Program Director, Economic Reform and Development Entrepreneurship

Jaime Faustino has managed the Foundation’s Philippine economic development program since 2006. He has worked on projects that led to significant and transformative results on the lives of millions of Filipinos. In civil aviation, liberalization has led to over 30 million passengers in 2010 from a low of 8 million in 1990. In sea transport, the introduction of Roll-on, Roll-off (RO-RO) policy in 2003 eliminated inefficient and costly cargo handling and led to transport costs being reduced from 22 to 57% (ADB 2010). In property rights, a law creating administrative procedures for titling residential lands passed in 2010 was partly responsible for a historic 1,450% increase in the titles issued by the government. The titles jumped from an average of 3,800 per year to over 55,000 titles in 2011.

From those reform experiences and successes, Faustino conceptualized development entrepreneurship, an operational model to assist development agencies and practitioners integrate the technical and political dimensions of reform. The model answers three questions: how is reform achieved, who will help achieve it and what role can development agencies play? The model is founded on three structures of practice: 1) Iterative Process, 2) Local Leaders known as ‘Development Entrepreneurs,’ and 3) Grant Project Structure.

Jaime Faustino co-edited Built on Dreams, Grounded in Reality: Economic Policy Reform in the Philippines, published in 2011. The book documented the political battles of seven economic reforms in the Philippines and drew lessons for others.

Education:  Master’s degree in Political Science at University of the Philippines (1992) and bachelor’s degree in History at Duke University.

Publications:

Development Entrepreneurship: How Donors and Leaders Can Foster Institutional Change

Built on Dreams, Grounded in Reality: Economic Policy Reform in the Philippines