Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected various sectors of society. To rebuild from the impacts of this public health cum economic crisis, countries need to reset their existing paradigms and practices.

This is the theme of this year’s 7th Annual Public Policy Conference (APPC), the main and culminating activity of the Development Policy Research Month (DPRM) celebration led by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

The APPC convenes foreign and local experts, researchers, policymakers and representatives from government, private sector, and civil society in an evidence-based discourse of current and emerging development issues.

Anchored on the DPRM theme “Reset and Rebuild for a Better Philippines in the Post-Pandemic World”, or in Filipino, “Muling Magsimula at Magtayo Tungo sa Mas Matatag na Pilipinas Pagkatapos ng Pandemya”, this year’s APPC will feature topics, including resetting capitalism, ethical business, green and inclusive recovery, and robust and healthy workforce.

The DPRM theme emphasizes the need to reset paradigms and practices by balancing the interests of people, profit, and planet or by placing equal importance on economic, social, and environmental well-being and sustainability.

The APPC will be conducted virtually in a four-part webinar series on September 14, 16, 21, and 23.

The opening ceremony and first webinar will feature the DPRM and APPC’s main theme: resetting capitalism. It aims to discuss key concepts of the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” and how these could be applied to developing economies such as the Philippines. Specifically, it focuses on how countries can “build new foundations for the world’s economic and social systems”, “steer the market toward fairer outcomes”, and advance “shared goals, such as equality and sustainability”.

The second webinar will focus on ethical business, which tackles how businesses can be profitable and ethical at the same time. This webinar aims to discuss the concept of stakeholder capitalism, which considers the interests of all stakeholders and not only of business shareholders.

The third webinar on green and inclusive recovery talks about the impacts of the pandemic on the environment and how governments and businesses can work together toward environmental resilience moving forward.

The fourth webinar on robust and healthy workforce puts the spotlight on the labor sector, one of the most affected sectors in this pandemic. This session looks at designing effective social protection systems for workers, promoting health at work, and future-proofing education.

Launched by PIDS in 2015, the APPC is envisioned to serve as a platform to further bridge research and policymaking and enhance evidence-based planning and policy formulation in the country. Themes of past APPCs include “Institutions and Human Capital”, “Building Resilience”, “Critical Perspectives on Federalism”, “Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, “Navigating the New Globalization”, and “Innovating Governance for the New Normal”.

Details of this year’s DPRM and APPC theme and activities are available at https://dprm.pids.gov.ph. The public may also check the PIDS social media pages at https://www.facebook.com/PIDS.PH/ and https://twitter.com/PIDS_PH for more information.

Everyone is encouraged to use the hashtags #APPC2021ResetRebuild, #APPC2021BetterPhilippines, #EthicalBusiness, #GreenandInclusiveRecovery, #RobustandHealthyWorkforce to promote the APPC. ###

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