USAID’s Strengthening the Capacity of Philippine Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Project or “CSO Project” is a $1.5 million, three-year project that began in September 2011. In pursuit of local capacity and procurement objectives of the USAID Forward (now known as USAID Now) reform agenda, the project was designed to improve the operational capacity of local CSOs so they can effectively carry out their development missions and compete for and manage funding from USAID and other donors.