APPC History

The Center’s incorporators from left to right:
Mary Grace H. Hain, Dr. Wilfredo P. David, Dr. Noel G. Mamicpic,
Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan, Dr. Tirso B. Paris, Jr., Atty. Ma. Celia H. Fernandez,
Sharon Faye A. Piza, Mary Ann Majadillas, and Atty. Karlo Marco P. Estavillo.

The birth of the Asia-Pacific Policy Center was motivated by a desire to find an institution that would maintain the Agricultural Policy Simulation Model (APSM). The APSM is a multi-market simulation model that has the capability to assess a large number of policy scenarios and present quick answers to a large variety of “what-if“ questions¹. The APSM proved to be a very potent tool for advocating policy reforms in the agricultural sector. Before the creation of APPC, updating the APSM depended on the availability of projects related to agricultural policy analysis. Recognizing that no group of experts could extend the same unwavering dedication to the model as the modelers themselves, the APPC was then formed.

At present, APPC is committed to: updating and even expanding the model to guide the analysis of ever evolving issues affecting the agricultural sector; and expanding domestic capability to conduct analysis of poverty and rural development concerns.

The power of the APSM to guide policies has been enhanced by the addition of a poverty module that uses information from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). This provided a detailed characterization of the short-term poverty impacts at the household level as well as guide the government in designing safety nets that will mitigate possible adverse effects that policy changes may have on the poor. The poverty module has since been updated to reflect the most recent FIES.

The first research project conducted by APPC is entitled "Pathways to Sustained Poverty Alleviation: Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries and Communities and the New Economic Paradigm." The study was for the Department of Agrarian Reform and involved an ex-ante examination of how various public investment and trade policy alternatives influence poverty at the household level, particularly households belonging to agrarian reform communities (ARCs). The study made extensive use of the APSM. The experiments conducted in the study indicate that the business-as-usual approach to managing the agriculture and rural sector must be abandoned in favor of a strong reform agenda that is characterized by efforts to liberalize agricultural trade complemented by increased public investment in support services such as irrigation, R&D, and extension.

Even as a young organization, APPC was entrusted to co-organize the international conference on "Food Security and Agricultural Development in the Context of Globalization" together with the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD) and National Agricultural Cooperatives (NACF). It was held on 3 to 5 June 2002 at the Manila Galleria Suites. Participants came from eight Asian countries ( South Korea , Cambodia , Laos , Bangladesh , India , Indonesia , Pakistan , and the Philippines ) and the co-hosts. APPC's main responsibility in the conference was the development of the conference design, preparation of the keynote paper which guided the entire flow and discussions that took place, and coordination of all logistics relating to the conference. A one-day field trip to UP Los Baños and the world-renowned International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was organized for the participants on the 3 rd day of the conference. APPC was also tasked to facilitate the conduct of the conference. The conference moderator, discussion chairs, and rapporteurs are all connected with APPC. Furthermore, APPC was designated to prepare the conference proceedings for publication. It came off the press last January 2003.

The international conference largely dealt with how the twin forces of globalization and trade liberalization affect food security and agricultural development in Asia . It is expected to further deepen APPC's understanding of the dynamics of food security, poverty, and globalization in the region. It was a learning experience for APPC as well as its participants as the conference provided a forum for exchange of ideas relating to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture and possible strategies for agricultural cooperation among governments, international organizations, and non-government organizations to ensure food security in Asia .

Another major thrust of APPC is to provide technical assistance to other initiatives that concern rural development and poverty reduction. It has collaborated with UPEcon Foundation, Inc. in designing and conducting a training programs under the Food and Agriculture Organization - Technical Support to Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (FAO-TSARRD). The Center developed the training curriculum and training materials and facilitated the actual conduct of the training as well. The resource persons were mostly fellows from APPC. It featured lectures on the concepts and policy issues relating to poverty and food insecurity, macroeconomic policies that affect the agriculture sector (AFMA, current ARC strategy, etc.), APSM and hands-on exercises. The collaboration between proved effective and was replicated twice over although the focus and audience were different.

APPC has an extensive and impressive track record in the conduct and implementation of research in poverty mapping and targeting. It all started with the study "Approaches to Targeting the Poor" undertaken by Arsenio M. Balisacan, Rosemarie G. Edillon, Alex B. Brillantes, and Dante B. Canlas under the "Strengthening Institutional Mechanisms for the Convergence of Poverty Alleviation Efforts" of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)². A major output of this study was a framework for evaluating anti-poverty programs. The framework was applied to a number of past and existing poverty alleviation programs at the time. More importantly, NAPC made extensive reference to the study in developing the KALAHI framework for poverty reduction.

The same framework was employed for the study, "Poverty Mapping and Targeting for the KALAHI-CIDSS Project", the flagship anti-poverty project of the Macapagal-Arroyo Administration. The authors, Arsenio M. Balisacan, Rosemarie G. Edillon, and Geoffrey Ducanes developed an index to rank municipalities in selected provinces. The index enables finer distinction across municipalities, considers multiple dimensions of poverty and is based on the most recent and reliable data available. A design for an impact evaluation study that will measure the success or failure of the Project in achieving its principal goal (to reduce poverty by empowering local communities to good governance) was also provided.

APPC employs qualitative and quantitative methodologies in its research projects. A household database which consisted of merged data from the DAR-ARC master list of barangays and the 1997 FIES, 1998 APIS, and the 1990 Census of Population and Housing from the NSO was constructed for the Pathways to Sustained Poverty Alleviation Project. Estimates from the APSM were fed into the household module to arrive at the results of the study. For the Poverty Mapping and Targeting study, focus group discussions were conducted at different levels of local governance and sample households were interviewed. At the same time, the study made extensive use of secondary data (2000 Census of Population and Housing of the National Statistics Office, Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning of the Department of Interior and Local Government and other data from the Department of Public Works and Highways). These were later on processed as a Geographic Information System (GIS).

Recently, APPC completed the design and conduct of a training program on the Deepening and Analysis of Poverty and Policy Responses Towards Meeting the National and Millennium Development Goals of Poverty Reduction . This was funded by the United Nations Development Programme. This was held in SEAMEO Innotech from 14 to 30 July 2003 for the first batch and from 4 to 20 August 2003 for the second batch. This involved a training needs assessment of the existing capacity of government agencies and non-government organizations, including the UN Country Team, in designing pro-poor programs and in crafting effective policies and strategies. The training program dealt with understanding the issues related to poverty and vulnerability, as well as provided tools for identification and measurement to effect strategies that address such concerns.

To date, APPC is involved in training, evaluation, research, as well as publication of output from the projects. The organization continues to undertake projects related to the thrusts it has committed itself to.

¹ It was developed by a team of experts who are, if not members of APPC's Board of Trustees, are closely connected with the Center.
² Arsenio M. Balisacan was the first President of APPC, Rosemarie G. Edillon is the Vice-President, and Alex B. Brillantes is a research fellow of APPC.