Name:

Mylah Faye Aurora B. Cariño

Home Institution:

National Economic and Development Authority

Host Institution:

George Washington University

Award Name:

U.S. – ASEAN Visiting Scholar Program

Award Year:

2024

Bio / Write-up:

Mylah serves as the Regional Director of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for Northern Mindanao. NEDA is the Philippines' central planning agency. In this capacity, she played a key role in developing and securing approval for the Northern Mindanao Regional Development Plan (NMRDP) 2023-2028, which is aligned with the Philippine Development Plan.
Mylah brings a wealth of experience in regional and local spatial and development planning, program and project development and management, investment programming and budgeting, policy formulation and coordination, and program and project monitoring and evaluation. She is currently completing a Doctor of Public Administration at Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan.
As a grantee of the Fulbright US-ASEAN Visiting Scholar Program, Mylah will spend four months as a visiting researcher at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University in Washington DC. Her research project, "Building Smart Futures: A Comparative Study of US-ASEAN Smart Cities Initiatives,” will delve into the nuances and best practices of smart city initiatives in both the US and ASEAN, with the goal of designing a robust policy framework.
This research directly supports the NMRDP's recognition that sustainable and inclusive development requires embracing innovative urban solutions, particularly fostering smart cities and communities within Northern Mindanao.
Mylah aims to leverage the Fulbright US-ASEAN Program to gain valuable knowledge, understanding, and insights that can be directly applied in her home region. Her ultimate goal is to contribute to an inclusive and sustainable development model that creates a "strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure" life for all Filipinos.