QUEZON CITY, July 3, (PIA) - - The Australian Government increased its support towards making the lives of poor Filipinos better.
The formal launching of Australia’s poverty alleviation assistance program was conducted yesterday in the presence of Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)’s Deputy Secretary Ewen McDonald, and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)’s Secretary Corazon ‘Dinky’ Juliano–Soliman.
The launch was highlighted by the turn over of the Php 487 million (A$12.2 million) to the Philippines National Community Driven Development Program (NCDDP).
“Australia acknowledges DSWD’s strong leadership in implementing one of President Aquino’s priority poverty reduction programs. We are committed to our partnership with DSWD because Australia recognises the program’s potential to effectively alleviate poverty,” Deputy Secretary McDonald said.
“The Program is a critical mechanism that enables poor communities to access essential services such as education and health. At the same time, we recognise the considerable challenges that remain in scaling-up the program to cover 854 municipalities over five years,” McDonald added.
Australia has worked with DSWD since 2008 to provide technical assistance to improve its social protection programs, most notably its Conditional Cash Transfer program and recently, the preparation of the National Community Driven Development program.
Australia has also provided Php400 million (A$10 million) in 2012 for the construction of a further 626 day care centres and classrooms in Pantawid Pamilya Program communities through the KALAHI-CIDSS project.
The support is in response to the increased demand for educational services in areas where the Pantawid Pamilya Program is being implemented.
Australia is also helping to improve DSWD’s institutional capacity to meet the demands of rapidly expanding programs by supporting human resource development and management, and strengthening DSWD’s financial systems.
Australia is a long-standing development partner of the Philippines and one of the country’s largest bilateral grant aid donors. This year, the Australian Government will provide an estimated Php4.5 billion (A$111.7 million) in bilateral development assistance to the Philippines focusing on economic growth, basic education, and disaster risk reduction. (Australian Embassy/RJB/LFB/PIA-NCR)
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