A team of three graduate students from the UP Asian Center and the Department of Political Science has reached the finals of the Geneva Challenge 2015. As finalists in the competition, they have been invited to defend their policy proposal on return migration in front of an expert jury in Geneva, Switzerland on 12 October 2015.
For the contest, the team, which is comprised of Yvan Ysmael Yonaha, Janina Tan, and Frances Cruz, submitted a proposal, "Assisting the Reintegration of Philippine Return Migrants using Mobile Technology." Theirs was one of 44 entries, and only three made it to the finals after a stringent screening process. Photo (L-R): Frances Cruz, Yvan Yonaha, and Janina Tan. Grabbed from the CAL website.
Their proposal highlights various economic, political and social barriers that discourage return migrants from seeking employment in the Philippines, such as deskilling, the lack of information on job opportunities, and the perception of employment abroad as a more sustainable source of income. The group argues that appropriate development policies are marred by difficulties in determining the number of return migrants and their willingness to reside permanently in the country, 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 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.
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 winner of the Geneva Challenge will be announced after the presentation of the three finalists on 12 October 2015.
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.
This write-up was provided by Frances Cruz and is adapted from an online press release from the College of Arts of Letters website.
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. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here.