The WHY of ENet Philippines

Learning Activity One enabled us to recognize and organize our WHYs as individual citizen-advocates.

Learning Activity Two introduces us to the WHYs of ENet Philippines. What lessons can its experiences in education advocacy offer to citizen advocates? ENet Philippines was launched as a national education advocacy network in 2000. How did that happen and why?

The answer is an interesting interplay of stories – global, national, and local.

The Global WHY

The global story dates back to 1990, International Literacy Year. The first global summit on Education for All (EFA) was held in Jomtien, Thailand. Participating governments, including the Philippines, declared their commitment to achieve the goal of education for all in 10 years. Their shared understanding was that the minimum meant the provision of universal primary education and the elimination of adult illiteracy.

As the 2000 Millennium approached, governments reviewed their commitment to  EFA and acknowledged that they fell short of their goals. Meeting in Dakar, Senegal for the second global summit on Education for All, they recommitted themselves to EFA and listed  6 specific goals to be achieved in 15 years. Hence EFA 2015.

One of the realizations from the review of EFA was that its ambitious goals will not be achieved if there is no active citizens involvement, that goes beyond attending conferences. Citizens need to continuously engage governments and persist in their campaigns. 

Major global citizens organizations formed the Global Campaign for Education (GCE)  to actively participate at the 2000 Education Summit. They also encouraged and supported the formation of national education campaign coalitions.

Reference reading.  David Archer’s article about Dakar 2000 – https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-role-of-civil-society-in-the-dakar-world-education-forum/

In the Philippines, a series of consultations led to the organization of ENet Philippines. We can say that one WHY for deciding to launch ENet was for citizens in the Philippines to contribute our share to the global campaign, and also to benefit from being part of it. This global WHY continues to be an integral part of the motives for ENet’s education advocacy. 

But it is fair to say that being global, that WHY is quite remote for most of ENet’s members.

The National WHY

The story of ENet as a national citizens advocacy network is part  of the larger story of the Philippines before and after EDSA. An initiative like ENet could not happen except after EDSA.  During the years under the Marcos dictatorship, it was difficult to consider any form  of citizens advocacy, even though there were many issues that affected the citizenry, which called for them to raise their voices in protest. But in a repressive situation, to speak out publicly, which is one simple way to understand advocacy, was not only dangerous. It was considered futile. Hence, instead of raising voices to influence government, the tendency  was to criticize and denounce, to oppose and resist.

After EDSA the democratic space opened for citizens advocacy, that extended up to critical collaboration and principled partnerships with government. But the strong tradition of resistance to government and suspicion continued among many citizens organizations.  Besides, there were valid reasons for continuing opposition. This is one of the WHY of ENet – to help citizens use the democratic space so that  their voices will be listened to, and bring about changes that will improve their lives. While we remain aware of the limitations of post-EDSA democracy, our focus is on pursuing the possibilities for change through citizens advocacy, particularly in the field of education.

The Local WHY

Before ENet was established, most of the stories we shared about citizens’ involvement in education were local stories. Before 2000, there were no significant citizens’ advocacy about the whole national education system. The formal education system was seen as too big and beyond our capacity to influence. Citizens’ organizations were involved in education among the local grassroots communities, as part of development projects. Education initiatives were in popular and  adult education, even for out of school children and youth and children. 

This was a strong point –  that we were focused on doing what we can do with what  we have, to improve the situation of those in need. But we also realized that we could not remain small and separate. Our appreciation of ENet was based on the realization that by banding together our voices could be better heard and we could influence those with more resources, power and responsibility, which is another way to describe advocacy. 

But given the dominant experience of working with the grassroots, the motivation of local citizens organizations to become part of national advocacy through ENet included the goal of insuring that the whole education system pays special attention to the marginalized, excluded, and vulnerable sectors – MEVS.