This is a report of the proceedings of - Asian Strategy & Leadership ...

THE ASIA THINK TANK DIALOGUE REPORTRebuilding Confidence, Restoring Livelihoods Session Two 23Case Studies – Sharing of Country Experiences andPerspectives on How Rural Development & PovertyEradication Programmes Have SucceededDr. Josef T. YapPresident, Philippines Institute for Development StudiesManila.Sustainable economic development was stillan elusive concept in the Philippines. Lookinginto per capita GDP growth over the past50 years, the Philippines had lagged behindits neighbours in poverty reduction, with its absolutepoverty incidence of USD1 a day representing 13.2per cent of the population as compared to Viet Nam’s8.4 per cent. Dr. Yap noted that the Philippines hada long way to go to address this. Noting that povertyin the Philippines was largely a rural problem, andgiven its overwhelming numerical importance, povertyprogrammes had to be concentrated in the ruralareas. Thus far, he said, there had been very littleprogress made by the Government. Besides theadequacy of programmes and resources, targetingwas also poor as most developmental efforts wereconcentrated in Manila. More importantly, localgovernment agencies were not fully equipped totackle poverty-reduction programmes. At the heart ofthe problem, baseline data at the local level was notyet credible and there was a need for nationalaggregated data. At the provincial, municipality andtown levels, the data was incomplete to ensure abetter understanding of the problems at hand.He described the Micro Economic Impact of MicroPolicies, a community-based monitoring system(CBMS), as a way out as it addressed the gaps indata and diagnosed poverty at the micro levelby identifying eligible beneficiaries, policies andprogrammes. He said it was more than a data-collectingsystem as it also intended to promote evidence-baseddecision-making. It was a tool to support the decisionmakingprocess by providing local government unitswith the means to promote better governance.There was, however, some resistance to the projectbecause local politicians did not want the public toknow whether progress had or had not beenachieved.‘Sustainable economicdevelopment is still an elusiveconcept in the Philippines.We have lagged behind ourneighbours in poverty reduction’Dr. Josef T YapDr. Yap explained that there were 14 indicators undervarious headings such as education under the CBMS.It had been streamlined to make it more effective.CBMS tabbed on local governance and its data hadbeen drawn upon for human development reportsand by NGOs for resource profiling. Major lessonslearnt from the implementation of CBMS over thepast nine years were many and they included theneed for a local poverty monitoring system to ensureefficient assessment of impact from Poverty ReductionStrategies. It was also important to work with localgovernments and convince them of the importance ofCBMS to ensure its sustainability. He found that politicalscions were progressive and hence more open to theconcept of CBMS. While it was moving forward, it wasnot progressing as fast as he had hoped. Nevertheless,a good beginning had been made to make sense ofwhat poverty meant and what could be done in amuch more systematic and rational manner.