USAID, QUEDANCOR sign agreement for livelihood micro-loans for Mindanao

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation (QUEDANCOR), the credit and guarantee company of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA), for the provision of PhP25 million in micro-loans for livelihood enterprises of selected communities of former rebel combatants in Muslim Mindanao covered by the Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) program.

USAID Mission Director Dr. Michael Yates and QUEDANCOR President Nelson Buenaflor signed the MOU in the presence of US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone, DA Secretary Luis Lorenzo, Jr., and AMORE Chief of Party Rodrigo Cabrera.

The non-collateral loans will be charged a 12% interest rate. Livelihood projects that are expected to benefit from the loans may range from fish and seaweeds drying, processing and marketing to other income-generating activities native to the communities served by AMORE.

AMORE is a 30-month program of USAID, in partnership with the Department of Energy, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Mirant Philippines and Winrock International as program implementor, which aims to electrify at least 160 remote communities in Western and Central Mindanao and the ARMM with clean and affordable renewable energy such as solar, micro-hydro, wind and biomass.

These areas are some of the poorest in the country, according to the 2000 Philippine Human Development Index of the Philippines’ National Economic Development Authority.

A key component of the program’s sustainability framework is the promotion of income-generating activities powered by the energy systems it has installed in its beneficiary communities (“barangays”), through community capability building, technology assistance and market linkages.

Also present at the MOU signing were Abdulhil Alih, Mohmin Arik and Julfikar Ladjahali, chairmen of the Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Associations (BRECDAs) of the barangays of Pababag, Tongsinah and Lagasan in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, and Ambutong Tapsiani, Jerry Hadjirul and Agustin Dabi, BRECDA chairmen of Dalo-Dalo in Sapa-Sapa, Tawi-Tawi, Lower Cabengbeng in Basilan, and Datalblao in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, respectively. The BRECDA is AMORE’s vehicle to prepare its communities to operate and maintain the renewable energy systems themselves and to use the systems to spur their barangays’ development.