Blending the old and new development warriors

Last week, I was at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) to conduct the second policy analysis workshop for faculty members from various disciplines, a joint initiative of the Wellness, Education, Capability-building, Alternative Livelihood, Rehabilitation, and Entrepreneurial Development (WE CARE) office headed by Dr. Rosario Reserva and the Institute for Policy Innovation and Leadership headed by assistant professor Abu Al-Rasheed Tanggol. The workshop aimed to enable academics to pitch their research into policy at the local and national levels.

The first workshop was held in 2021 during the pandemic. This time around, the IIT faculty and staff were joined by a contingent from the MSU-Naawan campus and local government officials from the Iligan City government. In all, there were 60 participants. More participants signed up for the workshop, but due to venue and logistics constraints, we could not accommodate them all.

There is a sense of optimism and energy, as the former director for extension services of the university, Dr. Darwin J. Manubag, is now the city administrator of Iligan City, and both local government officials and the university are looking forward to an era of fruitful institutional partnerships between the city and the university.

There is also a new chancellor of the university, professor Alizedney M. Ditucalan, and after several interactions with him, he is quite a spark plug, walking the campus and interacting directly with great ease with faculty, staff, and students with a remarkable level of connectedness.

Last Friday evening, we had dinner with a pastor-farmer from the Kauswagan and Kapatagan areas. He was accompanied by an American resource person, a “plant veterinarian” fresh from a dissertation enrichment stint in Africa. Our dinner group helped the pastor explore his idea of forming a farmers’ cooperative, with his 2.5-hectare plot serving as a demonstration farm and nucleus for bringing his neighbors together. The farmers in the area are not earning enough to feed their families. The pastor talked about corn and abaca-based contract growing possibilities.

This story brought a pall of sadness over me. I had immediate visions of the challenges and pitfalls that this pathway entailed. Here we go again, I thought.

I remember how, in 1975 under the New Society of Ferdinand Marcos, we in the Development Academy of the Philippines took enthusiastically to the task of analyzing the problems of poor farmers and fishermen and designing cooperatives as vehicles of their deliverance from poverty and the exploitation by landlords and middlemen who kept them destitute.

I also remember how, in 1991, we at the Institute of Strategic and Development Studies based at the University of the Philippines were contracted by the Cory Aquino administration to do a study on working people empowerment models in the country. We presented 12 case studies of exemplary cooperatives, associations, and people’s enterprises across the nation.

Two years ago, I did another set of case studies of rural enterprises that went into the book “Science for Social Change: Helping People Help Themselves” published by the Department of Science and Technology. While all these people empowerment enterprise cases were promising at the start, many have eventually succumbed to insurmountable crises in internal leadership and insufficient external support.

But hope springs eternal in the human breast, and the veterans of previous development battles must not infect the young just joining the war against poverty, illiteracy, disease, homelessness, and vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters with premature combat fatigue.

Martial law, the Edsa People Power Revolution, and the disdainful post-Edsa regime contain critical lessons for moving forward. Senior citizens must continue to stay in the development space, contributing to helping young development professionals think big, start small, and scale up fast. The young are ready and adept with tools and techniques made available by globalization and science and technology, among them the internet of things, futures thinking, human-centered design, smart cities, GIS, mapping, spatial analysis, and now artificial intelligence.

A critical potential for a “surge force” is to convince seniors to delay full retirement mode, thinking they have completed their tour of duty. I know a lot of seniors who continue to be in this extended development service mode. Many seniors would welcome the opportunity to continue serving but do not have the contacts and opportunity to do so.

This is a task and opportunity for universities, private enterprises with CSR programs, nongovernmental organizations, and people’s organizations. In localizing the SDGs, they should deliberately blend the experience of the old with the enthusiasm of the young as essential ingredients of sustainable and strategic local development efforts.

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