Beginning in February 2025, I did an internship with the Asian Productivity Organization’s In-Country Division. My main objectives for this internship are as follows:
1. I wanted the opportunity to apply the theories and skills I learned in my first semester at UTokyo in a real-world setting.
2. I wanted to understand how international organizations function and operate. See how they manage relationships with stakeholders from different parts of the world – each one with different priorities, needs, and ways of doing things. In addition, I wanted to experience a diverse and multicultural workforce and learn how people from different backgrounds come together to achieve a common goal.
3. I wanted to learn about topics that may not necessarily be taught or discussed in depth at university. As you know, a semester only lasts for three months, and in those three months, you cover so many topics, leaving little room for in-depth discussions. One such topic is productivity. I’ve heard about it, but didn’t truly grasp how important and complex it is until I interned at APO.
In my six weeks with the organization, I am proud to say I was able to meet my objectives for the internship. In those six weeks, I assisted program officers in their respective tasks, preparing for the implementation of projects. This included the review of submitted proposals, drafting of programs, generating themes, assisting in revising text for the website news, doing research, and participating in meetings. One of my biggest outputs is a research article on policy harmonization, which was published on the APO website.
By the end of the internship, I was able to participate in the implementation of each of the division’s programs, namely Individual-country Observational Study Missions (IOSMs), Bilateral Cooperation between NPOs (BCN), Technical Expert Services (TES), Development of Demonstration Companies (DMP), Specific National Program for Member Countries (SNP), and APO Vision 2025 Outreach (VSN). On my last day of internship, I shared my observations and recommendations to improve project implementation by APO. I presented this in front of the APO Secretary-General and the staff of the Program Directorate, who handle APO’s programs.
Before I joined the internship, I didn’t really have much of an understanding – or even awareness of productivity. Yes, it’s being measured, and nominally continued productivity growth is one of our national targets but in practice, it is often overshadowed by strategic thrusts to develop infrastructure development, attract investments and the like. It felt like one of those concepts that’s more applicable in factories or manufacturing plants.
Therefore, I’m happy to say that interning at APO gave me a greater appreciation for the importance of productivity in ensuring strong and sustained economic growth. In addition, it gave me a greater appreciation for the complexity of productivity. National-level productivity growth is influenced by so many different growth drivers, and that makes it difficult to design a comprehensive national policy. Many stakeholders play a part in it, yet no one stakeholder – be that APO, government, or private sector – controls all the levers that influence it. Moreover, some drivers cannot be controlled, like geopolitics, geography, and even the weather. Thus, it is crucial that all hands are on deck when dealing with productivity, as it encompasses so many sectors and initiatives.
Working with the program officers, I got to see just how much work it takes to take a raw proposal to approval and then to actual implementation. It takes so much time and effort discussing with stakeholders, coordinating with vendors, navigating through red tape, and all the other stuff just to get a project off the ground. Soon enough, you realize that APO can’t do it alone, and it is important that you have very good relationships with the NPOs since they have the in-country expertise to make things happen.
Finally, I learned how project implementation can get complicated quickly. Talking with the program officers, I learned from their experience how seemingly straightforward activities can quickly become complicated due to unforeseen circumstances – visa issues, RP concerns, and the like can potentially derail projects and APO staff have to think on their feet on how to quickly address these issues.
In all, it was amazing to see how APO punches above its weight. It is a relatively small organization but produces quality research and implements numerous programs across the APO region.