The University of the Philippines (UP CIDS) Program on Alternative Development (AltDev) aims to look at paradigms, policies, practices, and projects that are largely marginalized and excluded from the mainstream.
AltDev works with its grassroots and community partners to bring alternatives from the ground out of the margins and into the mainstream and level the playing field so that they may be regarded on an equal footing with dominant discourses and thus offer alternatives to the existing system.
| Creation date | |
|---|---|
| Topics / Areas | Education, Social change, Social justice |
| Languages | English |
| Funding models | Grants |
| Type of organization | Academic |
| Representative's name | Eduardo C. Tadem |
The University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UPCIDS) is the main policy research unit and think tank that harnesses the multidisciplinary expertise of the University on issues of national significance toward the resolution of the nation’s critical problems. UP, the country’s national university, created the Center in 1985 based on UP President’s Executive Order No.9. AltDev is one of the 12 programs under UP CIDS.
Since its inception in 2017, the Program has embarked on various activities beyond documentation, including the conduct of regional conferences on alternative practices in Southeast Asia, people-to-people exchange, participatory action research, various forums and seminars, and even online solidarity events that have significant relations to the peoples in the region.
It embraces the commitment to advance the critical role of research in harnessing shared and systematic analysis and strategies to defend lives, livelihood, and the commons. The Program maintains a progressive academic platform that contributes to the overall internationalist mission to counter neo-liberalism and strategically address the problems of development from the perspective of impacted communities from the Global South.