Conducted an assessment of the existing knowledge and skills base of technical personnel in various government offices, legislative committees, and NGOs on poverty and vulnerability analysis; recommended a training program to address the identified needs.

Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) is the flagship poverty program of the Macapagal-Arroyo Administration. It aims to reduce poverty by empowering communities to ensure that local governance is enhanced and development projects relevant to improving their quality of life are implemented and managed properly. To maximize the effectiveness of this program, fellows of APPC were commissioned to develop a targeting mechanism that will effectively reach the poor. APPC developed the selection criteria and methodology to identify the KALAHI-CIDSS beneficiary municipalities. The ranking protocol developed followed an axiomatic approach that is supported by rapid appraisals, household/barangay official interviews, and the extensive use of secondary data. A design for the impact evaluation study—indicators, measurement methodology, questionnaire and research design—was also developed. Twenty-two provinces were selected for the first phase.

This two-day training program was conducted as a follow up to the training-workshop that was held on February 2002 for key DAR and NSO officers. The program had an expanded discussion on irrigation policy and investment options as major researches indicate that cost-effective, small-scale, farmer-friendly, and sustainable irrigation system offer a very promising avenue for raising productivity and addressing food insecurity concerns. It aimed to provide the participants a deeper grasp of the dynamics of agriculture and rural development in the context of the new economic paradigm to increase their capacity in addressing food insecurity and poverty at the local level.

The International Conference on "Food Security and Agricultural Development in Asia in the Context of Globalization," was held at the Manila Galleria Suites on June 2002. Eight Asian countries (South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines) were represented in the conference. The participants were affiliated with government agencies (both the executive and legislative branches), NGOs, academic institutions, UN agencies and other multilateral institutions. The conference largely dealt with how the twin forces of globalization and trade liberalization would affect food security and agricultural development in Asia. The opportunities and risks brought about by globalization and development strategies needed in order to manage adjustment costs were highlighted. It also provided a forum for sharing of experiences and strategies relating to the WTO Agreement of Agriculture among the participating countries. Strategies for possible agricultural cooperation among governments, international organizations, agricultural cooperatives and non-government organizations were presented as well. A field trip to UP Los Baños and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was organized on the third day of the conference. APPC published the conference proceedings in January 2003.

One of FAO-TSARRD's major project components is assisting the Philippine government improve instituional capacity to formulate policies and programs that will respond satsifactorily to critical problems and concerns in the agriculture sector. A three-day training program on the capacity building for policy analysis entitled "Agrarian Reform as it Relates to Food Security and Poverty Alleviation" was conducted under the said component. The training program was envisaged to enhance the capability of senior DAR, NSO officers and other stakeholders involved in policy/program review formulation to identify and assess alternative policy options and measures on agrarian reform as it relates to food security and poverty reduction. It featured lectures on concepts and policy issues relating to poverty and food insecurity; macroeconomic policies that affect the agriculture sector, i.e. AFMA and the current ARC strategy; and the APSM together with hands-on exercises.

This is a technical assistance to NAPC to enhance their capability to formulate a policy and program framework for poverty measurement and monitoring. Specifically, the study proposed a data and database structure that identifies the source of information/surveys that the government should maintain in order to effectively monitor poverty on a regular basis, including possible refinements to definition and measurement, frequency of reporting and collection, etc. The necessary institutional arrangement that would ensure harmonization of activities related to poverty measurement and monitoring as well as technical soundness was also developed. There are other recommendations of the study that will hopefully serve as operating principles to guide the design of poverty alleviation programs and projects.

APPC conducted a training on how to assess the impact of development projects on poverty for the Regional Poverty Studies Center in Ilocos Norte from April 18-22, 2005. Participants came from research institutions and academe in Region 1. APPC also provided expertise in two SEARCA-administered trainings in 2004 and 2005 on the same topic for selected SUCs and national government agencies, including the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

The second study attempts to estimate the impact of population dynamics on income (economic) growth and poverty reduction, this time using the Philippines’ provincial data from 1985 to 2003. It comes in two parts: the first estimates the intra-country model, and the second applies the result of the first part to simulate its likely impact on the balance sheet of local government units. Since no province in the country has entered into the second phase of the demographic transition, the study required identifying a suitable proxy variable. Using the proportion of young dependents in the initial year, the study was able to show that indeed population dynamics play an important role in both the country’s national income growth and provincial income growth. The second part of the study extended the findings by demonstrating that higher per capita incomes and lower population can generate net savings for LGUs.

The Philippines' international commitment to Millennium Development Goal 1 is to bring down poverty incidence to 18.4% by 2015, but the MTPDP's more ambitious target is to halve the proportion of the poor by 2010 (i.e., bring it down to 13.5%) from its base figure in 2000. This study contributes to the achievement of this goal by forecasting the likely incidence of poverty given plausible scenarios of economic and population growth rates, public investments and others. In particular, the study examines the socio-economic objectives indicated in the MTPDP 2005-2010 to determine if these are consistent with the target set concerning poverty incidence. The study concludes that the attainment of the MDG 1 target depends on the MTPDP achievements.

APPC produced the Technical Annex containing the computation and analysis of the latest provincially disaggregated Human Development Index, Human Poverty Index, and Gender-Related Development Index. APPC also provided technical support for the consolidation and analysis of a proposed set of “early warning” quantitative and qualitative indicators intended to alert policy makers to potential conflict areas and help identify provinces that are “peaceful and stable” or “vulnerable and at risk.”

APPC conducted this study in support of the 2005 Philippine Human Development Report. Specifically, the study developed a framework to understand the incidence of armed conflicts. It proceeded to model the framework using Philippine data that spans four political administrations. This is the first time that measures for relative deprivation and minoritization were concretized with indicators and shown to be significant determinants of ideologically based armed conflict.

This project aimed to provide empirically sound bases for policy advocacy on population, poverty, and development. It assessed quantitatively the connection between poverty and population. The research project consisted of three components: (i) a micro-study on the determinants of fertility; (ii) econometric analysis of the relationship between population growth, on one hand, and economic growth on the other; (iii) extension of the second component to include the impact on poverty. The first component estimated behavioral relationships between socio-economic factors and fertility decisions. The second component made use of multi-country data and employed a growth accounting framework to model the effect of demographic transition on economic growth. The last component simulated the results of the multi-country model to determine the impact on poverty. The results were disseminated through symposia held in Baguio, Cebu and Davao.