Grantee: De La Salle University – Social Development Research Center (DLSU-SDRC)
Grant period: January 2025 – October 2026
Country of focus: Philippines
FutureWORKS Asia is part of a global initiative supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, dedicated to addressing the evolving challenges in the world of work across the Global South. As the Asian arm of this global network, FutureWORKS Asia is led by LIRNEasia and focuses on fostering high-quality, innovative, and gender-responsive research to shape the future of work in the region. Between 2023 and 2028, FutureWORKS Asia will award research grants and build a regional research network to generate actionable insights and influence policy. The first grant cycle is currently underway, with five projects selected to conduct pioneering research to explore key labormarket trends, technological advancements, and socio-economic shifts to ensure inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
SDRC-DLSU along with EL Observatorio de Manila, Inc. have been selected to conduct an 18-month research and advocacy project, Opportunity and Resilience in the Philippine Platform Labor Economy: Policy imperatives for skills development and social protection amid climate and technological change.
The project examines the evolving nature of platform-based work in the Philippines amid rapid technological advancements and climate change. It explores the vulnerabilities of platform workers, particularly concerning skills development and social protection, and aims to propose policy reforms that enhance labor resilience. SDRC-DLSU will work with key stakeholders in the Philippines to disseminate the research findings to policymakers and decision makers in the Philippines, toward an inclusive and sustainable future of work.
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Research objectives
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Methodology
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Grantee information
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Research Team
The study is structured around two key dimensions: social protection and skills development. The following research questions will be explored through in the study:
- Platform Labor as a Viable Work Alternative: Gaps in Social Protection
- How do climate conditions and risks influence workers' entry into and movement within platform work?
- What financial and health risks emerge from the platformization of labor, and how are these risks exacerbated by technological and climate change, as well as demographic shifts?
- How do gender and disability dynamics shape workers' experiences of these vulnerabilities?
- What policy gaps exist in social protection systems that could prevent further marginalization and precarization of platform workers due to technological and climate change?
- Platform Labor as a Viable Work Alternative: Skills and Competencies
- How can platform work serve as a viable source of livelihood, particularly for displaced workers? What skills and competencies are required to thrive in emerging platform work?
- What skills are essential for workers in vulnerable sectors affected by technological developments, and how can their mobility and task diversification within the sector be facilitated?
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How do inequalities in access and digital literacy—particularly related to gender and age—impact workers' ability to acquire these competencies, and what reforms are necessary to bridge these gaps?
The research will be conducted in three phases. Phase 1 involves a situational mapping and analysis of platform labor, social protection, and climate change impacts in the Philippines, using document analysis and data visualization. Phase 2a consists of face-to-face biographical interviews with 66 platform workers from various regions and work types, focusing on their career trajectories, skills development, and the impact of climate change on their work. Phase 2b includes online interviews with 28 industry leaders and freelancing coaches to explore critical skills for resilience and adaptation. The findings will contribute to a skills and competencies map, policy briefs, and analytical reports.
De La Salle University (DLSU) is a leading center for social science research in the Philippines, with its Social Development Research Center (SDRC) at the forefront of poverty alleviation, social development, and people empowerment initiatives. The DLSU-Social Development Research Center conducts research, builds capacities, and promotes public awareness and discussion of emerging social issues. It collaborates with funding organizations and government agencies on social science research and is highly recognized for its area of work.
El Observatorio de Manila, Inc. (Manila Observatory), is a research institution that does science to empower communities to take up the urgent challenges of sustainable development and disaster risk resilience. It hosts the Klima climate justice center (Klima Center), which provides science-informed perspectives on climate governance to strengthen policies and plans at the national and international levels.Research team
Principal Investigator: Prof. Cheryll Ruth Soriano
Professor, De La Salle University and Principal Investigator of Fairwork Philippines. Professor Soriano has led numerous international and locally funded project collaborations and advanced theoretical and practical interventions at the intersections of technology, labor, and social justice. Professor Soriano also maintains active networks with numerous activist and scholarly regional and global networks on platformization, digital justice, and platform work. Professor Soriano will lead the project and provide overall research direction and guidance to ensure that key objectives and milestones are achieved and the projected policy interventions are successfully carried out.
Co-Investigators:
Assistant Director for Policy and Governance at the Klima Center of Manila Observatory, lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Law, and legal consultant of FairworkPhilippines. As a climate policy specialist, Atty. Gamboa has published academic work on Just Transition, more particularly on labor law and policy and its role in systems transition to more sustainable societies. He will provide theperspective on how existing literature on climate governance can be utilized in investigating the research questions, and how the research output can be leveraged into policy reform on the areas of labor, human resources development, social protection, and governance of climate-resilient societies, especially from a climate-vulnerable country perspective.
Associate Professor and Research Fellow, De La Salle University (DLSU). He is a recipient of international and DLSU-funded grants and has a track record of completing expected grant outputs on time. Published in the areas of public health communication and quantitative communication research methods, Dr. Bernadas as co-investigator will lead the ethical, rigorous, and context sensitive design, implementation, and monitoring of data collection and analysis.
This project is one of the five grantees selected under the first cycle of FutureWORKS Asia, a research initiative funded by IDRC and led by LIRNEasia, a pro-poor, pro-market think tank specializing in digital infrastructure and policy research. LIRNEasia’s work focuses on leveraging digital technology to enhance knowledge, information access, and economic opportunities, particularly for underserved communities.