The Ateneo School of Government or the ASoG started out as a unit under the Graduate School of Business in 1996 and was formally established as an autonomous academic unit in 2001. Since its beginnings, the ASoG has been faithful to its mission of working with effective and ethical public servants to build prosperous and just communities throughout the Philippines.

As a professional school for leadership and public service, the School creates an environment that fosters the development of new ideas and approaches, and makes possible a learning process that bridges the gap between classroom wisdom and real-world policy decision-making and governance The School's overarching vision is "transforming communities, building a nation" It follows a "mosaic" approach of

• Helping to build the country community by community, municipality by municipality, city by city, province by province, until the School establishes partnerships with 1,000 local government units (a critical mass of 60 percent of LGUs in the country);
• Linking islands of good governance - an explicit strategy to link effective and ethical leaders throughout the country; Stimulating public demand for reform - a ‘demand-side’ strategy based on experiencing good governance at the local level;
• Encouraging the emergence of new national leaders by training and giving support to promising executives from local governments; and
• Working with national institutions and organizations to promote governance innovations at the national level that can have a direct impact on enabling local governments to create wealth and deliver basic services.

Working with national institutions and organizations to promote governance innovations at the national level that can have a direct impact on enabling local governments to create wealth and deliver basic services. The School draws from the intellectual resources of the Ateneo de Manila University, as well as from the Ateneo’s many years of social apostolate and interaction with the country’s decision-makers and basic sectors. In recent years, the ASoG also has become adept at regional-level work.