Philippines
Total IDRC Support
318 activities worth CAD51.2 million since 1972
Our support helps
- prevent and manage type 2 diabetes in rural communities
- adapt to climate change in the region
- understand and promote entrepreneurship in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia
- highlight the links between digital information networks and economic growth, democratic reform, and increased educational opportunities
We’ve supported research in the Philippines since 1972. Today, research by local universities, research institutes, and civil societies has resulted in significant improvements in agriculture, forest management, and community engagement.
Some IDRC grantees have had a global impact. For example, the International Rice Research Centre has helped improve the well-being of rice farmers and consumers across the developing regions of the world.
Fighting poverty with facts
Research teams developed a poverty monitoring system now used in 14 countries. Piloted in the Philippines in 1994, community-based poverty monitoring provides municipal and provincial planners with information to design effective anti-poverty programs. Now in use throughout the country, it’s a low-cost way to collect and analyze household data with the community’s active participation.
The monitoring system also helps governments and organizations develop policies and programs to meet the people’s most pressing needs. For example, a community-administered survey of the 400,000 residents of Pasay City, a congested part of Metro Manila, identified high school drop-out rates and youth unemployment as major problems. As a result, job fairs, training programs, savings schemes, and other policies were introduced to target youth.
Forests and people prosper
The Philippines’ once-lush forest cover has shrunk to about 18% of the country’s total land area. With IDRC support, the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction promoted forestry management by local communities. Researchers found ways to include local residents’ viewpoints in national-level discussions to help reform an overly complex forest management system. They promoted local people’s rights to manage, use, and sell forest resources.
As a result, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources used consultation information to draft new forestry guidelines. Working with communities, newly trained forestry officials help ease the pressure on remaining forests while allowing communities to use resources sustainably.