EMIT:C4C holds Anchor Themes Workshop at UPSE

The EMIT C4C: Partnerships for Inclusiveness and Competitiveness, a program under the UP CIDS in collaboration with the UP School of Economics, held the Anchor Themes Workshop last February 1, 2018 at the UP School of Economics. The workshop clarified and elaborated the key themes of the EMIT C4C Center and engaged practitioners in a dialogue on these themes so as to enhance the analysis that drives their theory of change, as well as help scientists enrich the literature by incorporating the perspectives of the main protagonists themselves.

The workshop was opened by Dr. Teresa Encarnacion Tadem, director of the UP CIDS. The speakers included Prof. Emmanuel de Dios of UPSE (Escaping the Middle-Income Trap and role of Inclusion and Competitiveness in Agriculture), Prof. Rob van Tulder (The Nature of Wicked Problems and Sustainable Supply Chains) and Prof. Annette Pelkmans-Balaoing  (Action Research) of the Rotterdam School of Management, Prof. Ron Chua (Agricultural Financing) of AIM, and researchers from the program, Jane Capacio (Cooperatives, Property Rights & Agri Contracts) and Reinier de Guzman (Business for Peace). The discussants were Gisela Tiongson – Executive Director of the Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF), NEDA Assistant Secretary Carlos Abad-Santos and former DAR Sec. Gil de los Reyes. The attendees included Ms. Patricia Alverdia of the Netherlands Embassy, Dr. Roberto Acosta of East West Seed Company, and the core staff of JGF, Office of the Vice President & PinoyME.

The Escaping the Middle-Income Trap: Chains for Change  (EMIT:C4C) is a program under UP CIDS that aims to develop action research cases on frontrunner companies and civil society organizations engaged in agriculture value chains.  The primary interest is to understand how smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples, and other rural poor populations are involved in and benefit from inclusive and sustainable agriculture value chains.  The program intends to build knowledge and constituents for inclusive agriculture value chains from among companies, CSOs, government agencies, and academic institutions.