INSTITUTIONALIZING CIVIC DIGNITY IN OTHER COUNTRIES AND CONTEXTS The value of this case lies not in explaining the outcome of a resettlement project in

Mandaue, but in exploring the role of civic dignity in project design and implementation and unpacking how incorporating civic dignity can improve public outcomes. In many ways, the theory laid out in this chapter may seem like common sense—and therefore, not a very valuable contribution. This is not the case; simple though it may be, the theory is not exactly standard practice. The overwhelming trend in development is to view citizens as beneficiaries, as individuals and communities in need of charity, who lack the know-how to help themselves and need to be rescued by experts and bureaucrats. Whether in America or abroad, big government and big development tend to produce a hammock state of

continued dependence (or worse). The Mandaue case adds to the small but growing chorus of liberty- and market-based approaches to governance and development.

Sometimes the power of participatory governance is discovered through necessity, for example when a community's remote or rural location demands that citizens carry some of the burden of governing. This was true with at least one of the "social

accountability initiatives" studied by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Integrity Action. In an effort named Project BULHON, rural citizens were needed to help fill the gap in monitoring agricultural services, specifically "rice subsidies and

production."¹⁷¹ For the sake of improving the delivery of an important public good and for

171 See Claudia Baez-Camargo, "Participatory monitoring to improve performance of government services and promote citizen empowerment: a success story from the Philippines.”

Bayaniham Undertaking Living in a Healthy and Organised Neighborhood, or Project BULHON, is based in the Philippines as "a joint government-citizen initiative to monitor agricultural services, particularly the distribution of rice subsidies and production programmes," (p. 1-3). It was

the sake of increasing government transparency, citizens were connected with local government officials "from the inception of the initiative, through the design, planning, implementation, and evaluation phases." The original motivation for the project was to curb corruption. The "constructive engagement" approach adopted during the social accountability initiative, however, not only yielded improved delivery and accountability, but it also "developed a more proactive attitude" among the citizens in their relation to the local government.¹⁷²

Similarly spirited efforts are afoot in India as well, where the Public Affairs Centre (PAC) is pioneering a participatory outlet called Citizen Report Cards. Dr. Samuel Paul, founder of PAC, succinctly identified the problem: “In most developing countries, the provision of essential public services to the people is the responsibility of the government.

Monopoly in services often results in inefficiency and non-responsiveness, which in turn causes much public dissatisfaction. In this context, consumers of the services have no recourse to market alternatives.”¹⁷³ Citizen Report Cards work as an innovative collective action mechanism to give citizens leverage against unresponsive, unaccountable, and/or unmotivated government service providers for the sake of improving the delivery of public services and eliminating corruption. In practice, a trusted third-party group (here, the Public Affairs Centre) approaches both a local branch of government service providers (government workers and relevant officials) and the citizen service users. Both the service developed by and facilitated by the Government Watch program based in the Ateneo School of Government in Manila.

172 Claudia Baez-Camargo, "Participatory monitoring to improve performance of government services and promote citizen empowerment: a success story from the Philippines,” p. 3-5

173 Samuel Paul, "Stimulating Activism through Champions of Change," in Accountability through Public Opinion: From Inertia to Public Action, ed. Sina Odugbemi and Taeku Lee, 347-358 (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2011), p. 348

providers and the service consumers are asked to appraise the delivery of services in terms of perceived quality, efficiency, availability, cost-effectiveness, ease of access, etc. The results are shared publicly in media releases—this requires buy-in from local journalists, newspapers in advance. Then, both demand and supply side influences work to drive improvement and innovation.¹⁷⁴

With civic dignity in mind, the virtue of the Citizen Report Card approach is that it moves beyond voting and public opinion polls. Individuals are asked to draw on their experiences and give directed feedback. They are asked about issues that are relevant to their daily lives, and they are asked in a way that is accessible to them (i.e., through an outlet that does not carry high transaction costs). This and similar technologies are further evidence of how improved governance and public services can be natural complements to

"[empowering] citizen groups to play a watch-dog role to monitor public services agencies and local governments” and "[deepening] social capital by converging communities around issues of shared experiences and concerns."¹⁷⁵

Civic dignity "bright spots" exist in America, too, of course. Stand Together is a non-profit dedicated to finding such examples in American communities across a variety of sectors and issues, including employment, education, criminal justice, and city

revitalization. The theme driving Stand Together and the work they support is "helping people help themselves." They take as their starting point that the people closest to the problem likely have the most knowledge about how to fix it, and that "ownership" is key to

174 The success of the Citizen Report Card initiative in India has led other organizations outside of India, such as The World Bank, to promote and adopt the Public Affairs Centre’s framework.

175 Public Affairs Centre & Asian Development Bank, Citizen Report Card Learning Toolkit. n.d.

http://www.citizenreportcard.com/crccom/index/html (accessed June 14, 2017).

meaningful participation. In this sense, the projects they mentor move beyond the older two-dimensional public-private partnership model.¹⁷⁶

One such partner project is Root & Rebound, a California based non-profit, which works to demystify the reentry process for inmates and their families. Lawyers and advocates conduct “reentry readiness” trainings to help parolees navigate what can seem like second-class citizenship. Facing over 44,000 legal barriers to ordinary life (across federal, state, and local levels, impacting housing, family, employment, education, and more), Root & Rebound seeks to disseminate knowledge and thus lower the transaction costs to participation for this vulnerable population as they transition to life after prison.¹⁷⁷ Another dynamic example is the Jubilee Project in Cincinnati, which leverages the power of entrepreneurship, dignified employment opportunities, and home ownership to revitalize decaying neighborhoods. The Jubilee Project "invests in dilapidated homes, trains

unemployed individuals, sells the home to a family in need, and reinvests the proceeds of the sale back into another home."¹⁷⁸ (Many times the individuals employed are considered

"un-hirable," due to low skills, addiction, or criminal records.) The overall value of the neighbor improves as the properties are gradually renovated and the workforce developed;

and families are able to escape high-rents and experience home ownership.

176 Stand Together and the projects with which they partner echo some of the animating principles of Problem-Driven Iterative Adaption (PDIA) discussed earlier in the chapter. See www.stand-together.com

177 See Root & Rebound Reentry Advocates, The Need [for Reentry Readiness]. n.d.

http://www.rootandrebound.org/the-need (accessed August 1, 2017). See also http://www.rootandrebound.org/model-for-change

178 Stand Together, What Does Sustainable Community Development Look Like? May 24, 2017.

http://www.stand-together.org/sustainable-community-development-look-like/ (accessed August 1, 2017).

The previous chapter focused on the individual and the demand-side virtues of civic dignity. This chapter highlighted more of a supply-side approach to the argument, focusing on how one city incorporated civic dignity as it pursued its strategic objectives. But

whether the argument for civic dignity is made in terms of demand- or supply-side benefits is potentially irrelevant as long as opportunities for meaningful participation (or

ownership) are incorporated into policy design and implementation. Doing so should be mutually beneficial for individuals and the health of the self-governing political community alike, something Mayor Cortes of Mandaue took to be true. Toward the end of the

interview, the mayor mused, "We have to teach them, and they have to be a part of it. [This is the] same as the #iamMandaue [campaign]. We are sending a strong message to all the Mandauehanons. They are all part of the team; we can't do it [alone]."¹⁷⁹

179 Jonah Cortes, interview by Melissa Mahoney Smith, Mandaue Reform Journey Field Interview with Mayor Cortes Mandaue, (October 23, 2015).