Assistance Schemes

(1) Program Description

Japan's General Grant Aid (GGA) is a form of financial assistance extended to developing countries without obligation of repayment. This grant, however, entails counterpart costs in the form of, where applicable, PS counterpart personnel; MOOE derived as a result of the grant project, import taxes and duties of equipment, VAT payments, transport cost of moving equipment from unloading port to the proposed project site and ROW/land acquisition. This program is more focused on, among others, basic human needs, such as public health, medical care, water supply and basic education.

(2) Duration

Japan's grant aid is principally extended within a single Japanese fiscal year.

(3) Magnitude of Assistance

The General Grant Aid is one of the most popular forms of Japanese Grant Aid implemented in the Philippines. Under GGA, assistance is provided in the form of construction and equipping of facilities, in areas such as medical care and health, education, training and research, agriculture, public welfare, communication and transportation, as well as environmental conservation. Assistance from the GGA normally ranges from P100 - 850 million pesos.

The GGA is handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan. The role of JICA in GGA is expediting the processing of project proposals for possible implementation, and in overseeing the execution of these projects.

(4) Additional Information

GGA in the Philippines mainly focuses on development of the social sector. In order to give greater priority to this sector, large-scale economic infrastructure projects are not encouraged in this program.

The following are some of the criteria used by the NEDA Secretariat in the evaluation and selection of projects for possible GGA assistance: (1) conformity with the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan, 1999-2004, in which the overarching goal is poverty reduction; (2) conformity /matching with the Japanese Government's thrusts and priorities; (3) proposals should be non-revenue-generating projects; and (4) clear evidence on the institutional capability of the proponent to implement and sustain the project, i.e., commitment to provide counterpart personnel and funds for the operation and maintenance costs of the project. For NG agencies, proposed projects should be included in their Medium Term Public Investment Plan (MTPIP) corresponding to the FY where the grant project is requested.

As a matter of Philippine Government's policy, projects costing P300 million and above shall be reviewed and approved by the inter-agency Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) before the official endorsement of the proposal to the Government of Japan is made possible. Moreover, proponents should comply with ECC (Environment Compliance Certificate) requirement (as appropriate), while regional-based projects should be endorsed by the concerned RDC. Other necessary requirements may be requested by the ICC, depending on the nature of the request.