As an Institute, ISACC is frequently tapped to do research on development and socio-cultural issues. As part of its service to faith-based communities, it does project evaluation studies and consultancies on both the technical efficacy and missional impact of mission and development organizations.
Among these are:
a) A Study of Culturally-Sensitive Exit Strategies commissioned by Tear Fund UK. ISACC sent a team to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand to do case studies on how international agencies in these places exited from their development projects and the impact on local NGO partners and beneficiaries;
b) Transforming Communities: CCT as a Case Study of a Faith-Based Organization, a research into how a microfinance organization like the Center for Community Transformation integrates faith and practice in their operations;
c) Baseline Study on the Contributions of Faith-Based Organizations to Poverty Reduction, focusing on evangelical organizations doing community development work;
d) Impact Assessment of Interventions in Tacloban of Three Faith-Based Organizations, commissioned by Woord en Daad, Netherlands
During the mid-90s ISACC embarked on a groundbreaking research into the coming of American Protestant Missions the first three decades of the last century, focusing on the intercultural communication miscues in the interface with Filipino religious consciousness. Part of the results has been published in the book, A Clash of Cultures, published by De La Salle University and Anvil Press. This
was funded by the PEW Foundation in the US.
An ICCO-funded participatory research into the economic empowerment of seven grassroots communities by seven NGOs yielded learnings written up in the book, Rise Up and Walk, Religion and Culture in Empowering the Poor, published by Regnum and the Oxford Center for Mission Studies in the UK.
As part of its educative mission, ISACC does Collegial Sharing after a major research or grassroots development project and shares learnings through publications, seminars and video productions. The following are some of its most notable research and documentation of learnings from the field:
Among ISACC’s notable research and documentation projects were:
- Conversion to Protestant Christianity Under Early American Rule, Some Intercultural Communication Problems (1995-1999), a massive four-year study of the interface between Filipino religious consciousness and conversion themes brought by American Protestant missionaries at the turn of the century. The research looks into the cross-cultural problems surfaced by the ambiguity of American Protest-ant missions coming as both an imperial power and a civilizing and Christianizing instrument. It examines the intercultural communication process to see if there is culture-fit between the messages brought and the indigenous religious imagination based on oral histories of initial converts, archival sources here and in the US, textual analysis of contemporaneous folk literature and case studies of indigenous religious movements existing at present. Funded by the PEW Foundation in the US, the study is the first of its kind outside US territory and done completely by local scholars.
- Hasik-Unlad, an Experience in Community Development Training (1998), writes up the insights and learnings gathered from doing trainings for church-based communities. The trainings integrate biblical perspectives in understanding the community organizing framework..
- Sambahaginan, an Experience in Community Development (1991) documents the process of community organizing in Sitio Ibayo, Nasugbu, Batangas and culls community development learnings out of the experience.
- Homeroom: An Evaluation of its Influence on Moral Values, Character Formation and Socialization of Filipino School Children (1982-1985), a three-year nationwide research into the impact and effectiveness of homeroom activities as a venue for value education among grade school children. The study covered a representative sampling of elementary schools in regions across the country and was part of the baseline data for the Program for Decentralized Education (PRODED), a massive attempt to restructure the entire educational system. The study formed the basis for the institutionalization of an integrated values education program. The study was for the Ministry of Education and Culture through development funds from the World Bank.
- Kingdom Agenda, a Development Resource Manual (1980), a compilation of resource materials on theories, practices and experiences of development in the country. Funded by the World Vision International, it is aimed at assisting Christian development organizations (CDOs) in moving towards more contextual and wholistic development.
- The Trade Union Movement in the Philippines (1979), a largely oral history based on extensive interviews with the late labor leader Felixberto Olalia, founder of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, supplemented by fragmentary documentary sources. Commissioned by the National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU) on the occasion of their anniversary.
