The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have agreed to strengthen their institutional partnership on research dissemination and knowledge sharing by formalizing their collaboration through the SocioEconomic Research Portal for the Philippines (SERP-P).
PIDS President Josef T. Yap and ADB Southeast Asia Department Director General Kunio Senga signed last January 15, 2013, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which states that both institutions have agreed to collaborate in making the studies/research found in their respective repository sites available to the public through SERP-P.
The SocioEconomic Research Portal for Philippines or SERP-P is an online knowledge repository which contains completed, ongoing and pipeline research studies related to socioeconomic development and policymaking in the Philippines. It links different socioeconomic studies conducted by various research institutions.
Yap pointed out in his opening remarks that formalizing the partnership between PIDS and ADB through SERP-P is a strong embodiment of PIDS`s core mandate of providing a common link between government and research institutions and of establishing a repository for socioeconomic research information and other related activities. He further explained that SERP-P is a powerful tool in aiding the policymaking process by providing easy access to pertinent studies that have been undertaken on a particular issue. In fact, SERP-P is currently linked to the Economic Resource Base for Legislators (ERBL), a website containing major socioeconomic bills filed at the Philippine House of Representatives. Yap added that SERP-P is not just a research portal but a network of excellent research institutions as well.
Meanwhile, Senga expressed his pleasure that the partnership between PIDS and ADB has finally become official through SERP-P. He stressed that joining SERP-P provides an excellent opportunity for ADB to establish a stronger partnership with PIDS. This partnership, according to him, is anchored in ADB`s knowledge management action plan, which encourages linkages with local research institutions. Becoming a member of SERP-P is a great opportunity for ADB to widely disseminate its knowledge products, Senga said.
Member institutions of the SERP-P can directly upload their studies into the database, provide keywords, abstract, and even the full text of the papers. These are then made available to the general public using a user-friendly web interface. In the future, SERP-P will also include an inventory of social science experts in the country. Experts will be classified according to their fields of expertise. This is intended to promote knowledge exchange and research collaboration among social scientists in the Philippines. For the general public, a moderated forum is available so that users of the SERP-P can raise questions, interact, and share information with one another.
For more information about the SERP-P, visit the website at serp-p.pids.gov.ph. Or call PIDS at tel. no. 8924059 or email info@pids.gov.ph.
