EU offers up to P47M grant to boost PH anti-corruption drive

MANILA, Philippines—The European Union is offering up to P47 million in grants for civil society organizations in the country engaged in anti-corruption projects for local government units.

In a statement Friday, the European Union’s Delegation to the Philippines announced that civil society groups could avail grants worth €500,000 to €900,000 (P26.5 million to P47.70 million) for a duration of 36 to 48 months for projects involving local governance in the Philippines.

The grants are made possible under the Call for Proposal project of the Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development (NSA-LA),  described by the EU as its flagship mechanism to support civil society actions in the field of development and fight against corruption and poverty.

“The Call for Proposal reaffirms the commitment of the European Union to promoting good governance and reducing poverty in the context of sustainable development,” Guy Ledoux, EU Ambassador, said in a statement.

“The funding initiative is an expression of the strong and consistent support of the European Union to the efforts of the government of the Philippines in improving local governance, and a contribution to the attainment of the Philippine development plan in this field,” he added.

In his statement, Ledoux noted that the EU chose to support non-government organizations because of their active role in “promoting accountability, transparency and performance of local government units in the Philippines.”

Under the project, civil society groups could submit proposal based on the following priorities: transparency and accountability, monitoring of LGUs service delivery and performance, participatory local governance, capacity building, and local governance in Mindanao.

“The actions can be implemented, amongst others means, through: monitoring, training (of, for example, municipalities and barangay staff), advocacy, participatory planning, participatory assessment, research, survey, networking, facilitation of meetings, capacity-building, information campaigns, technical assistance, policy development, dissemination of good practices,” a brochure on the project read.

Ledoux, in his statement, noted that emphasis was placed on the proposals that would promote sustainability of actions and broad partnerships and collective approaches with municipalities and barangays.

He also noted that the project boosted the existing programs and policies of the Philippine government, particularly the Full Disclosure Policy or the Local Governance Watch launched last June by the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

The EU said that the deadline for the submission of project proposals is on November 8  at 4 p.m.  It said an information session on this Call for Proposals is set on September 20 at 1:30 p.m.

“Pre-registration is compulsory, and can be done by sending an email to [email protected].  Only one representative per organisation can be accommodated, and registry is on a first-come, first-serve basis,” it said.