Philippines: World Bank Cites Secretary Soliman, Six Others for Leadership in Social Accountability

[The World Bank - 13.05.2015] Philippines: World Bank Cites Secretary Soliman, Six Others for Leadership in Social Accountability

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman and six other leaders from government, civil society and the private sector worldwide were recognized today for their work in promoting social accountability as a means to eradicate poverty and promote inclusive growth in their respective countries.
In an official ceremony held at the World Bank headquarters hosted by Sanjay Pradhan, Vice President for Change, Leadership and Innovation of the World Bank, the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) gave for the first time six regional awards and a lifetime award for social accountability to the following:
- Oded Grajew Oded Grajew - Founder and General Coordinator, Rede Nossa Sao Paulo (civil society organization) - Brazil, lifetime award;
- Ibrahim Tanko Amidu - Programme Manager, STAR-Ghana (civil society organization) - Ghana, Africa Region;
- Corazon Juliano-Soliman - Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development (government) - Philippines, East Asia Pacific Region;
- Gonzalo Hernandez Licona - Executive Secretary of CONEVAL (government) - Mexico, Latin America
Caribbean Region;
- Iftekhar Zaman - Executive Director, Transparency International Bangladesh (civil society organization) - Bangladesh, South Asia Region;
- Aicha Ech-Chenna - Founder, Solidarite Féminine (civil society organization) - Morocco, Middle East
North Africa Region; and
- Maia Sandu - Minister, Ministry of Education (government) - Moldova, Europe
Central Asia Region
Hosted by the World Bank, the GPSA is a global partnership that brings together organizations that promote transparency, responsive government, citizen participation in policy decision-making and implementation. GPSA has programs for knowledge and learning, capacity building, partnership, funding and grants.
"Secretary Soliman walks the talk: she translates the practice of social accountability and transparency into concrete strategic activities, which she implements with great commitment and passion," said World Bank Country Director Motoo Konishi.
"Amid dissenting voices and criticisms, she opens the door for collaboration, participation and dialogue, inviting people to voice and discuss their concerns. Under her leadership, civil society organizations have been involved in the implementation and monitoring of the conditional cash transfer program "Pantawid Pamilya" and the DSWD and more than 50 civil society organizations have entered into a budget partnership agreement whereby the CSOs monitor the budget of the department."
Secretary Soliman catalyzed genuine engagement between citizens and local government in the countrys community-driven development program, where citizens plan, implement, and evaluate their own local development interventions. The program covers 850 municipalities benefitting 27 million poor people.
As chair of the Philippine Cabinet Cluster on Human Development and Poverty Reduction, Secretary Soliman helped promote collaboration among government agencies for poverty reduction. These include the bottom-up budgeting approach where 300 to 400 of the poorest municipalities developed their own community-level poverty reduction and empowerment plans.
These plans were subsequently included in the rural development and conditional cash transfer budgets of six national agencies: the departments of social welfare, education, health, agriculture, agrarian reform, and environment.
Secretary Soliman also mobilized regional development councils to work with local government units in ensuring the registration of the poor in the governments national household targeting system database. The database is used in identifying families that participate in the conditional cash transfer program.
The countrys CCT program covers more than 4 million households, benefitting at least 11 million children 0-18 who are able to stay in school and have regular health checks. This April and May the first generation of 400,000 children supported by the CCT program, graduated from secondary education.
"Secretary Soliman made available to the public relevant data about the departments programs and activities. Reports and information are available in the departments website, which the public can access. Even data from the national household targeting system are accessible to everyone," said Mr. Konishi.

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