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In Conversation: Celia Reyes on the Importance of Timely Economic Information

Collecting data in Palawan province in the Philippines. (IDRC Photo: D. Mowbray)

2002-12-23

In recent decades, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand have experienced significant improvements in reducing poverty. But much remains to be done. The data shows we need to reduce different dimensions of poverty in different countries, and across gender.

We also need to reduce disparities within countries. For instance, in the Philippines, the incidence of poverty may be around 35 %, yet in the national capital region of Metro Manila it could be less than 10 %. Meanwhile, in the autonomous region of Mindinao, it is around 70 %. So there are glaring disparities within the country that need to be addressed.

There are many possible strategies for addressing poverty. I think one of the most important may be to put in place a poverty monitoring system. Why? Because it would provide information on the different dimensions of poverty. This is very useful for advocacy. Rather than just saying "poverty is widespread," you have concrete numbers to work with. It’s then easier to move people into action, for example to allocate resources to address problems. Good numbers from a poverty monitoring system also allow us to assess the impact of policies and programs, and can help us to identify beneficiaries for targeted programs. Recent international developments such as trade liberalization may have both positive and negative effects on populations: a poverty monitoring system can help us to assess the impact of some of these policies as well.

Monitoring poverty locally

Local poverty monitoring systems, or Community-Based Monitoring Systems (CBMS) can complement national poverty monitoring systems to provide local policymakers and program implementers with a basis for rational decision-making.

Many countries already have national poverty monitoring systems. These are usually based on information obtained from national surveys and censuses, carried out every three, five, or ten years. They provide national or, at most, regional-level information. This means they’re not disaggregated enough to meet the needs of local policymakers and program implementers. For this, we need CBMS.

A CBMS network may also provide us with earlier warning signals of impending crises than can be found in the national data. For example, MIMAP’s experience with the 1997 Asian financial crisis was that the data available at the time did not signal any significant social impact on the Philippines as a result of the crisis, which was combined with the effect of that year’s unusual El Ninõ weather pattern. At that point, we only had a 1997 national survey: the next survey was to be done three years later, in 2000. Typically there is also a significant time lag between the collection of national data and the processing and distribution of final results.

So we didn’t have enough information to signal to policymakers and others that there were adverse social impacts on the population. In fact, it was only two years ago that we found that there had been significant impacts in the Philippines in terms of increased rates of school dropouts, malnutrition, and poverty. National surveys and administrative records became available only two or three years after the crisis had occurred. I believe that a CBMS would enable researchers to come up with more timely information for policymakers, who could then take action to avert the most significant deleterious effects on the population.

Perhaps if we had known earlier about the higher dropout rates, programs could have been implemented to ensure students remained in school. Once they drop out, it’s difficult to bring them back. We think that financial assistance, such as covering some out-of-school expenses for public school students, might have averted the high dropout rate that occurred during and after the crisis.

The Palawan pilot project

I want to briefly mention MIMAP’s experience in the province of Palawan, where we are trying to set up a CBMS. The community in this case is the barangay, or village. MIMAP has provided technical assistance to provincial, municipal, and barangay governments to cover the costs of implementing the data collection system. To keep costs low, data is collected by people such as barangay or village officials, health workers, nutrition workers, teachers, students on practicums, and so forth.

Initially, we were surprised that politicians would adopt this system, because on the surface it would seem quite risky for them. A local poverty monitoring system gives their residents an instrument to assess local chief executives’ performance, easily showing whether or not something has been done to address the population’s needs. Yet we found the officials of Palawan readily adopted this system because they thought they really needed this type of information to carry out a development plan that would respond to people’s needs. We found in Palawan that it’s at least possible to institutionalize a CBMS, although we also now know we need to build capacity to collect, process, analyze, and use the data.

During this pilot study, it took a great deal of work to teach participants how to collect data in a scientific way, to compute and process this data to come up with some of the proportions and ratios, and to help them appreciate how to use the data. However, we’re now finding that they themselves want to computerize the system. They’ve already used geographic information systems technology to highlight disparities across regions and municipalities, so policymakers can focus on areas that need intervention the most. For instance, they’ve developed a database that allows a mayor to identify in which barangay a water supply project should be set up. In short, what we’re finding very interesting in Palawan is the local officials’ receptiveness to innovations for preparing better development plans.

What remains to be done? Despite a greater demand for statistics, there is a critical shortfall in international, national, and local efforts to develop appropriate, sustainable statistical capacity. We need to create greater awareness of the value of timely and relevant statistics for policymaking, management, and accountability. Eventually, too, developing a network of countries, institutions, and experts all working on national and local poverty monitoring systems could provide an avenue for developing and sharing best practices. It could also facilitate further capacity building and advocacy activities.

This type of work entails a great deal of advocacy, beyond the technical work that research usually involves. More than just designing a system, it involves actually putting the system in place.

In the Philippines, we appear to be working toward institutionalizing the CBMS at the national level. Toward this end, MIMAP has met with several inter-agency technical working groups, headed by the National Anti-Poverty Commission, to see how we could adopt the Palawan system nationwide. At the same time, we’re working with the Department of the Interior and Local Government to design a guidebook to aid local governments in setting up CBMS. At this point we’re optimistic that such a system could be institutionalized nationwide.

With greater advocacy, I believe we may move many countries to adopt a CBMS at the national level. Here, I think we would need the support of donors who are patient enough to see a new system put in place. MIMAP has been ongoing for a decade; in that time we’ve learned that it can be very difficult to change the orientation or the mindset of policymakers and program implementers. We’re not just presenting information to them, we’re asking them do so something differently. That said, I believe MIMAP has made headway in changing their orientation.

For more information:

Dr Celia Reyes, MIMAP-PMO, Rm. I-1016, 10th Flr., Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies, Angelo King International Center, De La Salle University, Estrada Cor. Arellano Streets, Malate, Manila, Philippines; Phone: (632)-526 2067; Fax: (632)-5262067; Email: reyesc@csb.dlsu.edu.ph

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