USAID/Philippines' Philippine-American (Phil-Am) Fund is a project that provides seed grants to: support business start-ups; promote innovation through entrepreneurship; and advance citizen advocacy for greater public accountability, transparency and integrity.

This financing mechanism will fund local, non-sovereign entities (enterprises and organizations) in efforts to support business start-ups and promote innovation through entrepreneurship, while simultaneously advancing citizen advocacy for greater accountability and integrity.

The Phil-Am Fund is a $24 million, five-year project under the Partnership for Growth (PFG), a bilateral initiative through which the U.S. Government and the government of the Philippines work together to improve economic growth and development in the Philippines.

ACTIVITIES

The Phil-Am Fund Project will issue sub-grants that support inclusive, sustainable growth by contributing to five broad categories: 1) enterprise development, 2) governance, 3) counter trafficking in persons, 4) education innovation challenge grants, and 5) biodiversity conservation.

The Economic Growth Grants will fund enterprises and business associations to support efforts to generate lasting employment and living wages.

The Governance Grants facility will be used to strengthen and deepen the efforts of civil society organizations, business groups and professional associations for corruption prevention, improved government transparency, corporate integrity measures, advancing key economic and anticorruption reforms, and citizen oversight of public institutions. By mobilizing private sector and public support, these organizations help to insulate reforms from political interference, leaving them more likely to succeed in passage and implementation.

The Trafficking in Persons Grants will help the Philippines to improve its capacity to combat trafficking by helping its citizens be less vulnerable and strengthening its institutions to offer greater enforcement, awareness and even economic alternatives so that Filipinos are less likely to be drawn into the hands of nefarious traffickers.

The Education Grants will provide seed grants for innovative, scalable, cost-effective and transformative technology-based solutions to solve select 'last-mile' challenges to both early grade and adult illiteracy.

The Biodiversity Grants will strengthen environmental resilience and sustain inclusive economic growth by improving the conservation and management of natural resources. Awards will be granted to market-based and sustainable solutions that catalyze entrepreneurship, seed capital to support local enterprises with bright ideas for commercial viability, business start-ups with strong multiplier effects, innovative business ideas with forward and backward linkages in the economy, scalable activities that show promise to create jobs in high-growth, priority sectors, activities with a geographic emphasis in areas of greatest growth potential, and proposals that complement USAID's economic growth portfolio.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?

The Fund is open to all Philippine private, for-profit and non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including universities, research organizations, professional associations, faith-based and community organizations and other relevant special interest associations. On a case to case basis and with pre-determined funding caps, proposals from US organizations may also be accepted.

RESULTS

As of August 2015, the Fund has awarded 26 grants, consisting of seven (7) projects to promote biodiversity, six (6) in economic growth, five (5) in good governance, and four (4) each in anti-trafficking in persons and basic education.

GOAL

To finance local activities that support broad-based, inclusive, and sustainable growth in the Philippines

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Phil-Am Fund will provide grants to projects that:

• Promote new business and entrepreneurship
• Advance integrity and transparency
• Combating ‘Last Mile’ challenges to literacy through use of technology
• Promote biodiversity conservation and improve natural resource and environmental management; and
• Combatting trafficking in persons