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Thursday, July 21, 2005
Few RP firms get grants from Euro Commission
The bulk of the European Commission’s grants go to China and not to the Philippines, in part because Filipinos do not know how to write proposals that will enable them to be awarded the grants.
Frank Hess, head of operations section of the Delegation of the European Commission (EC) to the Philippines, yesterday said the commission would like to increase the number of approved grant applications from the Philippines.
This is why it conducted the two-day project proposal writing workshop that began yesterday at Cebu City Marriott Hotel. The EC has also opened a facility that is available only to the Philippines.
“There is a need for Filipino applicants to know how to submit the right project proposal for them to avail themselves of our grant. We receive a lot of proposals, but we have to reject them because often the ideas expressed are not clear and they do not follow the format in which they have to submit (the proposals),” said Hess.
For the EC’s Asia-wide projects, where applicants from the Philippines compete with applicants from other countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, the EC wants to make sure that there are more applicants and good proposals from the Philippines.
Other countries in Asia submit better project proposals than the Philippines, the commission official said.
Improved
“But since we’ve been conducting workshops in Manila and Davao, we’ve seen some improvement. The proposals we got are better,” he said.
To better accommodate the Philippines, Hess revealed that the EC delegation has a grant available only to Filipinos.
“Our Small Project Facility (SPF) is a grant that we offer only in the Philippines, where applicants are all Filipinos,” he said.
The SPF facilitates the interaction between European and Filipino civil society, including the private sector, and the networking of its policy-makers and opinion formers with Philippine and European Union operator in business.
The EC has a total of three million euros, or roughly P200 million, in grants allocated for the SPF.
Among other programs that support trade and investment relations between the European Union and Asian developing countries, the EC also has Asia-Invest Phase 11 with a 35-million euro grant to promote linkages between European and Asian economic operators, including small and medium enterprises.
The political woes hounding the Arroyo administration, after allegations of electoral fraud in the last elections surfaced, do not affect the funding opportunities provided by the EC program, Hess said.
But he said the country’s political problems may affect investment. (ALC)
(July 21, 2005 issue)
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