The Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) is an institutionalized award, incentive, honor, and recognition-based program in the Philippines. It aims to uphold inclusive, people-oriented reforms that enable Local Government Units (LGUs) to foster a culture of good governance amid local government challenges. Implemented by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) since 2010, the SGLG became law in April 2019, institutionalizing a performance-based awards system for LGUs and creating the SGLG Fund to provide fiscal incentives to LGUs that pass the SGLG criteria.

To qualify, LGUs must pass all ten governance areas: Financial Administration and Sustainability; Disaster Preparedness; Social Protection and Sensitivity; Health Compliance and Responsiveness; Sustainable Education; Business Friendliness and Competitiveness; Safety, Peace and Order; Environmental Management; Tourism, Heritage Development, Culture, and Arts; and Youth Development.

Under the new administration and the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, the SGLG aims to influence LGU actions in response to dynamic changes through direction-setting and strengthened performance information. This policy covers 82 provinces, 148 cities, and 1,486 municipalities, all of which are subject to assessment.

The "Citizen Monitoring of LGU Performance Promoting Accountability and Governance in Health and Social Protection" intervention, supported under the EU-funded "CSO-LA - Civil Society Organizations and Local Authorities" program, brings together key stakeholders, including national government agencies, civil society organizations (CSOs), LGUs, and basic sector groups, to improve LGUs' basic service delivery. This is done by enhancing the SGLG award program and supporting more LGUs to gain this award.

The lead implementing partner, CODE-NGO, with its 6 national and 6 regional member networks representing more than 1,600 development NGOs, people's organizations, and cooperatives nationwide, is the country’s biggest coalition of NGOs working for social development. Leveraging CODE-NGO's cumulative knowledge and resources from over 20 years of experience, the intervention encompasses activities that aim to further promote good governance standards. This intervention builds on the DILG’s Support for Local Governance Programme (SLGP), which aims to improve and expand the functionality of local special bodies (LSBs) and local development councils (LDCs) and to support CSO participation in these local bodies through capacity development. CODE-NGO has been an active partner of the DILG in this program, providing inputs to the formulation of the DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2019-072 on Accreditation of CSOs and Selection of Representatives to Local Special Bodies, stipulating its implementation mechanism.