An Emerging Philippine Case Study
Throughout human history, the contact between developed economies and societies in undeveloped areas has historically resulted in exploitation. Today the challenge of creating a positive engagement between developing and advanced markets is a pressing goal.
On the one hand, advanced technologies and markets offer benefits needed by indigenous people in today’s world. On the other hand, connecting indigenous peoples with global markets and technology can be extremely disruptive, often resulting in vastly unequal benefits to the two sides. So the compelling question remains: how can the transformational power of advanced technologies and markets be connected in constructive ways with indigenous societies in undeveloped, endowment–rich regions?
The challenge can be illustrated today in the Philippines. With ninety-seven percent of the primary forest cut for timber, ninety percent of the coral reefs endangered, cities filled with high levels of pollution, and the majority of the indigenous peoples, lacking even birth certificates, surviving without education, healthcare, sufficient food supply, and hope for a productive and prosperous future, the problems are clear.
But now, new developments in the Philippine government and with new global partnerships emerging, the Philippines can also, perhaps, offer the world a model for how to manage a shared value integration of indigenous and advanced societies.
The story begins in 1997, when President Fidel V. Ramos signed historical legislation creating the Indigenous People’s Right’s Act of the Philippines. This Act empowers the indigenous peoples of the Philippines to govern themselves and to claim ownership and development rights for their ancestral domains and natural resources. As a result of this legislation, 5.1M hectares of land on the island of Mindanao now belongs to the 40 indigenous people groups who inhabit the region. The new President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, is committed to the continuation of this legislative agenda, and has appointed new executive leadership throughout government agencies who are dedicated to integrity, the elimination of poverty, and the empowerment of indigenous peoples.
In response to this unprecedented opportunity, various indigenous people groups in the Caraga Region have joined together to create the Indigenous People’s Economic Union (IPEU). By joining together, IPEU and other groups are also creating new opportunities for comprehensive rural development in partnership with a new generation of global initiatives grounded in shared value.
In 2015, Global Action Platform launched an initiative to create a new model for sustainable development for emerging markets at its Global Action Summit with Fareed Zakaria. Drawing upon research and models developed by Michael Porter and its affiliate membership in the Microeconomics of Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School, along with a partnership with Indigi, PTE, a commercial development firm in Singapore, GAP began efforts to identify and recruit responsible companies, institutions, and investors to collaborate in creating a new approach.
The new development model incorporates formation of competitive local businesses, with shared value solutions to integrate economic, educational, social, and environmental development that can be replicated in other parts of the world.
80% of the planet's untaped biodiversity lies in Indigenous areas
Governments, international agencies, and donors continue to address symptoms, not systems
Some of the worlds highest value, critically needed resources remain trapped, undeveloped, and inaccessible
Global companies and markets are desperate for high-grade, ethically-sourced raw materials and products
Initiating economic development in undeveloped regions rich in natural assets but lacking investment and prior business operations has historically been an occasion for exploitation and development failure.
MOC principles can be implemented to provide a new model to launch economies that create shared value and new globally competitive clusters in these re
gions. Global Action Platform, together with Indigi and our investors and partners are creating this new, inclusive solution for development in emerging regions, starting in the Philippines.