Triangulation Framework for Local Service Delivery - Philippine ...

and economic priorities are based on broad consensus in society and that the voices of the poorest and
the most vulnerable are heard in decision-making over the allocation of development resources” (UNDP
1997:3).
Further, this important linkage is evidenced by the instrumental (institutional) and intrinsic
(democratic) value of governance to development.
4.2.3.3 Institutional governance
Institutional governance refers to three things: (i) the effective functioning and balancing of institutions
(formal rules and informal norms and their enforcement characteristics), (ii) the primacy of institutions
as main drivers of improved LSD vis-à-vis policy and financial characteristics of Triangulation
Framework, and (iii) the role of agency of institutional actors in bringing about institutional change
vis-à-vis (i) and (ii), in capitalizing on effective leadership and political will for improving LSD systems
and practices, and in realizing the interaction of decentralization (decentralization theorem and
principle of subsidiarity) 21 and governance principles (efficiency [allocative and operational],
transparency, accountability, participation, and predictability/ rule of law) and values (rights, genderresponsiveness,
equity, and sustainability) for effective LSD. The intervention from governance to
institutions (unbroken arrow) to development outcomes (broken arrow) in Figure 4 points to the
instrumentality of institutional governance to development. The broken arrow means that development
hinges on the strategic and effective interventions from three characteristics of LSD – policy,
institutions, and finance; in other words, the achievement of human development relies heavily on the
triangulation-cum-interdependence of the policy, institutional, and financial characteristics.
4.2.3.4 Democratic governance
Democratic governance refers to the practice of governance as an important/intrinsic aspect of
development per se in virtue of providing ample democratic space for people empowerment. 22 Citing
21 Effective LSD should cohere with decentralization theorem: “Each public service should be provided by the
jurisdiction having control over the minimum geographic area that would internalize the benefits and costs of such
a provision” (Oates 1972: 35). It must also conform to the principle of subsidiarity where services are deemed to
be delivered effectively by lower levels unless the higher levels make a better job.
22 World Bank provides an institutional definition of empowerment as “the expansion of assets and capabilities of
poor people to participate in, negotiate, with, influence, control and hold accountable institutions that affect their
lives” (World Bank, 2002: xviii, 14). Empowerment is, therefore, a product of the interaction between the agency
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