Participatory Governance and

Active Citizenship

Anne Lan K. Candelaria, Ph.D.

Department of Political Science
Ateneo de Manila University
 Presentation Outline
Participatory governance
The role of the citizen
AP Grade 10 as a participatory space
Participatory
Governance
 In a democracy, participation is not only a
goal but also a fundamental right.
Governance refer to the processes and
institutions that contribute to public policy
how interactions are structured, how
decisions are made and how resources are
allocated.

Hence, to participate in governance means

to take part in the formulation, passage,
and/or implementation of public policies.
Civic engagement and participatory
governance are related to each
other, but they are not the same.
Civic engagement refers to the
broader participation of citizens in
the life of their community
Participatory governance refers to the
engagement of citizens in public spaces that
result to the formulation and implementation
of public policies intended to improve their
lives.
 Participation in the policymaking process
helps deepen democracy, facilitate
inclusive and sustained growth, promote
equity and social justice and strengthen
social capital.
Participatory governance requires
competence.
Participatory governance requires
incentive.
Empowerment as the ultimate goal.
The role of
the citizen
2 Views of Citizenship membership status
of individuals based
on formal legal
State-Centered statutes regulated by
the State

People-Centered/ political actors

Democratic constituting political
Citizenship communities as
public spaces
Democratic citizenship frames the unity of a
state based on shared meanings and
experiences.

Therefore our allegiance is horizontal which

in turn constructs the vertical.
ACTIVE Citizenship who we are, what is
important to us, what we should do are
actively constructed

It is not imposed upon us by the sovereign

State.

The State is not over and above us, but an

equal participant in governance.
Participatory Active
governance Citizenship
AP10 as a participatory space
Araling Panlipunan Grade 10 is framed along the
three general principles of empowered
participatory governance (EMG):

1. Focus on specific tangible problems

2. Involvement of ordinary people and public
officials close to them who are affected by
these problems
3. The deliberative development of solutions to
these problems
 Araling Panlipunan Grade 10
highlights contemporary issues that are
vital to how the next generation of
Filipinos will understand who they are,
what their place is, and what roles they
should play in the local and global
communities.
 AP Grade 10 seeks to aid the
next generation (our students) in
the construction of the Filipino
citizen using their experiences of
contemporary issues as foundation.
 There is a big difference between:
knowing who we are by knowing who we are based
name or category on shared experience
 A nation is a shared enterprise of
inhabitation.

How it functions and behaves largely

depend on:
1. how we relate to one another as political
and social beings, and
2. how willing we are to participate in the
policy process.
Thank you.

Questions?
 Processing:
Given what I have learned thus far:

I envision my AP 10 classroom as
__________________________________
__ .

To implement this vision, I need to

__________________________________
__ .
 Sources
Fung, A. and Wright, E.O. ( xx ). Thinking about
empowered participatory governance
Fisher, F. (2012). Participatory governance: From theory
to practice, The Oxford Handbook of Governance.
Oxford University Press.
Stewart, A. (2008). Two conceptions of citizenship, The
British Journal of Sociology, 46 (1), pp. 63-78.
UN Economic and Social Council (2007). Participatory
governance and citizens engagement in policy
development, service delivery and budgeting. Report
presented during the 6th Session of the Committee of
Experts on Public Administration.
Heywood, A. (2013). Politics, 4th Edition. Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan.