Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE)

General

(Philippines): The SURGE activity is a crucial component of USAID/Philippines' Cities Development Initiative, which promotes more balanced and resilient urban growth, reduced economic disparities, and improved socio-economic conditions for secondary cities and surrounding rural areas, helping develop economic growth hubs outside of Metro Manila and Cebu. SURGE will continue to promote local economic development and expand urban-rural connectivity and access. The activity reinforces USAID goals and policies by helping local governments advance on their paths to self-reliance.To boost partner cities' ability to generate their own resources, SURGE will improve asset and public financial management. It will promote greater transparency, accountability, and effectiveness in local financial planning, revenue generation, and budgeting. The activity will help streamline and automate business permitting processes to reduce red tape and costs to local enterprises, and strengthen the capacity of local economic and investment promotion offices. The activity will bolster land tenure security by improving land information systems and land adjudication processes. It will also improve land use and development planning by integrating vulnerability assessments and disaster preparedness measures. SURGE will support inter-municipal cooperation and metropolitan arrangements that improve coordination between the prime city and adjacent municipalities. It will support public and private participation in regional development planning and improve national-municipal coordination, with particular focus on infrastructure development. The activity will support local government initiatives on economic development and job generation in such sectors as agribusiness and tourism development. This enables partner cities to participate as hubs for greater trade and investment. The activity will also support measures to improve the delivery of public services, such as traffic management.. .. .

Objectives

Objectives for Philippines: Improve urban development and planning. Promote low-emission local economic development. Facilitate greater connectivity and access between urban and rural areas. Promote social inclusion