborate andthus expand the scope of the initiative.Collaborations with media are also highlightedas a common factor in the success of manyof these initiatives. In Mexico, Fundar’s useof a targeted media campaign led to thegeneration of various information productsand dissemination of official documents werethen used by local journalists in their owninvestigations.Information is a two-way process, andengaging citizens to interact with procurementprocesses demands creative approaches.Seeking to engage ordinary citizens,the mayor of Morón established multiplechannels of communication, includingmonthly bulletins which were distributed toall households, telephone lines, and localgrievance redressal offices to encouragepeople to report malpractice. In Naga city,short message (SMS) technology wasused to allow residents to send queries andfeedback to the government.5. Impact is important, but so areoutcomesMany of these cases contain impressiveevidence of impact in terms of reducingcontracting costs and time usage and ofimproving quality of final delivery. In most case,however, quantifiable evidence of impact isdifficult to assess which makes the task ofadvocating the need for civic engagement inprocurement processes more complex. Oneof the reasons for this is that often detaileddata on past transactions is not available tothe public. However, there are a couple of10broader issues that are worth consideringwhen it comes to assessing impact.While monetary assessments of impactare important for policy advocacy, citizenengagement in procurement processes tendto be influenced more by tangible outcomesin terms of quality. While the two issuesshould be related, at times they are not. Inthe case of schoolbook distribution in thePhilippines, the contracting amount wasfound to be less important than the qualityof the products and the speed they reachedthe pupils. In Karachi, the application of theIntegrity Pact resulted in a twenty percentcost saving in consultancy and constructioncontracts. What is less clear, however, is theextent to which this innovative governanceapproach delivered improved water andsanitation services to the citizens of the city.The second issue is that citizen centeredgovernance is intricately linked to thedevelopment of new benchmarks orperformance standards. Good examples ofthis are the citizen satisfaction surveys theSeoul Metropolitan Government establishedas part of the OPEN system in Seoul, or theestablishment of public hearings in Morón. Asnew innovations, tracking the improvementin the results of these types of performanceassessments will not be possible until theyhave been used for some time.Use of the case studiesBesides contributing to the analysis of theconcept of civic engagement in procurement, wehope that these case studies can be used as partof training sessions and advocacy efforts by bothgovernment and non-government actors. Thestructure of the cases aims to draw out some ofthe unique features of the various experiments,rather than attempt a cohesive or comparativeassessment. We therefore would encourage thereader to consider how these experiences caninform the development of procurement work inother contexts.

Case Study One:Tracking Social Spending: Fundar, MexicoThis case discusses Fundar’s strategy ofadvocating increased public access togovernment budget information coupled withbudget analyses and expenditure tracking toinfluence government expenditures allocated forHIV/AIDs.BackgroundThe budget is a government’s most powerfuleconomic policy instrument, and therefore amajor influence on income distribution andpoverty. Though the budget has traditionally beenthe product of a closed decision-making process,a new international public finance consensusis emerging that promotes transparency andeffective oversight.Budget analysis is a tool to expand information,encourage debate, and promote accountability byshowing whether government promises are beingtranslated into sound policies and appropriateallocations. Civil society can make importantcontributions in these situations by opening up thedebate, organizing information to make it moreaccessible to other researchers and advocates,or by pressing for greater transparency.Fundar came into existence in Mexico in 1999as a non-governmental organization when achange of government was imminent and civilsociety was changing its strategy from pressureand confrontation to a focus on dialogue,monitoring, and policy research. The focus oftransparency work was changing from simplyobtaining and publicizing information to usingthorough, research-based evidence to promotegood governance. This made technical expertiseessential to civil society if it was to remain effectivein the new political context.1As part of its early efforts, Fundar obtainedaccounting records from the Ministry of Healthusing the national freedom of information law,2and identified corruption in a contract awardedto a private agency for an HIV/AIDS preventionprogram. Known as the Provida Case, it illustrateshow Fundar with a civil society alliance pursueda successful campaign against the corruptappropriation of budget resources intended forNGOs working on health issues. Fundar and theconsortium used the new transparency law togather evidence to support its case.Unearthing the Provida ScandalIn 2002 the Mexican Congress approved US 20million for HIV/AIDS prevention. Luis Pazos,then President of the Appropriations Committeein the Federal Chamber of Deputies, sent anofficial note informing the Minister of Healththat the budget for the HIV/AIDS preventionprogram had been reduced by US 3 million toUS 17 million. The US 3 million was allocatedto Provida, an anti-abortion group in Mexico. Inthis case, money was transferred directly fromMinistry of Health (MoH) to Provida through anentity -within MoH- called “Administración delPatrimonio de la Beneficencia Pública” (roughlytranslated as Regulatory Body for Public Charity).Although the process to receive grants goes bysubmitting a project proposal by the CSO, thereis no evidence Provida submitted its own. Thereis only the agreement between Provida and theRegulatory body to receive the grant.At the end of 2003, Provida submitted invoices tojustify the money spent from the grant. At midyear2004, using the new access to information law,Fundar received the file containing the agreementbetween Provida and the Regulatory Body and all1The Ford Foundation provided an early source of financial support for Fundar’s budget transparency work first in Mexico andlater at the regional level. It encouraged Fundar’s collaboration with Mexico’s Center for Research and Teaching in Economics(CIDE) to create the Latin American Transparency Index. Fundar’s work on improved federal and state level transparency andaccountability has also been funded by the MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Institute (OSI), and the Hewlett Foundation.2In the late 1990s, a series of reports revealing the existence of secret presidential slush funds galvanized civil societygroups in Mexico to push for increased public access to information, including increased access to information on the Mexicangovernment’s budget. By 2002, a law guaranteeing citizen’s rights to information had been passed and a highly respectedcommission established to oversee its implementation.11

the invoices. An auditor was needed to check allthose documents, clarify questions and producea joint report.Fundar and five other CSOs3 investigated wherethe money was finally allocated. They found thatProvida had requested the funds to open a dozenWomen’s Support Centers, to encourage womento reject abortion. Both Mr. Pazos and the Ministryof Health denied they had reassigned funds orthat the HIV/AIDS budget had even been cut.Using the Federal Law on Transparency andAccess to Public Government Information, theCSOs confirmed that the Ministry of Health hadpaid Provida US 3 million, despite the legalrequirement that US 50,000 is the maximumamount that can be received by a CSO. Theywere also able to obtain the financial recordsof all Women’s Support Centers, totaling 6,525documents. Fundar’s investigations revealed thatpayments were made without proper invoices, tobodies that shared the same address as Provida.4This loose coalition of CSOs concluded that therewere three main sets of irregularities: conflict ofinterest, tax evasion, and luxurious expenses.More than 90 percent of the US 3 millionwas marked by these irregularities. The mainobservations were: Luis Pazos misused and exceeded hisparliamentary powers. The Health Ministry did not fulfill y. Provida diverted public funds without propersurveillance by the government. Provida received public funds despite theiractions being contrary to government healthpolicies.3In one week, 700 Mexican CSOs backed the claimfor transparency and sanctions, and demandedthe intervention of the Supreme Audit Institution.The findings were presented in full to legislatorsfrom the three main political parties in November2003.A targeted media campaign was launched withthe advice of a specialist media organization –CIMAC - (Communication and Information onWomen) after a request for a meeting with thehealth minister was denied. Using informationprovided by the coalition, the mainstreamnewspaper Reforma carried the details in anexclusive front-page story in July 2004, whichgave rise to a stream of articles, features, andcartoons in the mainstream press that continuedfor more than two months.The coalition produced compact disks with aPowerPoint presentation explaining the caseand illustrating each argument with scannedofficial documents. As a result, every reporterhad access to the official documents to illustrateand build the case. Journalists started their owninvestigations.The Congress asked for explanations fromthe minister of health, began procedures foran auditing process, and promised to createa special committee on the case (though thisnever took place). The Supreme Audit Institution(SAI) started its own investigations based onthe information already available. As a result, inSeptember 2005, the Ministry of Public Functionfined Provida’s chairman US 1.2 million andpunished him with a 15-year ban on receivingpublic funds or serving as a public servant. InOctober 2006 the Supreme Court confirmedthis resolution. Three other low-ranking publicservants from the ministry of health were punishedwith administrative sanctions, as well.In addition to Fundar, the network included two feminist organizations and three groups working on health issues andreproductive rights.4Among the more egregious items purchased by Provida with public funds were Mont Blanc pens and women’s underwear,which attracted considerable coverage in the media. Also, over 42 percent of the funds had been spent on ‘marketing,’ particularlyto challenge emergency contraception.12

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expenditure decisions, and engagement of civic actors to support the process of reform. The cases studies are designed to explore how different mechanisms of civic engagement are forged within speci fi c social and political contexts, and, more importantly, how the nature of such