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México: Investigación Acción / Action Research
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Farmer Oversight in Mexico Seeks to Improve Government Fertilizer Program
Farmers in Guerrero, Mexico have begun a second year of independent monitoring of the federal government’s subsidized chemical fertilizer program, with support from ARC and partner organization Promotores de la Autogestión para el Desarrollo Social (PADS). Monitoring of the 2020 cycle highlighted a 12.7% cut to the program’s budget, persistent exclusion of eligible farmers, and distribution of fertilizers incompatible with Guerrero’s diverse soils. As part of the Contraloría Campesina (“Peasant Oversight”) accountability initiative, the Coordinating Committee of Communal Landholders representing approximately 1,000 of the 1,250 communities throughout the state’s seven regions is presenting 10 proposals to improve management of the fertilizer program in 2021. These include:
- Transforming the traditional fertilizer program to ProFertimas, an agroecology-friendly version to reduce farmer dependence on chemical fertilizers
- An oversight commission with government officials and initiative members
- Drafting Operating Rules for 2021 with the oversight commission
- Community assembly input when preparing the program registry to ensure accuracy
- Regional soil studies to determine the appropriate formula and dosage of fertilizer
- Distribution of organic fertilizer to farmers who request it
- Development of local factories to produce sufficient quantities of fertilizer
- Technical assistance through interdisciplinary teams comprised of agronomists, agroecologists, ecologists, and economists, among others
- Greater transparency of program operations, including audits of the 2019 and 2020 cycles
- Shielding the fertilizer program during the 2021 electoral cycle
Due to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, the Coordinating Committee has shifted from large gatherings and mass mobilizations to a series of smaller local and regional meetings. The smaller meetings have actually allowed for broader participation in more in-depth “stock taking” conversations about their own past activism. On March 25, 2021 , the Coordinating Committee held a press conference outside the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development in Chilpancingo, Guerrero which received wide media coverage in Mexico. Members presented the results of an internal evaluation of the fertilizer program and called for immediate fertilizer delivery within the next two weeks in an effort to ensure distribution is not used for electoral gains during gubernatorial elections this June. In response, program officials and the Coordinating Committee met via videoconference to discuss progress toward these proposals. An additional demonstration is set for April 10, 2021.
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La Contraloría Campesina Impulsa propuestas para mejorar el programa federal de fertilizantes
Campesinos de Guerrero, México lanzaron una segunda ronda de monitoreo independiente del programa federal de fertilizantes, junto con el apoyo de Promotores de la Autogestión para el Desarrollo Social (PADS) y ARC. Operando como una Contraloría Campesina, la Coordinadora de Comisariados Ejidales y Comunales de Guerrero – en representación de alrededor de 1,000 comunidades de los 1,253 oficialmente reconocidos a nivel estatal – generó 10 propuestas para mejorar el programa fertilizantes en el 2021. Entre ellos:
- Que el programa se transforme y denomine Programa de Fertilidad y Manejo Agroecológico de Suelos (Pro-Fertimas)
- Instalar una Comisión Mixta con representantes de instituciones y Comisariados
- Que las Reglas de Operación 2021 se elaboren en la Comisión Mixta
- Elaborar el padrón de beneficiarios considerando a los productores que sean avalados por las asambleas de ejidos y comunidades
- Realizar estudios de suelos para delimitar provincias agroecológicas y paquetes tecnológicos apropiados
- Incorporar paquetes de abonos orgánicos a productores que lo soliciten
- Establecer biofábricas de producción de insumos agroecológicos (uno por municipio)
- Implementar el programa de acompañamiento técnico participativo, con equipos integrados de agrónomos, agroecólogos, ecólogos y economistas, entre otros.
- Que se sanitice el Programa en los ejercicios 2019 y 2020, transparentando los resultados de auditorías
- Que se blinde el Programa durante las elecciones del 2021
En el contexto de la pandemia de Covid-19, la Coordinadora modificó su estrategia tradicional de reuniones grandes y movilizaciones masivas, optando por una serie de reuniones focalizadas a nivel local y regional. Tras estas reuniones informativas, se logró la participación más amplia en donde participantes hicieron un balance de sus propias experiencias y activismo. El 25 de marzo de 2021, la Coordinadora realizó una conferencia de prensa afuera de la Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural (Sader) en Chilpancingo, Guerrero, la cual tuvo una amplia cobertura de prensa en México. Miembros divulgaron un informe con su balance sobre el programa de fertilizantes y exigieron que el fertilizante se entregue de manera inmediata en los próximos dos semanas con fines de prevenir el clientelismo político durante las elecciones gubernamentales en junio. Al día siguiente, se llevó a cabo una videoconferencia entre representantes de la Coordinadora y funcionarios de la Sader para revisar el estatus de las propuestas campesinas. El 10 de abril realizarán otra movilización en la capital del estado – un día con mucha resonancia histórica en México, el aniversario del asesinato del líder agrario Emiliano Zapata.
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For more on citizen action in Mexkco's Guerrero State see:
Para obtener más información sobre la acción ciudadana en el estado mexicano de Guerrero, consulte:
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The Philippines: Pandemics and Plebiscites
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Citizens Demanding Vaccine Accountability in the Philippines
A new G-Watch report Citizens Demanding Vaccine Accountability: Highlights of G-Watch’s 2021 Ako, Ikaw, Tayo, May Pananagutan presents highlights of the annual event Ako, Ikaw, Tayo, May Pananagutan (AIM-P) with this year’s theme: ‘Love and Accountability at the Time of a Pandemic.’ As the Philippines starts its vaccination drive, G-Watch’s calls for vaccine accountability ring with more urgency, making insights in this report useful and critical for citizen collective action in making government’s COVID19 response effective and responsive. Key themes that emerged from the assessment and reflection are as follows:
- The interfacing of the national and local governments would be key to the success of the vaccination program.
- The upcoming 2022 elections can be an accountability platform for the government’s performance in responding to the pandemic.
- Despite the pandemic, citizens and citizen groups have adapted to continue demanding responsive governance and exacting accountability from the government.
- The youth are leading the call for accountability in COVID-19 response.
- The call for accountability in the vaccination program mobilizes multi-sectoral action
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People Power in Philippines Blocks Splitting of Palawan Province
In a new think piece One Palawan Lang: The National Significance of the Palawan Plebiscite, Joy Aceron and Palawan veteran community organizer Mike Ollave writes this piece that analyzes the recent Palawan plebiscite. Signed into law by President Duterte in 2019, the proposal to split Palawan province into three provinces is an agenda concocted by politicians at the top swiftly authorized by the legislative process and presidential approval. People’s movements like One Palawan, the Save Palawan Movement and the Apostolic Vicariate of Taytay organized and mobilized to resist and oppose the split. The people of Palawan voted against the splitting of their province into three during a March 2021 plebicite. The Palawan election proves a clean peaceful democratic electoral exercise remains feasible even amidst the pandemic. What is more, an electoral exercise can still be issue-based and an opportunity for the powerful to be held to account. From an insider-outsider and multi-level view, they discuss the campaign’s positive implications on the Philippines and citizen movements. The Palawan plebiscite shows that top-down agenda initiated by the powerful can still be defeated by mostly citizen resistance below. Palawan will remain as one province.
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Mike Ollave in San Isidro Labrador Parish in Port Barton, San Vicente conducting an IEC activity for One Palawan. Mike Ollave is a Palaweño who is a community organizer in Puerto Princesa, a local coordinator of G-Watch, and an active volunteer of Save Palawan Movement.
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Webinar: The Philippine Poor in the Time of Three Pandemics
Joy Aceron and Francis Isaac of G-Watch were speakers in a webinar entitled ‘The Philippine Poor in the Time of Three Pandemics: Duterte’s Iron Fist, Extrajudicial Killings and Covid-19’ organized by Gannon University with the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on March 11, 2021. The webinar looked into the simultaneous crises that hit the Philippines, affecting especially the poorest, with violence spreading like a virus -- perpetuated by well-oiled machinery of the ruling power in the state and society at different levels. Aceron shared how violence has perpetuated impunity that weakened resistance and accountability efforts in the Philippines. This builds a constituency for the incumbent in preparation for the 2022 elections, making it more critical than ever for democratic and accountability forces to continue pushing back. Isaac shared the historical origins of how violence affects the rich and the poor differently in the country, including how the institutional development of the police made it a conducive ally in the political weaponization of violence.
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The Pandemic Continues, and So Do Health Worker Protests
Over a year from the start of the global pandemic, the Health Worker Protest Project has collected 792 reports from 96 countries. As the pandemic continues, health workers have to find more and more innovative ways of making their voices heard. Health workers in Canada recently delivered hearts made of ice to their local government, to call them out for their cold heartedness in not listening to them or responding to their demands. In Mexico, health workers took advantage of the opening of a new bus line to protest, calling out “we want vaccines!” Many health workers across Mexico still do not have access to the COVID-19 vaccine, and protests have been held in Mexico City and Oaxaca. Around the world health workers are still at great risk, both from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other protest movements they bravely support. Hundreds of nurses in Lesotho were fired two weeks ago after going on strike for fair wages. Dr. Meenal Viz, one of the first doctors to protest in the United Kingdom last spring, published an op-ed reflecting on her silent protest and the events of the past year: “Protest does not happen in a vacuum; it is a symptom of systemic failures,” she said. Help make health worker voices heard. Please continue to send health worker protest and proposal reports to @HealthWorkerPro on Twitter and healthworkerprotest@gmail.com.
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Source Mexican newspaper La Jornada: Academia nacional de médicos pide vacunas para todo el sector (March 15, 2021)
Article title: National Academy of Physicians calls for vaccines for the entire sector
Article caption: Messages outside a hospital in Mexico City, to demand vaccines. Photo Alfredo Domínguez / file
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Citizen Engagement in Practice: Lessons from the independent monitoring of citizen engagement implementation in World Bank funded Projects in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda
Friday, April 2, 2021 @ 8:00–9:30 am Washington, D.C. time
Africa Freedom of Information Centre and Accountability Research Centre
Since 2014 the World Bank has instituted high-profile actions to strengthen citizen voice in projects including a “citizen engagement (CE) mainstreaming commitment” establishing minimums for CE and developing the Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement to provide guidance for how projects can cultivate community response capacity and be more receptive to their inputs. CSOs members of the pan-African network AFIC have independently monitored how projects Ghana, Malawi and Uganda are implementing CE design commitments in practice. The session will share their findings and lessons learnt, providing insights useful for civil society, governments, the World Bank and other stakeholders.
Moderator: Rachel Nadelman, Research Fellow and Project Lead, Accountability Research Centre
Panelists:
Beauty Emefa Narteh @bemefa, Executive Secretary, Ghana Anticorruption Coalition @GACC_GHANA
Michael Kaiyatsa @kaiyatsamichael, Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights Rehabilitation, Malawi @CHRRMalawi
Gilbert Sendugwa @GilbertSendugwa, Executive Director, Africa Freedom of Information Centre @africafoicentre
Erik Caldwell Johnson, Senior Social Development Specialist and Citizen Engagement Global Lead
Watch Live Here: https://bit.ly/2Nr3kaa
Interested, but can’t attend? Write to us arc@american.edu
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Accountability Keywords Launching soon!
Key terms in the accountability field often have different meanings, to different actors, in different contexts – and in different languages. This project addresses “what counts” as accountability, analyzing the meanings and usage of both widely used and proposed “accountability keywords” – drawing on dialogue with dozens of scholars and practitioners around the world. The project includes both an extensive Accountability Working Paper (a work in progress by Jonathan Fox) and more than 30 invited posts that reflect on meanings and usage of relevant keywords in their own contexts and languages. Watch this space and ARC social media platforms in the coming weeks!
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Please share with colleagues who may be interested to sign up for future monthly updates on publications and highlights of our partner organizations’ work for social change and greater accountability. You can also follow ARC on @AcctResearchCtr, Facebook, or LinkedIn. ARC is now on Instagram too!
With Regards from the ARC team:
Jonathan Fox, director
Angela Bailey, managing director
Naomi Hossain, research professor
Joy Aceron, researcher and G-Watch convenor-director
Rachel Nadelman, researcher (World Bank Citizen Engagement)
Mariana Cepeda, researcher (Colombia)
Judy Gearhart, visiting scholar (translational labor rights)
Abrehet Gebremedhin, research assistant
Jennifer Johnson, research consultant (health worker protest & accountability keywords)
Maria Ortega, administration and finance
Rehana Paul, communications assistant
Megan DeTura, research assistant (Mexico)
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