Policy consulting in developing countries: evidence from the Philippines

Abstract

ABSTRACTNo one can deny the importance of policy advice in the affairs of the government but the actual role played by consultants in policymaking is poorly understood and little researched, particularly in developing countries where data are scarce. This article is an initial attempt at examining the demand for policy consulting in a developing country. It sought to confirm whether the trends in policy advice – externalization and proceduralization – found in developed countries are present in an emerging economy such as the Philippines based on an extensive coding and analysis of a recently made public database of bid notices for consulting services. The study confirms that the demand for external policy advice is growing in Philippines, as expected from a government of a developing country. The proceduralization hypothesis of externalizing process-related work is partially confirmed but strategic policy advice is also found to be important where the government almost equally also outsources substantive, highly specialized advice. However, administrative politicization is not observed in this data set. A new category of advice is also generated – training – to capture demands of the bureaucracy to delivery advice expeditiously through workshops facilitated by experts.