World Bank On PRDP As “Model For Capacity Building” – Congrats, Secretary William Dar!

Above, in the issue of Philippines Economic Update June 2021, the World Bank features the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) as “A Model for Capacity Building.” The PRDP is funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA). Congratulations, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar!

A total of 56 pages, the Update says in the Preface:

The Philippines Economic Update… summarizes key economic and social developments, important policy changes, and the evolution of external conditions over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank analyses, situating them in the context of the country’s long-term development trends and assessing their implications for the country’s medium-term economic outlook. The update covers issues ranging from macroeconomic management and financial-market dynamics to the complex challenges of poverty reduction and social development. It is intended to serve the needs of a wide audience, including policymakers, business leaders, private firms and investors, and analysts and professionals engaged in the social and economic development of the Philippines.

Here is what the Update body says on the PRDP, in Box 10:

The Philippine Rural Development Program: A Model for Capacity Building

The PRDP is the national government’s flagship project for agriculture and rural development and provides best practice examples for capacity building. The PRDP promotes sustainable and equitable growth in productivity and the income of farmers and (fisherfolk) through science-based planning and synergistic partnerships among national government agencies, provincial and municipal governments, and the private sector. The PRDP has championed the local government’s adoption of science-based tools and provided them with the capacity to establish systematic and objective decision-support platforms devoid of political biases. This has allowed local government’s to design holistic roadmaps for local agricultural development, which are embodied in the Provincial Commodity Investment Plans.

“Devoid of political biases.” Well and good.

But the PRDP is only one of major national concerns in our archipelago today. Yes, I have a major problem with this World Bank update: Its intense total is economic. As a poor man’s son, I appreciate it, but man does not live on bread alone, even as the Bible says. The June 2021 report does notcover the social dimensions of the Philippines today while “navigating a challenging recovery.”

I trace this World Bank’s lack of sociological development coverage of my country to the fact that the team that produced the Update is made up of all economists.

The team leader, Kevin Chua, is a Senior Economist, and the rest of the team is made up of 29 other economists, from Kevin Cruz (Economist) to peer reviewer Chadi Bou Habib(Senior Economist) to Kai Kaiser (also Senior Economist). With inputs from other economists.

Aside from the exclusive economic coverage, there is another not-so-glaring if unintentional construction – the exclusive technical content. The Update’s appreciative readers are only those who understand economics. Only economists understand economists.

And so, those of us who are not economics savvy are having an extremely difficult time understanding and/or appreciating this World Bank report. Better luck next time!@517