In the Philippines, many local governments need to upgrade their capacities for the full devolution of some basic services from the national government as mandated in the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court ruling which allocates greater resources to the local government units. Identifying capacity-building needs therefore is essential. A scholarly assessment of such needs necessitates a robust analysis of capacities of local governments. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of empirical evidence about the level of capacity of local government units (LGU) in carrying out their policy mandates. Such evidence is crucial in the design of programs aimed at upgrading or enhancing such capacity. Most of the existing scholarly enquiries are case study types that usually focus on individual local government units or specific capability. For instance, Aquino et al (2019) investigated governance competencies of village chiefs while Lucena (2018) assessed the capabilities of La Union LGUs in geographic information system (GIS) as basis for formulating action plans. A more comprehensive assessment is necessary and urgently needed.
This paper aims to analyze the analytical capacity of local government units for evidence-informed decision-making. It primarily uses data gathered via the PIDS LGSF-AM Baseline Study on Policy and Governance Gaps for the Local Government Support Fund Assistance to Municipalities (LGSF-AM). The analysis focuses on capacities for data collection, processing, analysis and utilization at the individual level and mechanisms in place at the organizations level.