Empowering local governments to deliver essential services is crucial for the Philippines to boost human capital and achieve its goal of becoming a middle-class society by 2040, according to a new report by the World Bank.
Based the latest Philippines Economic Update (PEU), World Bank emphasized the importance of local government units (LGUs) in providing health, nutrition, and early childhood interventions.
World Bank also noted the role of LGUs in facilitating human capital development, which includes the health, knowledge, skills, and experience acquired throughout a person's life.
"The process of building human capital is sequential and cumulative, underscoring the need to start early," said Zafer Mustafaoğlu, World Bank Country Director for the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam.
"Although human capital can be acquired over a lifetime, it is built most effectively when people are young. This is where local governments can play a very critical role,” he added.
Local government units, including provinces, cities, municipalities, and villages, are uniquely positioned to ensure the delivery of essential services at the individual, household, and community levels.
Mustafaoğlu added that these units have mandates, defined under the 1991 Local Governance Code, to deliver health care, nutrition services, and manage social welfare.
They are also responsible for delivering early childhood education services for children aged three and four.
"Good nutrition in the early years as well as positive early experiences affect the quality of the brain's architecture, laying the foundation for future learning, health, and development," said Tara Béteille, World Bank's Lead Economist and Human Development Program Leader, said.
“Investing in the first six years of a child's life — particularly the first 1,000 days between conception and a child's second birthday — has the highest return on investment for the country,” she added.
However, the Philippines faces significant challenges in achieving optimal early years outcomes. Undernutrition among Filipino children is a major concern, with one in four children under five considered stunted or small for their age in 2021. Enrollment in early childhood education also remains low, despite most villages having daycare centers.
The PEU identified several factors hindering LGUs from fulfilling their mandates, including a shortage of "early years workers" such as community health workers, preschool teachers, and other local community-based professionals. Béteille noted that these workers are crucial for driving better outcomes in health, nutrition, and education.
To address these challenges, the report recommended bold reforms, including addressing worker shortages, enhancing the capacity of LGUs, and motivating early years workers through training, improved compensation, and incentives. It also suggests using performance-based grants to encourage LGUs to prioritize early years services and mechanisms like Program Convergence Budgeting (PCB) to pool resources.
Additional recommendations include harmonizing the roles of national and local governments, enhancing monitoring and evaluation, and fostering community-level coordination.
These steps aim to enable early years workers to perform more effectively and achieve better early year outcomes for Filipino children, ultimately contributing to the country's human capital development and economic growth.