Dr. Gilberto Llanto, president of PIDS, penned the banner article of this second issue of the Development Research News--his well-meaning advice to President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. A fundamental challenge for the incoming administration, according to Llanto, is to translate its eight-point economic agenda into rational, coherent, and well-studied economic policies. He also underscored the importance of clear policy statements, policy coherence, and careful study and sufficient empirical evidence as basis for any policy decision in order to achieve the administration's economic goals for the country.
This DRN issue also discusses the results of PIDS' impact evaluation of some big-budgeted health and nutrition programs of the government. The insights from these studies are intended to guide the new administration and relevant agencies on how to improve the programs' design and implementation. The studies reveal the programs' weaknesses that must be addressed by the program implementers, such as poor targeting of beneficiaries under the Sustainable Livelihood Program and inadequacy of funding in the Health Facilities Enhancement Program. Articles on the different forums conducted during the period and the inclusion of Dr. Alfredo Pascual, president of the UP System, into the PIDS Board of Trustees complete the issue.