US launched fund under US-PH PFG

From the Manila Times (Sep 30): US launched fund under US-PH PFG

The United States government on Monday launched the Philippine-American (Phil-Am) Fund, a five-year P984-million ($24 million) grant-making facility that aims to help Filipino organizations in implementing innovative solutions that will address the country’s development challenges.

The facility was created under the auspices of the Partnership For Growth, which aims to achieve for the Philippines a broad-based, sustainable and inclusive growth. The country has been chosen by the Obama administration because of President Benigno Aquino’s anti-corruption and good governance drive.

According to the fact sheet posted on the State Department’s website, the Partnership For Growth “aims to address the most significant constraints to growth and to stimulate enhanced, inclusive economic expansion.”

“I am very pleased to be a part of this exciting and innovative project that will help advance our shared vision of broad-based and inclusive growth under the Partnership for Growth Initiative. Under the PFG, our governments are committed to work together to achieve inclusive economic growth in the Philippines,” US Ambassador to Manila Harry Thomas Jr. said in a statement.

The fund will support civil society efforts that complement the targeted technical assistance the US government is providing through other projects under the PFG.
The grants will cover five areas: promotion of new businesses and entrepreneurship, governance, combating trafficking in persons, adult literacy through innovative uses of technology, and biodiversity conservation.

“We are working in partnership with the Philippine government, the private sector and civil society organizations to help put the Philippines on an accelerated growth path that benefits the majority of its population. The Phil-Am Fund will help us reach this goal,” Gloria Steele, the Philippine mission director of the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) said.

The fund was launched through the said agency.

The fund is open to all non-state institutions, which include qualified Philippine private, for-profit, non-profit organizations and nongovernment organizations including universities, research institutions, professional associations, faith-based and community organizations and other relevant groups.

The Phil-Am Fund is one of the projects under the Partnership for Growth, a White House initiative. PFG is a whole-of-government effort emerging from the US Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, which focuses on fostering economic growth in countries committed to good governance.

http://www.imanilatimes.net/us-launched-fund-under-us-ph-pfg/40790/