Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

UP Asian Center Students Pen Policy Proposal on Return Migration, Win Geneva Challenge 2015

Details

Last 12 October 2015, a team of three graduate students from the UP Asian Center and the Department of Political Science won 1st place at the Geneva Challenge 2015, an international academic competition wherein graduate students draft policy proposals to help address specific issues on development.  

The UP Asian Center students, Yvan Ysmael Yonaha, Janina Tan, and Frances Cruz,  comprised one of three teams that reached the finals, all of whom defended their policy proposals on return migration and socioeconomic development in front of an expert jury in Geneva, Switzerland on 12 October 2015. 

Mr. Yonaha, Ms. Tan, and Ms. Cruz’s proposal was entitled "Assisting the Reintegration of Philippine Return Migrants using Mobile Technology." Their proposal highlights various economic, political and social barriers that discourage return migrants from seeking employment in the Philippines. 

Photo: The winning team with Kofi Annan. Grabbed from the website of the Graduate Institute, Geneva. View.

Appropriate development policies, the proposal goes, are marred by difficulties in determining the number of return migrants, and by the disparate and voluntary nature of the services that public and private sectors offer return migrants. 

To address these challenges, the group recommends that these services be linked and centralized through mobile technology, particularly through unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) codes that provide up-to-date information on current projects, training seminars, loans and other services. These services include financial literacy programs and counseling, and help provide more accurate and up-to-date statistics on return migrants.

Cellphones are more prevalent among  Filipinos than the Internet and smartphones, making them an easily accessible and practical link to government and private migrant services. The research further revealed that Filipinos possess the skills and attitudes needed to utilize this type of technology. Indeed, existing government regulations present opportunities to develop skills and attitudes for the mobile application.   

Read the full proposal: Assisting the Reintegration of Philippine Return Migrants using Mobile Technology. View the award ceremony and learn more about the Geneva Challenge. 

The Geneva Challenge, also known as the "Advancing Development Goals International Contest for Graduate Students," aims to foster collaborative efforts between graduate students across the world in addressing a particular development issue. This year’s topic, on return migration, is of special significance to the Philippines, which has institutionalized services for around 2.3 million workers overseas. Last year’s Geneva Challenge, which focused on the exploitation of female migrant workers, included an appearance by the High Patron of the competition, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The winning team, who bested the two other finalists from London School of Economics and Columbia University, is comprised of: 

  • Yvan Ysmael Yonaha is an MA Philippine Studies student majoring in Development Studies at the UP Asian Center. His research interests are devolution, governance, and religion. 
  • Janina Tan, an MA Asian Studies student at the Asian Center, specializes in the Northeast Asian region, particularly on China. 
  • Frances Cruz is Assistant Professor at the College of Arts and Letters and is pursuing her second Master’s Degree in International Studies at the Department of Political Science. She has taken various courses at the Asian Center. Her research interests encompass soft power, applied linguistics, and gender and migration in West Asia. 

The Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. View recent and upcoming Lectures & Conferences and read other News & Announcements. Join our mailing list.