TY - JOUR
T1 - Diaspora and development beyond the state
T2 - the case of Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines
AU - Kelly, Philip F.
AU - Ortega, Arnisson Andre C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Across the Philippines, various types of Canadian support have enabled the rise of dozens of GK villages (see Figure 3 ), with most projects in the Visayas and Mindanao regions associated with disaster-related GK programmes. In another GK village south of Tarlac, multiple forms of support come from various overseas sources – including construction volunteers from Hong Kong visitors and a day care centre funded by an American foundation. While a portion of the financing for the village came from GK Canada, the most significant contribution came in the form of land donated by a member of the local town elite who had migrated to Canada. This highlights a key issue of spatial equity in relation to development driven by charitable donations from the diaspora. The location of such village showcases of generosity is generally driven by the availability of donated land, coming from either a wealthy donor or a local government unit. These are not, however, necessarily the places that are most in need but are instead rather randomly distributed. When these villages, and other charitable construction projects, are based on a land donation from an overseas migrant there are good reasons to doubt that they are being placed where the need is greatest. Outward migration from the Philippines is very uneven across the country and tends not to be sourced from the most impoverished provinces (Kelly 2009 ).
Funding Information:
This work was part of the Alternative Transnational Economies project, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through its Insight Grant program.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © 2020 SOAS University of London.
PY - 2020/1/2
Y1 - 2020/1/2
N2 - Since 2000, Gawad Kalinga (GK) has emerged as a prominent player in promoting diaspora-driven strategies for social and economic development in the Philippines. GK has its roots as the social ministry of a Catholic lay organization that started by providing housing and youth programmes for the urban poor, but in recent years, it has moved towards a more secular model of fostering social entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, a distinctly moral imperative still underpins GK’s work, both in soliciting donations and volunteerism, and in selecting and supporting its development beneficiaries. A significant portion of GK’s funds, and volunteer labour, comes from the Filipino diaspora. This paper raises questions concerning the model of social and economic development that GK represents. In particular, we examine the drawbacks of private charitable involvement in the execution of state responsibilities such as social housing and poverty alleviation; and we ask what forms of moral subjectivity are created and populated in this model of development and how does it select, socialize and discipline beneficiaries? More broadly, this paper argues that the GK case addresses some of the promises and pitfalls of diaspora-driven development visions.
AB - Since 2000, Gawad Kalinga (GK) has emerged as a prominent player in promoting diaspora-driven strategies for social and economic development in the Philippines. GK has its roots as the social ministry of a Catholic lay organization that started by providing housing and youth programmes for the urban poor, but in recent years, it has moved towards a more secular model of fostering social entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, a distinctly moral imperative still underpins GK’s work, both in soliciting donations and volunteerism, and in selecting and supporting its development beneficiaries. A significant portion of GK’s funds, and volunteer labour, comes from the Filipino diaspora. This paper raises questions concerning the model of social and economic development that GK represents. In particular, we examine the drawbacks of private charitable involvement in the execution of state responsibilities such as social housing and poverty alleviation; and we ask what forms of moral subjectivity are created and populated in this model of development and how does it select, socialize and discipline beneficiaries? More broadly, this paper argues that the GK case addresses some of the promises and pitfalls of diaspora-driven development visions.
KW - Diaspora
KW - Gawad Kalinga
KW - Philippines
KW - development
KW - overseas Filipinos
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U2 - 10.1080/0967828X.2020.1727297
DO - 10.1080/0967828X.2020.1727297
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087631470
SN - 0967-828X
VL - 28
SP - 35
EP - 55
JO - South East Asia Research
JF - South East Asia Research
IS - 1
ER -