Book Description

To contribute to better understanding of the politics of reform, The Asia Foundation, Developmental Leadership Program and Australian Aid published Room for Maneuver: Social Sector Reform in the Philippines. Exploring four important social sector reforms -- anti-violence against women and children, reproductive health, freedom of information, and education governance -- the cases focus on the institutional contexts, what happened, who initiated and persevered in their prosecution, and draws out why some succeeded and others failed. Room for Maneuver may help development agencies and practitioners understand better that development of all kinds and in all spheres and sectors have technical and political dimensions and that using a technical lens without a corresponding political lens, and vice versa, will continue to be a serious limitation in improving the effectiveness of development assistance. This book is a follow on to case studies on economic policy reform.