Institute for Solidarity in Asia

In the weeks leading to the People Power Revolution of 2001, a peaceful protest that overthrew a corrupt presidency and exposed the frailties of the Philippine government, economist and former finance secretary Jesus Estanislao gathered reform-minded influencers from different disciplines to form the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA). Together, its founding members sought a return to values and meaningful civic participation and envisioned a nation led by strong and upright democratic institutions. Recognizing governance as key to bringing about long wanted breakthroughs and transformations, ISA took on many significant projects in its early years, including serving as Secretariat of the National Governance Advisory Council, authoring and monitoring the Code of Good Governance for Professions, and setting up the Centres for Leadership in East Asia Network or CLEAN. Today, ISA is emerging as the country’s foremost authority on transforming the public sector for good. We work with handpicked national agencies and local governments to create strategies that yield big reforms and result in better public service, more private enterprises and investments, and new opportunities to raise household incomes. We carry out our mission of making governance a shared responsibility by: - Working directly with decision-makers to set up governance reform programs - Building governance reform capacities through training and one-on-one interventions - Involving multi-sector leaders as governance reform mentors and advisors - Requiring government leaders to deliver impact reports in public forums - Recognizing government institutions for visible impact achieved through governance reform - Publishing books and articles that show the impact of governance reform in the Philippines Through all these, we stay true to the aspirations of “people power”, involving as many Filipinos as we can in building our Dream Philippines where every government institution delivers and every citizen prospers.