Watching the brave Jun Lozada on television, I thought to myself, why do we Filipinos always have to rely on ?heroes? and singular events like the People Power revolutions in order to effect positive change in the country? In part, it?s probably because we have not devoted sustained attention to reforming the dysfunctional incentive structure in our country?over the past decades.
By ?incentive structure,? I mean the societal reward system in which the interplay of political, economic and institutional forces determines whether an action will be rewarded or penalized. Our incentive structure is such that the powerful and corrupt are rewarded?handsomely?while those who want to speak the truth must face ?the dark side of the state.?
Nowhere is our flawed incentive structure more clearly on display than in the education sector, where there is no incentive for a government to spend on education because its benefits are long-term. The incentive to spend on defense or debt service is much greater. Military restiveness is bad for any regime, and we want to maintain our credit-worthiness. While the Philippines allocates the largest share of the budget to education, our per capita spending on education has been falling steadily over the past several years, compared to that of our Asian neighbors.
There is also little incentive for quality education even at the public school level. The system is stressed to breaking point. Any major policy change?such as implementing more stringent standards like higher passing grades or basing teacher promotion on student performance?could lead to undesirable consequences, like more repeaters or an acute shortage of good teachers.
The 57-75 Campaign, spearheaded by the Foundation for Worldwide People Power, League of Corporate Foundations, Philippine Business for Education, Ateneo Center for Educational Development, Philippine Business for Social Progress, and Synergeia Foundation, is a private sector attempt to change the incentive structure in favor of quality education. This campaign aims to change the incentive structure in three ways.
First, the 57-75 Campaign had proposed to specific pilot sites that it would provide financial support for education improvement plans with clear performance targets.
These plans are spearheaded by a multi-sectoral alliance: the division office of the Department of Education, local government, private universities, local companies, NGOs and other concerned stakeholders.
The premise is that local empowerment, multi-sectoral cooperation and a deliberate focus on achievement are keys to improving education quality. Second, the formation of the multi-sectoral alliance is in itself a performance incentive, because it provides collective accountability for education improvement. In many of the pilot sites, other sectors (aside from the Department of Education) were not even aware of the extent of the education crisis until they became involved in 57-75. When a problem is unseen, accountability to address it is nonexistent.
Third, the 57-75 Campaign will approach corporate and private donors for resources to support the education plans being prepared by the alliances. For donors, the incentive to support these plans is the desire to see results for their money. For the longest time, corporate and private donors have been giving donations to public schools, but many of these schools have failed to improve, and the overall quality of education has gone down.
Experience has taught us that empowerment is more effective than charity, and this is what the education alliances represent?an institutional capacity to translate resources into results.
The members of the local education alliances have undergone a collective process of understanding what the problems in their areas are, what needs to be done, and how reforms can be sustained. They have accepted responsibility for improving education in their areas, and thus resources given to them stand the best chance of bearing fruit in terms of sustained performance improvement.
These incentives are already yielding positive results in the pilot sites. In Iligan City, counterpart resources are already being pledged by local stakeholders even before the education plan has been finalized. In Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, the education alliance has developed an innovative school feeding program together with Jollibee Foundation and the AIM-Team Energy Center. In Pampanga, Gov. Ed Panlilio has embarked on an extensive community profiling initiative to discover the real needs of the schools and to cultivate local ownership of the campaign. In Guimaras, the local Department of Education and the provincial government have already laid the plans for a major stakeholder consultation this summer. In San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, the efforts have already spread to the neighboring towns and cities. In Iloilo City, under the leadership of Mayor Jerry Treńas, the alliance has set a target of zero non-readers by 2009 and the local school board has allocated counterpart funds for the initiative.
I believe that addressing the underlying incentive structure is an indispensable ingredient in dealing with a major challenge like uplifting education quality?or combating corruption. In order for our nation to move forward, we need to create incentives for the hero in us.
Joel Pagsanghan (jpagsanghan@surfshop.net.ph) is a consultant of the Foundation for Worldwide People Power and a member of the 57-75 Task Force.
