THE US Embassy and the City of Valenzuela launched a new partnership that will promote the use of mobile money for payment of government services.

United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Economic Growth, Education and Environment, Eric Postel, together with Usaid Philippines Mission Director Gloria Steele and Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela City, signed a memorandum of agreement to pilot Usaid’s Scaling Innovations in Mobile Money Project.

The project will implement the adoption of mobile technology in the city’s financial transactions to help cut administrative costs, increase transparency, reduce potential leakage of government funds, and make doing business with the government easier for citizens.

Assistant Administrator Postel said, “This partnership pursues our governments’ shared goal of sustaining the country’s inclusive development under the US-Philippines Partnership for Growth initiative.”

Launched in November 2011 by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, the Partnership for Growth provides a new framework for deepening and strengthening bilateral engagement between the Philippines and the United States in order to promote a higher, sustained and more inclusive economic growth trajectory, in line with other high-performing emerging economies.

The Scaling Innovations in Mobile Money Project will target three key areas: payment of government services, payroll distribution and payment of private services such as utilities. It will initially cover real property tax payments and later include payment of community tax certificates, business permits, market fees and other local government fees. “It supports Usaid Forward, an initiative which focuses on innovation and the application of technology to achieve high-impact development,” added Assistant Administrator Postel.

The American people, through the United States Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for over 50 years. In the Philippines, Usaid works in partnership with the national government in creating a more stable, prosperous and well-governed country through programs that promote broad-based and inclusive economic growth, increase peace and stability in Mindanao and reduce risks from natural disasters.

For more information about Usaid’s programs in the Philippines, log on to http://philippines.usaid.gov or contact Usaid/Philippines Development Outreach and Communications via e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .