GSP CONFERENCE 2021: Promoting Sustainable Socioeconomic Development in the Post Covid-19 World                        

gsp_conference_2021

The human and economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic is immeasurable. Hardly any country has been spared from its impact, making it arguably the most significant economic phenomenon of the 21st century. The world is facing unprecedented challenges that require all countries, especially the developing ones, to take extraordinary efforts to support their people and rethink their development strategy. Promoting sustainable socioeconomic development in the post-COVID-19 era, therefore, is an urgent and strategic priority for policy makers around the world.

This Governance Study Project (GSP) Conference focuses on promoting sustainable socioeconomic development with a focus on South and Southeast Asia. The region is home to over 2.5 billion people who live in economically diverse countries facing unique challenges. This GSP Conference offers students exciting first-hand opportunities to learn from and contribute to governmental as well as private efforts in the region.

The students will draw on the knowledge and skills learned in the MPA program to conduct policy analyses for their respective clients, which include government agencies and NGOs around the world. The students will tackle diverse policy areas, ranging from rural digitalization and boosting tourism to energy security and educational reform.

The students will craft comprehensive policy proposals based on robust primary and secondary research and analysis, aiming to equip their clients with innovative ideas and policy approaches to navigate the post-COVID-19 world and promote economic development.



Or download the GSP Conference 2021 booklet here



GSP Conference Schedule 2021

Promoting Sustainable Socioeconomic Development in the Post Covid-19 World

Date: Friday, 7 May 2021
Time: 8.40am to 4.15pm
Via zoom: https://nus-sg.zoom.us/j/81890007554?pwd=YVh6L0xiYndHWmc4L2lKRk83Q3hqZz09#success
Meeting ID: 81890007554                            Meeting Passcode: 302282
Dress Code : Formal


GSP conference 2021 schedule

 

Group 1: Driving the Growth of Myanmar’s Digital Economy through Foreign Direct Investments

 

Group Members: Irene Fischbach Wieringa, Loh Zhi Wei, Rohit Sahgal, San Nay Thway, Yuta Momose

Myanmar has been rising as one of the frontier markets in south-east Asia, owing to its abundance of natural resources, availability of low-cost labour and a substantial population of 55 million. Nearly half of the country’s population have leap-frogged in the use of digital services following the widespread penetration of social media, smart phones, and mobile connectivity. As a result, a nascent digital economy is emerging, bolstered by the investment of Chinese technology companies in e-commerce and fintech, alongside the emergence of start-ups and the return of local talent who built their technology capabilities overseas. Through interviews with business enterprises and international relations experts who are close observers of the market dynamics in Myanmar, our GSP project seeks to evaluate and identify the policy alternatives that would be critical to addressing the barriers in attracting foreign direct investments into Myanmar’s digital economy. We hope our recommendations would inform the economic reforms that had been initiated by the government to turn the digital economy in Myanmar into a strong lever of growth for businesses across Asia while providing the local population an opportunity to uplift their livelihoods by riding on the digital wave that has been further accelerated by COVID-19 disruptions.

Group 2: Building Resilience in Cambodia's Tourism Industry

 

Group Members: Chin Weng Seng Eric, Eng Sovannchita, Someth Somnea, Tan Si-Rong, Wee Shunren Matthew

The economy of the Kingdom of Cambodia is heavily reliant on its tourism sector, which comprises one-quarter of its GDP. In 2018, the country received 6.2 million foreign tourists. However, the world-wide travel restrictions resulting from a global pandemic emergency imposed a heavy setback to the country’s tourism industry. While the spread of COVID-19 continues at an unrelenting pace with no signs of respite in the near future, Cambodia needs to think of innovative solutions to revitalise its struggling tourism businesses. Simultaneously, the nation also needs to maintain as well as upgrade its tourism sector to welcome back travellers from all over the world once the restrictions ease.

Our team has worked closely with Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism to develop a prospective roadmap to smoothen the recovery of Cambodia’s tourism sector. The team focuses on two main pillars, namely promoting domestic tourism and upskilling the workforce in tourism services. Our recommendations offer both short-term as well as long-term strategies to help Cambodia position itself as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia. Our suggestions also aim to up skill the workforce in Cambodia’s tourism sector, so that they can sustain their livelihoods while improving job opportunities in the future. Finally, we propose to enhance the adoption of information and communication technologies to expand the reach of tourism businesses and to improve information access for future travellers.

Group 3: Moving ASEAN FORWARD - A sustainable approach to organic waste management

 

Group Members: Dhar Vybhav, Muhammad Farooq Wajid, Rebecca Koh Soo May, Saiful Ely

Improper organic waste management is a chronic problem in many developing countries, where waste generation has increased substantially owing to urbanization and fast economic growth, while efficient waste treatment facilities such as incineration has not developed adequately due to budget constraints. Disposal of wastes in landfills is not only space-consuming, but also poses serious environmental and public health threats. To develop sustainable, cost effective alternatives, the Indonesia Ministry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) along with the Swiss’ State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has launched a waste recycling initiative that uses Black Soldier Flies (BSF) to decompose organic wastes under the project titled “From ORganic WAste to Recycling for Development” (FORWARD). The by-products of the decomposed organic wastes that are converted to fertilizers or animal feed, are sold in market for additional revenue generation. Two pilot projects in the town of Sidoarjo and Surabaya city have been successfully established and handed over to the local municipalities for operation and maintenance. Our GSP project partners with the city of Semarang in Indonesia to work on the feasibility of replicating the FORWARD approach for better management of the city’s increasing organic waste production. For this, we intend to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the operational pilot projects, identify its opportunities and challenges, while providing recommendations for the Semarang municipality on the adoption of FORWARD program. 

Group 4: Strategies for Housing and Urban Development in Metro Manila

 

Group Members: Chong Shijie Claire, Kam Wen De, Ng Yu-Shan Nolan, Nomura Hideki, Raisa Neith Salvador, Tan Irddy Bin Vic Irwan Abdullah Tan

Public housing and urban planning are crucial issues of urban governance in every city. The Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of good quality housing not only in addressing the immediate public health crisis, but also providing a long-lasting foundation for better livelihoods, socio-economic resilience, and communal harmony. Metro Manila is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, housing a population of 13 million. Owing to rapid urbanisation, inadequate urban development planning and lack of adequate housing, nearly 25% of Manila’s residents dwell in informal settlements. During the Covid-19 outbreak, poor living conditions among informal settlers had aggravated the spread of the virus, putting their lives and livelihoods under severe threat. 

The Philippine government acknowledges this problem and has attempted to accelerate public housing provision for low-income groups, by enacting the “Social Contract with the Filipino People” that promises “inclusive urban development where people of varying income levels are integrated in productive, healthy, and safe communities”. Despite the good intentions, land constraints, poor funding, and institutional challenges have led to little success so far. Our GSP project examines the gaps in Philippines’ urban development policies and draws upon best practices in land use planning and management, sustainable financing, and good governance that can be adopted by Metro Manila.

Group 5: Singapore-Indonesia E-Commerce Regulatory Reforms for Freer Movement of Goods in a Post-COVID World

 

Group Members: Amna Mohamed Abdalla Saifan Alsuwaidi, Noel Chow Zher Ming, Scott Douglas Bradford, Su Su Win

The rapid growth in the e-commerce industry is a rare positive economic outcome amidst the COVID-19 crisis. In recent years, e-commerce has evolved as an engine of explosive growth in promoting economic development and prosperity across Southeast Asia. In particular, Indonesia has seen a number of e-commerce ‘unicorns’ emerge in the past decade and the e-commerce market there is only expected to grow – predicted to account for over 50 percent of the Southeast Asian market by 2025. However, the existing lack of clarity over Indonesian government regulations and the government’s tendency for protectionism risks jeopardising this burgeoning industry. For Singapore as a transshipment hub, this is also of economic concern. Our GSP project intends to explore the relevant policies, rules and regulations that assist and/or hinder shipping of e-commerce products between Indonesia and Singapore, the region’s trading hub. For this, we have partnered with Janio – a Singapore-based cross-border shipping provider – to assist them to understand the implications of recent developments affecting their business, including the Indonesian government’s passing of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation and the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2020. Our paper will provide some recommendations for providing greater clarity and certainty regarding the regulatory environment to facilitate the movement of e-commerce goods more freely between Singapore and Indonesia.

 

Group 6: Digitalisation of Rural Areas in West Java, Indonesia

 

Group Members: Chia Weilie Willie, Grace Natalie Louisa Ng, Goh Hui Koon, Lei Jiahui, Sreymoch Bun

West Java, as the most populous province in Indonesia, is well-positioned to harness the economic benefits of digitalization. In a bid to fight poverty and economic inequality, the West Java government has embarked on efforts to utilize technological advances to improve its governance and public services, along with accelerating economic growth through the launch of the Digital Village Programme in 2018. Despite making substantive progress, West Java’s digitalisation journey still faces a core challenge of poor internet penetration, particularly in the rural areas. Our research comprising of surveys and interviews, identifies the following key factors contributing to the problem:
  1. poor infrastructure;
  2. low digital skills and affordability;
  3. inadequate coordination and monitoring; and
  4. limited local support in promoting internet adoption.
Based on these findings, our GSP project provides practical recommendations to our clients – the West Java Governor and the Jabar Digital Service. Our recommendations include lessons drawn from cross-country best practise experiences on improving internet access, initiating government-aided digital education program in rural areas, and launching a matchmaking digital platform that would connect villages in West Java to a larger ecosystem of digital users across the country. Finally, we also propose a monitoring and evaluation framework that will help our clients to objectively evaluate the effectiveness as well as outcome efficiency of the Digital Village Programme.

 

Group 7: Energy security for a post-Covid-19 world

 

Group Members: Feng Guimei Agnes, Idowu Olagoke Kunlere, Nikhil Saraswat, Smarak Swain, Susanta Kumar Mishra

Solar and hydrogen have been the most promising clean energy sources that have shown prospects for wide-scale energy production as well as potential for fulfilling decarbonisation goals to address global warming issues. Our GSP project aims to propose a regional policy framework for Asian countries, that is conducive to green development stimulus along with viable decarbonizing solutions in a post-COVID-19 world. For this, we divide our research scope into two distinct outcome goals. The first segment of the report conducts a trend analysis to explore the advancements in solar technology and persisting challenges in penetration of solar energy in the Indian market. It highlights constraints responsible for the slow adoption of solar energy despite significant government initiatives. We find that one possible way to overcome major constraints in adoption of solar power is green hydrogen. In the second section, we explore challenges and implications of promoting a global hydrogen energy ecosystem, focusing on policy initiatives for hydrogen infrastructure development, including financing models and storage technologies, that would encourage uptake of hydrogen as a clean energy solution among ASEAN countries. Finally, we have attempted to integrate the findings into policy lessons for positioning ASEAN countries as major players in the developing global hydrogen economy.

 

Group 8: Integrated Tourism Solutions for Amazing Thailand

 

Group Members: Chen Peilu, Xiao Rong, Yang Kehan Ssica, Zeng Xi Stella, Zhang Jun

Tourism comprises a key sector in Thailand’s economy, accounting for 18% of the country's gross domestic product in 2019. However, the onset of the global pandemic in 2020 has resulted in severe setbacks, including job losses to the Thai tourism industry. A year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, worldwide travel restrictions continue to cripple the international tourism business. With the government’s plan to gradually open Thailand to tourists, it has become necessary to formulate practical policy solutions to help the country recover as well as develop its tourism sector focusing on resilience, competence, and sustainability in a post-Covid world. Our GSP project intends to contribute to this end by designing integrated solutions for post-Covid recovery, along with technological advancements to facilitate further expansion of the industry. For this, we have partnered with the Department of Tourism of Thailand to recommend a policy framework as an integral part of the Thailand 4.0 national development layout, which also examines the scope for engaging existing external programmes such as the Belt & Road Initiative to enhance Thailand’s tourism business. Our recommendations focus on the implications of virtual/artificial reality, online livestreaming, and other app-based technologies for enhancing access to travel-related information. We also recommend promoting Thailand’s unique charm in culture, nature, and adventure sports as well as conferencing opportunities in order to attract international travellers of all ranges across the world.

 

Group 9: Upskilling Government Officials for the Post COVID-19 World – Zambian National School of Government

 

Group Members: Abdul Mannan Bin Mohamed Ibrahim, Chng Li Ping, Florence Tan Mei Ing, Samuel Richard Thomas Downes, Tan Jin Quan Jonathan

A competent and high performing civil service is fundamental to good governance and the effective implementation of public policy reforms. National schools of government play a crucial role in equipping civil servants with the right capabilities and skillsets to navigate an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. The recently established Zambian National School of Government (NSG) aims to build capacity, while promoting integrity, professionalism, and performance excellence in the public services sector. It is currently in the early stage of conceptualising and formalising its strategic plan to guide its institutional operations.

In collaboration with the Chandler Institute of Governance (CIG), the team seeks to deliver a comprehensive roadmap with practical recommendations covering the following key areas:

  1. building and strengthening values and culture;
  2. designing relevant and effective programmes, products, and services;
  3. human resource management and talent development,
  4. inter-agency/ governmental partnerships and collaborations,
  5. designing systems and process frameworks, and
  6. resilience planning.
To ensure that the report is tailored to the Zambian NSG’s needs, the project will draw on best practices from global examples of national schools of governments, interviews with senior government officials, learning and development practitioners, and workshops with selected stakeholders from the school. Special attention will be paid to integrating technology and adapting innovation learning methodologies for a post COVID-19 world. It is our hope that our team’s contribution will be useful in bringing the Zambian NSG one step closer to achieving their mandate.

 

Group 10: Reviewing the Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard (QRIS) Diffusion Strategy for Improving E-Payment Services in Indonesia

 

Group Members: Arfi Bambani Amri, Gautam Singh Chaudhary, Max Yong Chi Chung, Sokvisal Sin Jim

The COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated fast expansion of the e-commerce sector, specifically among the emerging markets. As more consumers are turning to online options for purchase of goods and services, businesses have been forced to adopt digital services in conducting their transactions. Among the South-east Asian nations, Indonesia too has witnessed a significant growth surge in the e-commerce business, with its market value reaching US$35 billion in 2020, jumping from $23 billion in 2019. With the intention of introducing uniform digital transaction platform, Indonesia has launched the Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) code system. QRIS facilitates users from one payment service to pay or transfer fund to another payment service. In a country where there are more than 30 payment services operating, QRIS is a leap forward. The Bank of Indonesia as the central bank has chosen QRIS over other technologies such as chip cards and RFID owing to its lower deployment cost, greater efficiency, and better financial inclusion. Despite concerns regarding consumer protection and data privacy policy, QRIS has been widely accepted by users as well. Our GSP study will examine the scope and challenges of enhancing the diffusion strategy of QRIS. Specifically, how is the current infrastructure and ecosystem of digital payment system in Indonesia? What are the key drivers for mobile payment usage? What are the challenges confronted by both providers and customers? How does Bank of Indonesia work with private sectors to use QRIS? How is the consumers’ acceptation to QRIS? Based on our findings, we provide policy solutions to facilitate an integrated as well as robust digital payment system in Indonesia.

Group 11: Unleashing the power of online education: Opportunities and Strategies for Vietnam's Higher Education to emerge stronger beyond COVID-19

 

Group Members: Betty Wong, Cheung Lok Kan Dan, Lee Lizhen Lilian, Lee Wong Cheng Jacky, Siti Nur A’isyah Binti Abdul Razak, Zulfadli Bin Ab Rahim

The COVID-19 global pandemic has presented several challenges but also created new opportunities by accelerating technology adoption in different sectors. To address the disruptions caused by the pandemic, educational institutions all over the world have embraced extensive technological applications to continue student engagements. Vietnam is no exception. The country has been preparing to upgrade its education system through implementation of the National Digital Transformation Programme (NDTP) that became more urgent amidst the Covid-19 outbreak. However, being in the early stages of its transformation journey, adoption rate of online learning technologies has been below expectations. The major reasons being path dependence barriers in altering traditional practices and mindsets as well as need for better IT infrastructure.

In collaboration with the Vietnam National University-University of Economics and Business (VNU-UEB), Van Lang University (VLU) and Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), our GSP project aims to examine the key obstacles in Vietnam’s journey towards digital transformation in the higher education sector. The study identifies short-term as well as long-term benefits of digitalization of Vietnam’s higher education system and recommends policy lessons drawn from best-management case-studies. For this, we have administered a survey on university students, educators and administrators based in Vietnam as well as Singapore. Based on the survey findings, we propose a strategic plan comprised of macro-level restructuring of the country’s education policies, facilitating technological expansion, along with micro-level toolkits to improve the adoption of online learning as well as digitalisation of administrative processes among Vietnam’s universities.

Group 12: E-Waste Management in India: Ideating a platform towards effective governance

 

Group Members: Amita Singh, Gaurav Pratap Singh, Pandit Noopur Purushottam

In a fast-advancing digital world, electronic waste or e-waste is the largest growing source of solid waste generation. As per the World Economic Forum (WEF) Report 2019, approximately 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste are generated worldwide every year. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on wider adoption of digital technologies in businesses, education as well as social lives is likely to result in massive escalation of e-waste production. India being one of the top-five e-waste generating countries, faces a grave policy challenge in terms of e-waste management and disposal. Despite the changes in legislation and efforts by the private sector, only around 2-5% of e-waste gets recycled in India. Our GSP project aims to bridge the gaps in the current e-waste management practices by designing a relevant policy framework to streamline the collection and disposal of e-waste in the country. For this, we have partnered with the Manufactures’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT), an apex body representing India’s ICT sector. Our policy recommendations include lessons drawn from international best practices, along with formulating a common digital platform to facilitate easy access to information, reporting and compliance of e-waste regulations among diverse stakeholders.