MEDCo-supported, Ongoing Programs and Projects

The Mindanao Peace and Development Program is a grant assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) amounting to US$190,000,000.00. It is a GRP-USG Assistance Agreement in support of Mindanao Peace and Development Initiatives. It builds on activities carried out by USAID and GRP over the past several years, under the rubric of USG-GRP MOU on Mindanao Peace and Development Initiatives (dated 18 May 2005). It aims to promote economic growth through: infrastructure development; governance and social services improvement; and expansion of economic opportunities in conflict affected areas of Mindanao.

MPAD hits a new milestone in the 2nd semester of 2008 with the conduct of the 1st Meetings of the Management Committees on 14-15 July 2008 and the 1st Meeting of the Steering Committee on 17 April 2009. The respective institutional mechanism were set in place to ensure the smooth implementation of the program deliverables and the collaboration, as well as the immediate resolution of bottlenecks in the implementation of projects by the 5 USAID Project Management Offices namely: the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM)-3 Program, the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program, the Baragay Justice Services System (BJSS) Project, the Transparent and Accountable Governance (TAG)-3, and the Credit Union Empowerment and Strengthening (CUES) Program.

Highlights of the key agreements ironed out during the inaugural meetings of the MPAD committees include the adoption of the terms of reference (TOR) of the Steering and Management Committees, and the TOR of MPAD coordination unit under the supervision of the MEDCo.

Below are the five (5) components under MPAD Assistance:

• Growth with Equity in Mindanao Program (GEM-3)
• Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS-IV) Program
• Barangay Justice Service System (BJSS) Program
• Transparent & Accountable Governance (TAG) Project
• Credit Union Empowerment and Strengthening (CUES) Program