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New website uses social media tools to monitor government performance


Instead of selfies and food photos, Filipinos who are addicted to social media may now have a better use for sharing information on their smartphones: make sure their taxes are spent on public services.
 
On Tuesday, four media groups launched the Citizen Action Network for Accountability (CANA) along with its new website designed to harness crowdsourcing as a way to promote transparency and hold government officials accountable for public money.
 
The three-year project aims to educate citizens on how to use information technology and social media tools to monitor local government projects, report on their progress, and share their findings with other netizens.
 
“CANA is built on the belief that the more we as ordinary Filipinos can start to understand how local government works, the more we can monitor, engage, shape – and ultimately ensure it is always working for us,” according to a press statement from Rorie Fajardo, CANA Project Manager.
 
The network also plans to set up a minimum of 28 local citizen action groups all over the country, including far-flung and conflict-torn areas such as Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, and Basilan.
 
The website features interactive tools such as a learning zone where users can inquire all about public finance, a citizen's action toolbox with how-tos on organizing local groups and monitoring projects, and a reporting page where citizens can submit data for public use.
Citizen Action Network for Accountability (CANA) seeks to have at least 28 groups nationwide that will monitor how public funds are spent.

 
Former Sarangani Gov. Migs Dominguez, who just ended his nine-year term, said the website could also help educate local governments on how to use social media in promoting their activities. He noted that their websites are often under-utilized, and in the case of his province, web traffic only spikes when there is a fiesta.
 
The project is a joint initiative of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the Center for Community Journalism and Development, MindaNews, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines with partial funding from the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines. – Yasmin Arquiza/ELR, GMA News 
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