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Australia's Development Cooperation Program with the Philippines
Australia has been a long-standing and reliable partner of the Philippines in meeting its development challenges. Australian development assistance to the Philippines started in the 1950s, originally as part of the Colombo Plan - an initiative launched by Commonwealth countries to help strengthen the economies of South and South East Asia.
Australia's Development Cooperation Program with the Philippines is based on partnership and close cooperation between the Governments of the Philippines and Australia. Many activities are jointly funded by both governments, ensuring a strong commitment to their success on each side. In selected areas, Australia also combines its efforts with other donor partners such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and United Nations development agencies to maximise impact. Australian aid is also delivered directly to Filipino communities through local non-government organisations (NGOs).
Australia is one of the top three bilateral grant aid donors to the Philippines with aid flows amounting to almost A$570 million in the last decade. Significant contributions to Philippine development efforts in this period were in the areas of education and training, human resource development, health, rural development, community development, governance, assistance to vulnerable groups, infrastructure, and support to the Mindanao peace and development process.
Estimated total aid flows to the Philippines for 2007-2008 is A$ 100.6 million (Php 4 billion), making the Philippines the fourth largest development partner of Australia along with Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands.
Among the major completed Australian-assisted projects in the last ten years:
Economic Governance
• Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP) Phase I. A partnership between AusAID, the World Bank and the Philippine Government and with an Australian grant of A$13.67 million from 2001 to 2004, LAMP I identified the necessary policy and legal framework and institutional reform required to establish a sustainable and efficient land administration system
• Control of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Project. This initiative helped strengthen national capability for FMD control, resulting in the World Organisation of Animal Health recognising Mindanao, Visayas, Palawan and Masbate as FMD free zones without vaccination.
• Philippines-Australia Governance Facility (PAGF). With an Australian grant of A$25 million from 1999-2004, PAGF provided technical assistance and grants to national government agencies, local government units, academic institutions, and civil society on good governance initiatives in the areas of judiciary reforms, pro-poor policies and programs, democratic processes, and administrative, economic and financial reforms. The Partnership for Economic Governance Reforms (PEGR) is the current phase of this facility.
• Water Supply and Sanitation Performance Enhancement Project (WPEP). The project, with Australian grant of A$ 3.2 million and implemented from 2001-2004 in collaboration with the World Bank, led to a systematic program of research on the performance of the Philippines’ water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector and be able to assist decision-makers in developing and refining appropriate policies and guidelines.
• Project in Basic Education (PROBE). With an Australian grant of A$30 million from 1996-2001, PROBE helped improve the teaching and learning of English, Science and Mathematics in 880 schools, benefiting 25,000 educators and over one million children. PROBE was the first AusAID project in the Philippines that focused on basic education.
Education and Training
• Philippines-Australia Quality Technical Vocational Education and Training (PAQTVET) Project. AusAID, with a grant of A$ 9.6 million from 2000-2005, assisted the Technical and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in establishing an industry-led approach that will guide the transformation of the policy, organisation, and practice of Philippines technical and vocational education and training.
• Agricultural Technology Education Project (AGRITECH). AGRITECH upgraded 14 agricultural education institutions in Cagayan Valley, Southern Luzon, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, Central Mindanao, and Garaga Region to meet more effectively the training needs of smallholder farmers and those involved in agribusiness. The project was implemented from 1993 to 1999 with an AusAID grant of A$21.8 million.
• Australian Development Scholarships and the Philippines-Australia Short-Term Training Facility. Over 2,000 Filipinos received long-term scholarship and short-term training grants on areas relevant to Philippine development priorities.
Rural Development and Health
• Integrated Community Health Services Project (ICHSP). With an Australian grant of A$22 million, ICHSP helped improve health in provincial communities by mobilising them to cater for their own basic health needs, training local health workers to strengthen referral systems and priority health delivery management, and constructing/renovating local hospitals and health centres.
• Philippines-Australia Local Sustainability (PALS) Program, Phase I. Implemented in Misamis Occidental, with an Australian grant of A$12 million from 1999 to 2004, PALS piloted a more integrated approach to community-based development in selected municipalities. The program assisted both communities and local government units to plan and manage activities that improve the livelihoods of the rural poor.
• Malaria Control and Prevention Project (MCPP). With an Australian grant of A$ 7.25 from 1995-2004 and implemented in cooperation with the Department of Health, the MCCP helped reduce the spread of malaria in Agusan del Sur through community-based approaches and built viable community enterprises to supplement the income of community health workers. A Community Trust Fund (CTF) was also established to serve as a sustainable source of funding to supplement the cost of critical malaria control supplies. AusAID will have an oversight of the CTF until December 2007.
• Municipal Solar Infrastructure Project (MSIP). With an Australian grant of A$37 million, MSIP installed 1,000 solar powered systems in 370 barangays in 49 municipalities in the Visayas and Mindanao. Beneficiary villages were remote from the material electricity grid. The solar powered systems currently provide power to rural clinics, schools, community centres, water supply systems, and communal area lights.
• UNICEF’s Country Program for Children (CPC): The Child-Friendly Movement 3, 4 and 5. Australia provided A$ 37 million to UNICEF’s CPC 3, 4 and 5 initiative from 1989 to 2004, which assisted communities in their efforts to provide universal immunisation, prenatal care, child growth monitoring, education and child protection. The CPCs also provided support to local government units in establishing legislated frameworks that give priority to children through adequate investment in basic services.
• Philippines-Australia Community Assistance Program (PACAP). This initiative supported over 1,000 community-based, economically sustainable, ecologically sound, and gender responsive projects initiated by some 600 NGOs and people's organisations, benefiting over 600,000 people.
Security and Stability
• Philippines-Australia Vulnerable Groups Facility (PAVGF). With an Australian grant of A$25 million, PAVGF provided direct budgetary aid to the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Interior and Local Government to enable them to sustain the implementation of programs for the poorest and most vulnerable people affected by structural reform and budgetary cuts as a result of the Asian financial crisis and the effects of El Niño. PAVGF benefited marginalised families in 500 poorest barangays in Mindanao and some 60,000 street children from 25 cities.
• Support to the Mindanao Peace and Development Process.The signing of the Final Peace Agreement between the Government of the Philippines (GOP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) paved the way for greater Australian involvement in Mindanao. A major initiative supported by Australia was the GOP-UN Multi-Donor Program. With an Australian grant of A$17.2 million, Australia was the single largest donor to this program.