USAID Activities in Davao City

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) administers and implements the U.S. Government’s (USG) overseas development program. USAID assists Philippine partners in five areas: (1) economic reform and governance; (2) conflict resolution in Mindanao; (3) family planning, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases; (4) environment and energy; and (5) access to quality education. USAID/Philippines also responds to humanitarian emergencies such as natural disasters. Except for the Mindanao program on conflict resolution, the other programs are national in scope but also have a focus on Mindanao and conflict-affected areas.

The following USAID activities are being implemented in Davao City:

Business Climate and Economic Growth

• Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM)
• Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS)
• Credit Union Empowerment and Strengthening (CUES)

Anti-Trafficking

• Starting up Port Halfway Houses in Manila and Davao Project

Former Combatant Reintegration

• Livelihood Enhancement and Peace Program (LEAP)

Family Planning and Health

• Local Enhancement and Development (LEAD) for Health
• Midwife Entrepreneurs
• FriendlyCare Foundation, Inc. (FCFI)
• Increasing Social Acceptability of Family Planning
• HIV/AIDS Prevention

 

BUSINESS CLIMATE and ECONOMIC GROWTH
Promotes equitable economic growth, and opportunities for broad participation in such growth and its benefits.

Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) – Expands economic opportunities for all people in Mindanao by:

• Strengthening business support organizations to enable them to provide services to their members
• Expanding the production and marketing of high-value commodities
• Building small and medium-scale infrastructure
• Improving governance and education in the ARMM
• Improving the investment and business climate in Mindanao through policy reform

GEM is headquartered in Davao City, and has offices in most of the major cities of Mindanao. For more information on the GEM program, please click on the following:

		USAID in the Philippines – GEM Program
		Growth with Equity in Mindanao

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Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) - Assists rural banking units expand financial services to the microenterprise sector by adopting methods that are sustainable and profitable using their own capital. The Credit Policy Improvement Project (CPIP) helps provide the enabling environment for the sustainable provision of microfinance through its assistance to the National Credit Council.

Banks in Davao that are participating in the MABS program include the following

MABS Partner Bank in Davao City:	One Network Bank
MABS Partner Banks Davao Norte:	Montevista Bank Century Bank Rural Bank of Sto.Tomas Tru-Bank One Network Bank
MABS Partner Bank in Davao Sur:	Rural Bank of Digos

For more information on the MABS program, please click on the following:

		USAID in the Philippines – MABS Program
		Microenterprise Access to Banking Services

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Credit Union Empowerment and Strengthening (CUES) - Assists savings and credit cooperatives (credit unions) to expand financial services to the microenterprise sector and to poor people in general.

Credit cooperatives in Davao City that are participating in the CUES project include the following:

• Silangan Multipurpose Cooperative
• Agdao Multipurpose Cooperative
• Bansalan Cooperative Society
• King Cooperative

For more information on the CUES project, please click on the following:
USAID in the Philippines – CUES Project

USAID in the Philippines – CUES Project

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ANTI-TRAFFICKING

Starting up Port Halfway Houses in Manila and Davao Project [The Visayan Forum Foundation (VFF), a local NGO]. The Project focuses on internal trafficking and the establishment and operation of halfway houses that directly provide temporary shelter, repatriation, referral, and counseling to intercepted victims of trafficking at the Manila and Davao ports.

For more information on VFF’s programs and services, please click on the following:

Visayan Forum Foundation, Inc.

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FORMER COMBATANT REINTEGRATION
Helps citizens in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao to re-build a peaceful economy and community life.

Livelihood Enhancement and Peace Program (LEAP) - Assists former combatants in making the transition from guerilla fighters to farmers/fishermen by providing them with all the required production inputs. LEAP also provides post-harvest facilities and small infrastructure to their communities to help increase their income and improve their lives. Some 23,000 former combatants have received, or are currently receiving assistance, and at least 4,000 more will be assisted within the next two years.

For more information on the LEAP Program, please click on the following:

		USAID in the Philippines – LEAP Program
		GEM/LEAP

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FAMILY PLANNING AND HEALTH
Assists local governments, private sector and communities to improve the delivery of family planning and health services, including the prevention of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

Local Enhancement and Development (LEAD) for Health - Supports the priority programs of the Department of Health (DOH), primarily family planning, TB-DOTS, Vitamin A, HIV-AIDS, and MCH. LEAD will strengthen the service provision capacities of municipalities and cities, to which the responsibility of delivering and financing these services have been devolved under the Local Government Code of 1991. Improving LGU capacities will involve: a) strengthening the financial, managerial, and technical capacity to provide FP and the selected health services; and (b) improving the policy and legislative framework at both national and local levels to finance and support these programs.

The Davao office is located at:

838 Loreto St. (PWC) Juna Subd., Matina, Davao
Telefax: (063) (082) 297-3277
Tel: (063) (082) 299-1188
Contact Person: Luz Canave-Anung
Team Leader/Field Coordinator
Mindanao Field Office

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Midwife Entrepreneurs - Increases private sector participation in the provision of family planning and maternal and child health services through a franchise network of private midwife clinics (called the Well-Family Midwife Clinics of WFMCs). The midwives who are admitted to the network are required to meet selection criteria, invest in the renovation or construction of their clinics and cover daily operating costs, while the project provides them with comprehensive clinical and business training, free use of clinic equipment and instruments, marketing and promotional support, access to affordable commodities and supplies, on-site technical assistance and guidance for long-term profitability.

The NGO partner for this project in Davao is the Davao Medical School Foundation –
Center for Education, Research, and Development in Health (DMSF-CERDH).
DMSF-CERDH is located at:

Circumferential Road, Bajada, Davao City
Phone: (082) 226-2344
Fax: (082) 221-2617
E-mail: vic@weblinq.com
Contact Person: Dr. Warlito Vicente, Executive Director

Davao City has 12 WFMCs as of July 2004. Below are the names of clinic managers and clinic locations.

For more information on the Well-Family Midwife Clinics, please click on the following:

		USAID in the Philippines – Well-Family Midwife Clinics
		Well-Family Midwife Clinics

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FriendlyCare Foundation, Inc. (FCFI) – A non-stock, non-profit and non-government organization that aims to deliver quality and affordable health and family planning services to lower and lower-middle income Filipino families through the establishment of clinics in key cities nationwide. FCFI clinics provide maternal health, child survival, family planning and reproductive health, obstetrics and gynecological services, dental health and other family health services. It also offers related laboratory and diagnostic services.

The Davao City clinic is located at:

A. Pitchon (formerly Magallanes St.) corner Ilustre Sts., Davao City
Telefax: (063) (082) 222-7970
Email address: davaoasc@friendlycare.com.ph
Contact Person: Rudolf de Guzman – Clinic Head

For more information on the FCFI clinics, please click on the following:

		USAID in the Philippines – FriendlyCare Clinics
		FriendlyCare Clinics

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Increasing Social Acceptability of Family Planning – Increases the number of people who strongly approve of family planning and endorse family planning practice to others. Activities include a communications campaign that utilizes TV, radio and print commercials and a public relations strategy. Target groups include the urban poor, the formal and informal labor sector, business and industry, faith-based groups, youth, women’s organizations, and men’s groups. The project also aims to influence health professionals to provide accurate information and advice on family planning and activities.

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HIV/AIDS Prevention – To prevent the rapid increase of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines by institutionalizing public and private-sector mechanisms to encourage behaviors that reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) among high risk groups. The AIDS Surveillance and Education Project (ASEP), which was completed in 2003, supported monitoring (i.e., HIV/AIDS sentinel surveillance and behavioral surveillance) and education activities targeted at populations that are high risk for HIV (e.g., registered female commercial sex workers, injecting drug users). New activities to build on the achievements of ASEP are being developed and will be implemented in the near future.

USAID’s non-government organization (NGO) partners that implemented the HIV/AIDS program in Davao City include the following:

• Alliance Against AIDS in Mindanao
• Talikala Foundation, Inc.
• IWAG-Dabaw, Inc.
• Philippine Business for Social Progress-Mindanao
• Banwang Tuburan, Inc. – Hegala Program
• Kaugmaon Center for Children’s Concerns Foundation, Inc.
• Wo/Men’s Access to Vital Education and Services, Inc. (WAVES)
• DKT International, Inc.

USAID completed its assistance to these NGOs in 2003.

For more information on the HIV/AIDS program, please click on the following:

USAID in the Philippines – AIDS Surveillance and Education Project

For additional information on USAID projects in the Philippines, please click on the following:

USAID in the Philippines

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