The conventional thinking about policy effectiveness emphasizes the appropriateness of the solution to the policy problem. The focus on the efficacy of policy instruments has invariably led scholars and policymakers to conclude that policies in developing countries, despite good design, often do not work because of bad implementation. Such view tends to ignore that policy goals and policy design, rather than the policy instrument and implementation, could be problematic when it is ill-conceived, ambiguous or self-defeating. Drawing an on-going dissertation project, this research seminar seeks to better unpack policy effectiveness through a conceptualization of policy goals as a goal system. Contrary to the thinking that there is a single policy goal, all policies are designed to pursue multiple types of goals: normative, substantive and procedural goals. Out of these three goals, one goal is chosen as a focal goal, depending on the most salient feature (technical, political or operational) of the design space. Viewed this way, policy instruments deployed by governments could be effective in achieving the focal goal but could also be costly and ineffective in achieving other goals. Two cases of development programs from the Philippines are used to illustrate the trilemma that exists in pursuing multiple policy goals.