Coalitions for Change

The Asia Foundation, through its Coalitions for Change program, with the support of the Australian Government, recently held the Development Entrepreneurship Mentoring Conference at the Discovery Suites in Ortigas, Pasig City. The conference was the culmination of a successful six-month collaboration between learners and experienced policy reformer… Read more

On June 10, 2022, The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change (CfC} program, with the support from the Australian Embassy in the Philippines, hosted its third online course, “Development Entrepreneurship: 12 Keys to Successful Policy Reform.” The four-week course brought together 74 development professionals from 19 countries across Asia to learn a… Read more

Even the most complex solutions can sometimes begin with the simplest of questions, like “Who do we call for help?”

The Coalitions for Change (CfC) program concluded the second offering of its Development Entrepreneurship: 12 Keys to Successful Policy Reform online course on February 18.  Since beginning on January 24, 2022, 95 participants from 13 countries have completed the four-week course, marking an increase from 76 participants in the previous batch…. Read more

The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change program and the Australian Embassy in the Philippines supported the research and launch of Philippine Disability Sector Research: An Initial Analysis on the Access to Social and Public Services, Education, Employment, and Civic Participation and Governance. This research aims to raise awareness, trigger m… Read more

This report explores the disability sector in the Philippines and how current laws and policies have been implemented for persons with disabilities. The publication offers an initial analysis of policy implementation in four key areas: education, employment, social services, and civic participation. The research gives significant insight that warra… Read more

A comprehensive new policy from the Philippine Department of Education is set to start dismantling barriers that keep students with disabilities out of the classroom. The new policy has some unmistakable fingerprints from The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change.

Over several weeks in July and August 2021, 79 participants from 16 countries participated in “Development entrepreneurship: 12 keys to successful policy reform.” During the course, participants learned from real-life cases how leaders used entrepreneurial pri… Read more

Coalitions for Change (CfC) supports key policy reforms that will make a difference in the lives of Filipinos. Alongside Philippine leaders in civil society, academics, the private sector, and the government, CfC aids the pursuit of policy reforms towards inclusive economic growth, social development, improved governance, and peace and stability. I… Read more

The inaugural cohort of The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change (CfC) Mentoring Program was launched in January 2021. Selected leaders were trained in the art of development entrepreneurship (DE), CfC’s adaptive and politically smart methodology. DE means being entrepreneurial in the approach to development: start with resources available, make… Read more

Coalitions for Change (CfC) is a program under the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and The Asia Foundation partnership in the Philippines. CfC’s support for local leaders and organizations has helped introduce policy reforms that improve the lives of Filipinos. The program uses the Development Entrepreneurship approach and provid… Read more

The Standford Social Innovation Review spotlights The Asia Foundation’s development entrepreneurship model in successfully driving reforms in the Philippines. The Asia Foundation was able to facilitate two significant reforms. First, through a combination of research, advocacy, lobbying, and network building, it helped formulate and pass legislatio… Read more

In the Philippines, helping improve people’s lives sometimes requires changes to policies. There are areas that directly and tangibly impact people’s lives and which they want to have a say in—like waste management, consumer protection, biotech research or disaster risk management—but that can be daunting for most citizens and many local leaders wh… Read more

Coalitions for Change Stories: Gender, Inclusion, and Safeguards features success stories of women who advocated for their rights, challenged stereotypes, and entirely took advantage of opportunities to make significant changes in society. With support from the Australian Embassy and The Asia Foundation Partnership in the Philippines, the publicati… Read more

The Asia Foundation and the Australian Embassy in the Philippines today released a new publication, Thinking and Working Politically in Development: Coalitions for Change in the Philippines. Written by London School of Economics and Political Science Professor John T. Sidel and The Asia Foundation’s Jaime Faustino, the book examines the first phase… Read more

In this publication, authors John T. Sidel and Jaime Faustino look into the Coalitions for Change (CfC), a program of The Asia Foundation and the Australian Embassy Partnership in the Philippines. In looking at CfC’s diverse initiatives–in tax reform, education reform, land governance reform, electoral reform, infrastructure reform, disaster risk r… Read more

Since early 2012, The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change project in the Philippines has been rocking the emerging discipline of “thinking and working politically,” which is…what, exactly? In a new book, Jaime Faustino answers that question with a tale of strange bedfellows, unexpected obstacles, and astonishing solutions.

Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre features analysis from Country Representative in the Philippines Sam Chittick, Director of Governance Nicola Nixon, and Program Director Jaime Faustino on how the Foundation’s Coalitions for Change program in the Philippines is responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past couple of we… Read more

Shelter is a fundamental human right, but the Philippines has a shortage of affordable housing that will reach 6.8 million units by 2022. Now, a new set of rules for rent subsidies, championed by The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change, promises to make decent housing affordable for poor families.

The Philippines’ underfunded healthcare system has defied needed reforms for decades, but new taxes on alcohol and tobacco products could at last make universal healthcare a reality. 

In February 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the Agricultural Free Patent Reform Act. This new law allows patent holders to sell or use their land as collateral and frees up some 2.5 million agricultural land titles. This publication traces the journey of Philippine leaders, the Foundation for Economic Freedom, and Coalitions for Cha… Read more

This paper explores the conditions that gave rise to Clark International Airport development, including the subtle but significant role of the Coalitions for Change (CfC) program. CfC and its local partners were able to successfully revive and refine the development of Clark airport as an alternative international gateway to Metro Manila, an issue… Read more

Oxfam blog From Poverty to Power features program director Jaime Faustino in an audio interview with Oxfam’s Duncan Green on the Foundation’s Coalitions for Change (CfC) program. The interview was followed by an article comparing CfC with other adaptive management programs in Tanzania, Nigeria, and Myanmar. 

It’s a 45-minute drive on unpaved roads from Barangay Mabunao to Panabo, a small Philippine city in the southern province of Davao del Norte. The round trip costs “Joy” (not her real name) about US$2.00—25 percent of her daily income—just to get somewhere where she has access to a fast, reliable internet connection. But at that price, she mostly st… Read more

Across the globe, many studies have shown how having good road networks contribute significantly to a country’s development and economic growth. Roads are crucial in facilitating trade, providing access to basic social services, and enhancing people’s mobility. This story describes the efforts that led to the issuance of the new Department of the I… Read more

This story traces the efforts of Fully Abled Nation (FAN), a multi-sectoral coalition, towards making Philippine elections more inclusive.

The Asia Foundation’s Philippines office, with the support from the Australian Embassy, recently hosted a two-day Practitioners Forum on Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) in adaptive programming. The forum served as a platform for exchange, collaboration, and network-building to more than 50 MEL specialists from around the world. This repo… Read more

Accurate geospatial information is crucial for planning infrastructure investments, such as roads. In the Philippines, however, not all local governments have the resource to access reliable maps or the capacity to utilize such data. This story traces the contribution of a Coalitions for Change project on local road infrastructure reform. By workin… Read more

In the Philippines, youth unemployment hampers meaningful economic development. The sector’s lack of knowledge, skills, and work experience puts them at a disadvantage. One way to address this is through the Department of Education’s Senior High School (SHS) program, ushered by the K-12 education reform. One of its components, the work immersion pr… Read more

No matter how you slice it, implementing a project in the field of international development ultimately boils down to this: is the project helping the people it intends to reach, and how do you know? That translates directly into the essential nuts and bolts of project management and how to measure results. Are you achieving what you had hoped? How… Read more

Over 1.4 million high school students in grades 11 and 12 underwent the 2017-2018 Work Immersion program. This program offers a simulated workplace experience so students can develop industry-based competencies to improve their employment prospects. The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change (CfC) program worked with the Department of Education, o… Read more

In the Philippines, the traditional Alternative Learning System (ALS) was primarily focused on basic literacy, accreditation, and equivalency. The Department of Education saw the need to enhance the ALS program to best cater to out-of-school youth who are seeking employment. Using the successful industry linkage approach of Coalitions for Change in… Read more

About four million elementary and high school students in the Philippines attend extremely crowded public schools. In a few cases, one classroom has to accommodate over one hundred students in shifts throughout the day. This is far from the ideal target of 45 students per classroom. A shortage of buildable land was identified as the most critical i… Read more

Turo-Turismo is a project run by The Asia Foundation in the Philippines, through our Coalitions for Change (CfC) partnership with the Australian government. Beginning with a pilot program in Bohol in 2014, later expanded to the adjacent island provinces of Cebu and Siquijor in 2016, the tourism-focused training and immersion program prepares high s… Read more

On May 1, 2018, The Asia Foundation’s Fully Abled Nation (FAN) program, a partnership between the Australian Embassy and The Asia Foundation in the Philippines, launched a new campaign called “May 1% Ka Ba” (Do you have 1%?), a play on the May 1 Labor Day date, that aims to promote inclusive employment and raise the overall percentage of employees… Read more

The Election Reforms Law of 1987 mandates that Philippine public school teachers oversee the voting and counting processes during elections. While this old law provided a capable and available workforce, it unintentionally made teachers vulnerable to political pressures. This brief traces the efforts of the Coalitions for Change program and its ref… Read more

For anyone who has spent time in the Philippines, you can probably relate to the frustration over the country’s poor road and transportation infrastructure. Whether in metro Manila, where an average commuter spends more than an hour stuck in traffic jams or about three hours commuting to and from work, or in the countryside, where paved roads end a… Read more

This paper traces four major reforms in Philippine land governance, including their scope, outcomes, and complementarities. It also offers lessons on considering institutional capacity and political feasibility, and the importance of capitalizing on gains. With property rights as an important contributor to economic growth, the paper’s holistic exa… Read more

On March 14, 2017, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council approved new rules administering the use of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund. The new Rules represent the culmination of a Coalitions for Change (CfC) effort that began in June 2015 under the Partnership of the Australian Government and The Asia Found… Read more

This paper features a reform in basic education aimed at reducing congestion for public schools in the Philippines. The reform journey covers five years, and examines how Coalitions for Change mobilized a team, listened to local knowledge and experiences, pursued reform conjectures amidst changing political and development landscape, and finally ar… Read more

One month from now, Rodrigo Duterte will mark his first year as president of the Philippines. While other more controversial aspects of his policies have captured international headlines during his first year, including a brutal war against drugs, and yesterday’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao, the Duterte administration is continuing to fo… Read more

The severe congestion in Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Philippines’ international gateway, is hampering growth and investments. Designed for 30 million passengers but possessing a single runway, NAIA is prone to flight delays. Using technical analysis and coalition building, Coalitions for Change’s effort contributed to the governm… Read more

Each June, over 21 million elementary and high school students start a new school year in the Philippines, and almost 4 million of them, or 18 percent of the entire student population, will be forced to attend extremely overcrowded public schools. In urban areas, some classes hold over 100 students—well beyond the Department of Education’s (DepEd)… Read more

The Australian Government and The Asia Foundation, through the Coalitions for Change (CfC) flagship program, hopes to effect policy reform by encouraging civil society, the private sector, the academe, and the government to work together and contribute to transformative change. One of CfC’s key reform agenda is to rationalize infrastructure plannin… Read more

Overcrowded classrooms, a prevalent problem for the Philippines, have a negative impact on students’ learning. Almost four million students (about 18 percent of the student population) attend congested public schools. In urban areas, some classes hold as many as 100 students—well beyond the Department of Education’s (DepEd) prescribed 45 students p… Read more

New rules issued: titling Philippine government land now easier and faster Many Philippine national agencies and local governments continue to occupy untitled land, exposing the government facilities to the risk of displacement should there be usurpation or claims of ownership for the lands occupied. The Philippine government issued a policy to fac… Read more

The cities of Calamba and Cabuyao in Laguna are home to prime industrial estates whose continuous growth over the next three years would provide local employment opportunities. However, manufacturing companies experience difficulty in recruitment, with technical positions taking at least six months to be filled. In this video, see how the Coalition… Read more

The growing number of local and international tourists visiting Bohol accelerated the growth of its hotel and restaurant industry. In this video, see how Coalitions for Change (CfC), an initiative under the Australian Embassy and The Asia Foundation Partnership in the Philippines, worked with the Department of Education (DepEd), the provincial and… Read more

The Australian Embassy and The Asia Foundation, through the Coalitions for Change (CfC) flagship program, hopes to effect policy reform by encouraging civil society, the private sector, the academe, and the government to work together and contribute to transformative change. One of CfC’s key reform agenda is to rationalize infrastructure planning a… Read more

The Australian Embassy and The Asia Foundation, through its Coalitions for Change (CfC) flagship program, hopes to effect policy reform by encouraging civil society, the private sector, the academe, and the government to work together and contribute to transformative change. One of CfC‘s key reform agenda is to support the Philippine Government’s K… Read more

In November 2014, around 200 Informal Settler Families (ISF) voluntarily moved from their homes in dangerous waterway areas in Metro Manila to safer areas within the city. The transfer of these families represented the culmination of an activity that began in mid-2013 by the Coalitions for Change (CfC) program, a Partnership between the Australian… Read more

A surprising 90 percent of 46,379 sites of Philippine public schools are not properly titled.  This is problematic because schools may be vulnerable to usurpation and adverse claims of ownership if their rights to the property remain unclear. The Coalitions for Change (CfC) program worked with the Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of E… Read more

Media plays an influential role in Philippine society and it is paramount that reportage of disability-related issues and affairs is made knowledgeably and with sensitivity. The publication provides first-hand experience of what life is like for persons with disabilities, which helps clarify and define the different kinds of disability. With these… Read more