Module 3

Governance and Development, and Governance Innovation

Lesson 2 - Governance Innovation

In the Philippine local government, Innovation is the buzzword of the moment. But how

does local government decide what is innovative? Generally, government innovation

uses new approaches to create public value for individuals and for society. It is

changing how the government operates to deliver better outcomes, such as better use of

public resources, more open and trusting societies, and strengthened justice and care for

citizens from all walks of life.

As defined by Gow, an innovation is "an idea, a technique, or a device that was new to

the adopting body, no matter whether it was something completely new to the world or

something borrowed in whole or in part. Most innovations either reflect a desire of

political leaders for greater control of spending, administration, or bureaucrats, or some

outside demand for change" (Gow 1994: 121,130).

In general terms, innovation in governance is a novel idea which is fruitfully

implemented to settle a persistent public problem. It is the act of perceiving and

executing a new way of accomplishing a result and/or performing work. An invention

may contain the integration of new fundamentals, a new arrangement of prevailing

essentials or a significant change or withdrawal from the outdated way of doing things.

It denotes to new products, new methods and platforms, new strategies, and new

procedures. Public sector administration innovation may also be demarcated as the

improvement of new policy projects and new standard operating procedures by public

organizations to address public policy complications. The forms or types of innovation

increased in number through different authors. Smith (2006) explains that innovation

can take a number of forms, he identified three types, namely: product, service
innovation and process innovation. On the otherhand, Frank Liesenborgs (2008), an

executive Accredited Associate of the Institute for Independent Business in London,

identified eight forms of innovation in addition to the three specified by Smith, these

are: business model innovation, marketing innovation, organizational innovation, supply

chain innovation, substantial innovation, financial innovation, systematic innovation,

and social innovation.

Types of Innovation in Governance

Governments can and do innovate in a variety of ways. Developing a suitable typology

of innovations is central to efforts to transfer them. For example, it is easier to transfer a

new design of a sanitation system (like ventilated pit latrines) than to transfer one-stop

government centers, because the latter has significant legal, institutional and

technological prerequisites. Geography and spatial issues will also affect the innovation.

Various writers have attempted to advance different types.

The Center for Public Service Institute (CPSI) developed four types of

innovations:

• Institutional innovations, which focus on the renewal of established institutions

and/or the creation of new institutions;

• Organizational innovation, including the introduction of new working procedures or

management techniques in public administration;

• Process innovation, which focuses on the improvement of the quality of public

service delivery; and

• Conceptual innovation, which focuses on the introduction of new forms of

governance (e.g., interactive policy-making, engaged governance, people’s budget

reforms, horizontal networks).

However, Hartley identifies seven types of innovation. In practice, it is important to

bear in mind that a particular change may result from the application of more than one

type of innovation.

The major types of innovation identified by Hartley are:

• Product: New products; for example, using television to deliver training content to

teachers and nurses;

• Service: New ways to provide services to users; for example, the introduction of on-

line forms;

• Process: New ways of designing organizational processes; for example, reengineering

business processes;

• Position: New contexts or users; for example, addressing the tax needs of informal

enterprises;

• Strategic: New goals or purposes of the organization; for example, community

policing;

• Governance: New forms of citizen engagement and democratic institutions;

• Rhetorical: New language and new concepts; for example, congestion charging in

major cities (Hartley, 2005).

From the above typology, it is easily inferred that the type of innovation will affect the

process of transfer, including how the innovation is documented and the methodology

for sharing the innovation.

The areas of innovation are also varied, including human resources development and

management, public service delivery, Information and Communication Technologies

(ICT) applications in government operations, decentralization, and others. For example,

the Institute for Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) Awards for Innovative
 Management, established in 1990, have been awarded for one-stop shops, online

business registrations (eight ministries, one form); horizontal innovation (team focus on

planning, zoning, and law enforcement as well as horizontal planning) and inter-sectoral

cooperation for youth problems.

Key Factors to Local Innovation

The following are among the key factors that may have led to local innovations and enabled local

authorities to be more creative and innovative.

• A hospitable policy environment. In the case of the Philippines, the Constitution

guarantees the autonomy of local governments. This was operationalized with the spread

of a local government code that became the basis of initiatives and attendant risks taken

by the local governments.

• A "triggering crisis." Innovations may be brought about in response to a crisis, say,

environmental degradation, floods, etc. Pushed against the wall and confronted with a

crisis, various stakeholders in the society, whether government or civil society, become

creative and innovative.

• Aggressive stakeholders: local government. The political leadership usually takes the

initiative in addressing felt, or articulated needs in the polity. The reasons behind this

may range from simple, good and responsive governance, to practical purposes, and

political expediency. The point is that aggressive leadership and commitment on the part

of the formal political system, (i.e. the government), leads to, and sustains innovation.

 Aggressive stakeholders: civil society. The role of civil society in bringing about, and

sustaining, innovation, must be recognized. They may begin as a pressure group, or may

even initiate the project themselves.

 Inadequacy of Financial Resources. The inadequacy of financial resources has led local

authorities to think of additional alternative ways of generating revenues apart from the

conventional means, such as taxes and allotments from national government.

 Response to a demand for specific basic service. Local governments become creative

in response to a pressing basic need that they simply have to respond to and address.

Among these are the so-called basic services including health and housing.

 Attendance in local and international training. Participation in seminars, workshops

etc., where the local chief executive has been exposed to new theories and new ways of

doing things have also led to innovations. Long term training programs sometimes

require re-entry programs that are implemented upon return to the workplace.

 National Programs. While the national government may provide the policy framework

say in addressing specific basic needs e.g., housing, health care, infrastructure

development, etc., local government may build upon these and adapt them (some say

"indigenize" the approaches) for local conditions. The national government's Primary

Health Care Program is an example of a program that was eventually adopted and owned

by the local governments.

 Initiated by the University or local academic institution. Local academic institutions

being the traditional seat of knowledge also have become sources of new ideas and

innovations. To a certain extent, this has become their reason for existence and the

challenge is for them not to be marginalized and caught up in the ivory tower of over

theorizing-detached from the real world of implementation.

In the Philippines, subsequent to decades of experience with decentralization and

devolution in the local level, stories on innovations on local government became plentiful.

These are the fruits of local governments investing in new technologies, new processes,

and becoming more innovative and reactive to government development needs and

performance.

The Galing Pook Foundation being the award-giving body on innovation in the local

level, initiated by the Local Government Academy- Department of the Interior and

Local Government (LGA-DILG) and the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), and
other similar programs, such as the Health and Management Information System (

HAMIS) Awards of the Department of Health and the Konrad Adenauer Medal of

Excellence of the Local Government Development Foundation, all attest to the

emergence of creative and innovative local governments in the country. The Rapid Field

Appraisals (RFA’s) conducted by the Governance and Local Democracy Project

(GOLD) likewise document many good practices at the local level.

Conceptual Framework of Innovation

SAMPLE CASES OF INNOVATION

VALENZUELA CITY, METRO MANILA

CURRENT INNOVATIVE INITIATIVES OF THE CITY OF ILOILO

A. ICARE COMMAND CENTER FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION – Gaisano City

Center (ICC) along Diversion Road in Mandurriao district will house the Iloilo City

Action and Response (ICARE) Center.

 The 38-million state-of-the art five story command center, set to start construction this

year, will rise in front of Sta. Rita de cascia Chapel. Mayor Jerry P. Trenas and

Gaisano capital Group Western Viasayas Vice Pres. Carlos P. Legara signed Sept.2,

the Usufruct agreement for 375- square meter site. It will house the City Disaster Risk

Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), Public Safety and Transportation

Management Office (PSTMO), and Police, and Fire Stations.

 Iloilo City Action and Response Command Center satellites will be established

in the districts of metropolis to immediately respond to emergencies and urgent

situations. The 10 Million ICARE satellite will rise in first in Junatdo

Subdivision in Brgy. Calumpang, Molo. Another one is set in the identified site

in Barangay Sambag, Jaro in front of the old police substation.

B. Digital Info Kiosk- Iloilo City has set up a digital information kiosk at the ground floor

of City Hall to give the public easier time looking for departments and offices as well

as the fees needed for every transaction.

INNOVATION ON DIFFERENT AREAS OF GOVERNANCE

Local Resource Generation

 The small municipality of Dingras, Ilocos Norte, build its public market stalls through a

variation of the BOT approach.

 Acquiring an equipment pool has enabled the municipality of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, to

meet its own infrastructure needs, and even rent them out to neighboring municipalities.

All the mayor did was to call the various agencies in the area who had underutilized or

broken down equipment, had them transferred through memorandum receipt to the

municipality, and rehabilitated them.

 The “Reforming the Real Property Tax System” program of the province of Nueva

Vizcaya improved its cost to collection ratio (0.90:1.00). The customary seven forms to

be filled out have been reduced to four. The LGU has also dispatched a team to deliver

services to remote barangay of the province. Accordingly, the program effected a

 significant increase in revenue collection and garnered the biggest increase in the region

in 2001.

Environmental Management

 The “Save the Maasin Watershed in Iloilo” was a program that mobilized more than

5,000 participants from all sectors of Ilonggo society who actively participated in the

massive tree planting program every start of the rainy season. Participants included

corporations, private companies, NGOs, POs, school and the tri-media networks.

 The Eco-Walk for the Environmental in Baguio City is a year-round environmental

awareness program for children. It addresses the need for children to develop

relationships with the environment through a series of guided hikes to the city’s major

watershed. It has become a community undertaking involving many sectors including the

city government, the private sector, civil society, church.

 The Balik Inang Kalikasan, Balik Amang Pabrika (BiKBAP) program of Carmona,

Cavite which was host to Metro Manila’s garbage for five years, aims to institute an

effective solid waste management system in the municipality. After a massive

information, education and communication campaign capability, training and

volunteering, the volume of garbage generated has been significantly reduced. Moreover,

garbage has been efficiently segregated and collected in 10 out of 14 barangay. Thus the

Carmona Ecology Center, a main component of the program, has become one of the best

practices on solid waste management in the country, and has hosted many local and

international training’s fields visits.

Social Welfare and Health Services

 The provincial governments of Negros Oriental set up a community primary hospital in the

hinterlands of the province to provide basic health services to the people and meet their

minimum basic needs. In the process, it also became a counter-insurgency strategy.

  In Dumarao, Capiz, a community health volunteer was assigned in each barangay to assist

the rural midwife in primary health care.

 In 2000, the Minimum Basic Needs (MBN) Approach to Development of the province of

Davao del Norte was institutional to identify the top ten unmet minimum basic needs for the

years 2000 and 2001. This approach has engendered consciousness among local chief

executives of the different LGUs of the province, and has facilitated the prioritization of the

needs of the LGUs, based on the most unmet needs of the constituents in the area. The

project has also elicited positive feedback and greater participation from the community at

the barangay level.

Housing

 Puerto princesa provided opportunities for low-cost housing to families in the city. The

program emerged in response to the squatter problem of the city and the need to provide

affordable low cost housing alternatives to the squatters to enable them to be relocated. In

the process, it stopped the proliferation of squatters. It was supported by the USAID.

 Legaspi City and Victoria’s in Negros Oriental floated bonds to meet the demands for

housing among its people. The bonds have already been redeemed. Both local

governments have identified other projects that could be supported by a similar bond

flotation scheme.

Inter – local Cooperation

 A group of five upland municipalities in Capiz and Aklan formed the Central Panay

Economic Union that opened trade and market relations with other municipalities in

Capiz and Aklan.

 Various municipalities in Mindanao sharing common boundaries and strategies directions

have launched agro-industrial councils featuring cooperative arrangements among

themselves. Though not amalgamated, these municipalities recognized the value of

synergy rooted in economic, rather than political, cooperation.

Peoples Participation and Empowerment

 In Naga City, the “ People Empowerment” program has the following key objectives: to

establish a structure where an active partnership between the city government and the

people of Naga can be achieved, and to implement the local Government Code provision

on sectoral representation. Thus, the LGU has a strong, functional peoples council with

almost 200 accredited NGOs and POs. The programs planning application, the Naga City

Participatory Planning Initiative, was honored in 1998 as one of the ten best practices in

the world, and was given the Dubai International Award by the United Nations Center for

Human Settlements. The LGU was also cited by Asia week as one of the most improved

cities in Asia in 1999.

 Nueva Vizcaya “Empowerment of persons with Disability (PWD)” program has

organized PWDs into a federation and has made them partners in the implementation of

self-sufficiency projects of the province. The federation has become a regular and voting

member of the Social Development Committee of the Provincial Development Council,

thus actively participating in local development undertakings.

Productivity Improvement and Management Innovations

 Naga City reinvented its government by focusing on four major areas of local

government productivity and by harnessing the potentials of computers. Transparency of

information, predictability, accessibility of services and quality of results were key

features of the local government services, ranging from obtaining business permits and

license to documents from the local civil registrar.

Livelihood Generation

 The City of Marikina provided livelihood opportunities to its people, particularly the youth,

through the Barangay talyer (shop in every village) program. Among other things, tools

are made available to the people who can borrow and use them for livelihood generation

activities, ranging from manufacturing, repair and renovation to sculpting.

 The city government of Pasay has organized financial centers in its 35 barangay through

the Bayanihan Banking program. The program has also stared a uniform and compatible

savings-based financial intermediation system among the organization in the city and has

provided 1,800 poor members of the program access to financial services.