In participatory or bottom-up approach to planning and budgeting, sectors that are organized have better understanding of their agenda and have the ability to commit financial counterpart. Since VSLAs have these two advantages, they are in a better position to use EF to attract additional financial resources to support local and municipal level conservation initiatives. Fund leveraging is a strategy that uses EF as local financial counterpart to support implementation of environmental projects that require bigger funding
- Knowledge of planning and budgetting process of the local government
- Capacity of local leaders to engage government officials
If the EF is to be used effectively to leverage more local funding, it is important that VSLA EF decision making process intersects with the local government unit's (LGU) local planning and budgeting process. Moreover, it is equally important that local VSLA leaders know how to engage their LGUs in these processes.