| Brief History | Involvement in Microfinance | Regulatory Framework | Distinctive Features |
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead institution within the U.S. government that provides assistance to developing countries to aid with their economic and social development. USAID’s roots can be traced to the Marshall Plan and efforts to reconstruct the globe after World War II. The Agency was created in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Foreign Affairs Assistance Act.
In the Philippines, USAID carries out a broad range of programs to promote investment and good governance to stimulate economic growth and job creation, achieve peace and prosperity in Mindanao and other conflict-affected areas, strengthen local governments, improve health and family planning services, improve management of threatened natural resources, provide clean and affordable energy, and increase access to quality education in disadvantaged areas.
USAID in the Philippines funds microfinance projects on technical assistance services such as: Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program; Credit Union Empowering and Strengthening (CUES) Project; and Credit Policy Improvement Program (CPIP).
The MABS program is an initiative designed to accelerate national economic transformation by encouraging the Philippine rural banking industry to significantly expand the microenterprise access to microfinance services. To do so, the MABS Program assists client rural banks in the Philippines to increase the financial services they provide to the microenterprise sector by providing microfinance technical assistance and training to rural banks. Trained banks in turn offer microfinance loans and deposit services specially tailored to microenterprise clients.
Since its inception in 1998, the MABS Program has helped more than 230 rural banks and branches in the Philippines. The MABS Program is funded by the USAID, and is being implemented in partnership with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP).
The CUES Project is a technical assistance project that promotes the sustainable growth and expansion of credit cooperatives worldwide. CUES Philippines commenced operations during mid 1997. Its main objective is to identify and transform credit cooperatives into safe and sound institutions. This is a program implemented by the World Council of Credit Unions and funded by USAID in the Philippines. The first phase of the program (CUES 1) was implemented from May 1997 until September 2002 with 15 partner cooperatives in Mindanao. It was then extended to the second phase (CUES 2) until August 2005, with additional 28 partner cooperatives in Mindanao and Region IIIV.
CPIP is a USAID supported technical assistance program that was implemented to strengthen the institutional capacity of NCC. The primary objective of CPIP is to create an enabling policy and regulatory environment that will help promote the development of microfinance in the Philippines. CPIP is successful in providing technical assistance to the NCC. It helped the NCC draw up the National Strategy for Microfinance, which became the blueprint for the microfinance policy and regulatory architecture in the Philippines.
n/a
USAID has programs in over 100 countries. To achieve it objectives, USAID works closely with recipient country governments, bi-lateral and multilateral donors, other U.S. government agencies, and a host of implementing partners in the public and private sectors, including civil society, business, and academia.