Manila, Philippines – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford, convened a Policy Roundtable on Using the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for Resource Allocation to Build Long-term Resilience in the Philippines on 8 October 2026 in Quezon City. The dialogue brought together 43 participants from 12 institutions, including national government agencies, local governments, UN agencies and development partners. 

The roundtable comes at an important moment for the country. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released the 2024 results of the national MPI in 2026 under an updated methodology, showing that 12.8 percent of Filipinos live in multidimensionally poor households, with overlapping deprivations in education, health and nutrition, housing, water and sanitation, and employment. The national MPI provides a robust framework for monitoring non-income poverty in the Philippines. Building on this milestone, the roundtable provided a platform for participants to explore how MPI evidence could complement existing approaches to poverty reduction, in particular resource allocation, programme design and wider policy formulation. 

The roundtable was opened on behalf of the Government by DBM Assistant Secretary Romeo Balanquit, who noted that the MPI makes the links between housing, health, nutrition, learning and employment more visible. “Better measurement gives us a clearer picture of poverty. A clearer picture can lead to stronger policy, better programme convergence and more informed decisions on public resources,” he said.  

Giving the opening remarks, UNDP Resident Representative in the Philippines, Christophe Bahuet noted that the dialogue was timely, following the release of the national MPI results, and that the index is of particular value in the current environment of heightened global uncertainty. “We are clearly living in an era of multiple and overlapping shocks. When you break poverty down by deprivation, the MPI points to what households actually need to withstand shocks, and what kind of assistance to give them, whether cash, services or infrastructure,” he said. He added that responding to such shocks requires all stakeholders to work together. “Multidimensional poverty is not the responsibility of a single department or ministry. It brings the whole of government, central and local, together to address them,” he said. 

The scene-setting presentation was delivered by Professor Sabina Alkire, Director of OPHI, who noted that 58 countries now produce national MPIs and use deprivation data for a range of policy purposes, including needs-based resource allocation, the targeting of marginalized regions, groups and households, and coordination across sectors and levels of government. Drawing on examples from Asia, including Thailand, Viet Nam, India and Nepal, where MPI incidence has been halved, she emphasized that achieving Sustainable Development Goal target 1.2 is feasible with the right policy enablers. 

 The presentation was followed by a guided roundtable moderated by Mohamed Shahudh, UNDP Country Economist. Four main messages emerged from the discussion: 

• Mainstreaming the national MPI in policymaking. Participants welcomed the release of the national MPI under the updated PSA framework, which strengthens the country’s ability to measure and report both income and non-income poverty. The task now is to mainstream the new evidence across levels of policymaking by identifying practical applications that MPI evidence can support. 
• A risk-informed equity lens for public spending. In a period of global uncertainty, the MPI offers a multifaceted lens for measuring poverty, including how climate risks, geopolitics and disruptive technologies interact with poverty. In particular, participants discussed using MPI evidence as an equity dimension in allocating resources across regions, prioritizing social-sector programmes such as early education, and aligning large spending items, including infrastructure, with poverty reduction objectives through existing mechanisms such as the Program Convergence Budgeting framework. 
• Strengthening the role of local government units. Several agencies highlighted the central role of local government units (LGUs) in administering the Community-Based Monitoring System and emphasized the need for greater capacity building to help public officials put MPI data to practical use at the LGU level, including in budget formulation. Barangay-level data, in particular, could support localized solutions that extend the coverage of social-sector programmes led by local governments and identify the most vulnerable populations. 
• Improving targeting and tracking results over time. Given its focus on deprivations, MPI data can help improve beneficiary targeting and assess whether programmes such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are producing results for exiting households over the medium to long term. Participants also noted its value for anticipatory action ahead of climate events such as El Niño and for investment in children’s nutrition and education. 

Building on the discussion, UNDP will closely work with DBM, PSA and partners on technical assistance to support the use of MPI evidence in planning and budgeting, as part of its continued commitment to working with the Government of the Philippines to ensure that no one is left behind. 

Media Contacts 

For more information or to request an interview, contact: 

Communications Associate, Alan Kristofer Motus (alan.kristofer.motus@undp.org) 

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