RP, WB sign grants of US$2 Million to Improve Urban Poor Communities

US$2.13 Million  that will help improve the living conditions of the poor in urban communities. Both grant agreements were signed by Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary, Juanita Amatong, and World Bank (WB) Acting Country Director, Christian Rey.  

The grants are provided by the Japanese Government. The grant of US$250,000 which will go to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) for “Urban Shelter and Community Infrastructure Project,” is funded under the Japan’s Policy and Human Resource Development (PHRD) facility.   It will assist the government in preparing a project that will aim to test a sustainable approach led by local government units that will improve the living conditions of the urban poor living in slum and squatter settlements.

A bigger grant of US$1,887,500 grant to the Partnership of Philippine Support Service Agencies (PHILSSA) for the “Upscaling Urban Poor Community Renewal Scheme Project,” is funded under the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF). This project will assist five selected urban poor communities in the country to upgrade their community infrastructure. The money will be channeled to community groups to help them prepare themselves technically, organizationally, and financially for on-site community upgrading.   The project will be led by PHILSSA, and will be implemented by NGO groups in partnership with community groups, local government agencies, as well as national agencies. 

Also at the signing event were HUDCC Deputy-Secretary General and Officer-in-Charge, Lucille Ortile; PHILSSA Chairperson, Ma.Christina Valte; and Japan’s Finance Attache and Third Secretary, Hiromichi Sakuma.

“Besides clearly supporting the Government’s priority agenda for the urban poor, these two projects demonstrate the World Bank’s approach of pursuing community development through local people’s organizations and NGOs and local government units,” Mr. Rey said.  

Shelter provision has been a serious challenge for the Philippine Government.  The Philippine government estimated that, in 1998, 2.5 million households, or about 35 percent of the total urban population of the country live in squatter or informal settlements.  A high proportion of these residents do not have access to basic social services, such as water, sanitation, electricity and waste collection. The government has given very high priority to the shelter and housing for the poor, and has listed this as one of the government’s eight point priority agenda. 

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