The new name of development

THE paradigm shift from competition in economics to collaboration under the value chain concept suggests a change in emphasis: From the old “development” consensus to the newer imperative of strengthening and ensuring the proper and effective functioning of the “value chain.” What had become a very complicated process based on development modelbuilding may now be brought down as a simple process that everyone can participate in (and understand). Indeed, as Commodore Bacordo has found out, there is nothing very complicated about addressing problems through the simple expedient of removing well-known bottlenecks.

The process of strengthening the value chain for delivering social and economic value may be simple; nonetheless, it makes very significant demands. As the Foundation for People Development and the AFP (in pursuit of its IPSP Bayanihan) have found out, there are three demands that must be met. Among several others, these three are:

• Values formation and basic education. The former — values education — would simply embed clear ideas that men and women already have in their hearts and minds, such as: the importance of small things; the value of sacrifice, no matter how little, on a daily basis; the imperative of thinking beyond today; the need to work with others and getting support from them (let alone also giving the same support to them). These are all very basic, but this is where the “process of development” begins, with individuals and the operative values they live and work by.

• Forming the savings habit and learning livelihood techniques or skills. On the basis of basic values, and by way of actually observing those values in daily life, people — no matter how low their economic and social condition — can be taught how to set aside a small saving each day. Encouraged by peers and neighbours, a small group of families can then band together and pool their savings in order to get a few livelihood projects initiated. These projects do not come down from heaven: the techniques and skills required for initiating and sustaining them would need to be learned, and this is where the process of “learning while doing things properly” can be introduced.

• Moving from start-up to enterprise development. This is where an important fork on the road is reached: take one way and stay with start-ups, most of which would soon wither away or die abruptly; or take the other way, and get on the highway where enterprises get connected to a wider and larger supply chain, which can provide the bigger and richer environment for smaller enterprises to thrive and build themselves up into more sustainable operations.

These basic demands of an everstrengthening and ever-expanding value chain are impossible to meet, if smaller enterprises, underprivileged families, and marginalized communities are left on their own. This is where the “social responsibility” of civic clubs, civil society organizations, business enterprises (with their CSR programs), and other significant organizations (such as the AFP with its IPSP Bayanihan) would come in: to help provide mechanisms by which these demands can be met by those in most need of assistance.

And this is where the need for building “alliances” comes in: all too often, the demands are so multifaceted that no single entity — i.e. civic club, civil society organization, business enterprise, significant other organizations or institutions, etc. — can provide all the necessary assistance by themselves. They need to network, and thus enter into an alliance with others for the demands of a specific value chain that needs to be strengthened and made to function as a system more efficiently.

The AFP has learned this lesson only too well. The Foundation for People Development, based on its own experience, states that the triple alliance between business, government, and civil society is what people development, under its new name of strengthening the value chain, calls for.