The Colombo Plan – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore Postgraduate Scholarships 2011/2012

Jointly Sponsored by: the Colombo Plan Secretariat and Technical Cooperation Directorate of Singapore

The Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific is a unique inter-governmental organization providing development assistance under the “Planning for Prosperity” motto and the concept of self-help where member countries provide assistance to one another in socio-economic development.

The Colombo Plan was conceived at the Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in January 1950 and was established on 1 July 1951 as a cooperative venture for economic and social advancement of the people of South and Southeast Asia. It has grown from the founding group of seven Commonwealth nations – Australia, Britain, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand and Pakistan – to twenty five including non- Commonwealth and countries belonging to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Current Colombo Plan member countries are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States of America and Vietnam.

In December 1977 the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia was changed to The Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific, to reflect the expanded geographical composition of its enhanced membership and the scope of its activities. The primary focus of all Colombo Plan activities is human resources development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Over the years, the programme content of the Colombo Plan has been adjusted to respond to the needs of member countries in a fast changing economic environment. In the early years, the training programmes were more of a long-term nature whilst the current programmes are established to provide advance skills and experience sharing, aimed at arriving at the best practices in different fields of economic and social activities for effective policy making and governance.

Funding

A significant characteristic of the Colombo Plan is that the administrative costs of the Council and the Secretariat are borne equally by all member countries and all member countries have an equal status in Colombo Plan’s functions and activities. However, programme activities are funded by voluntary contributions by member countries as development partners. In addition, non-member countries, other international and regional organisations and other donor agencies are also sourced for funding.

Current Programmes

In 1995, Colombo Plan revitalized its programmes to emphasize on short-term training courses in priority areas and promoting South-South cooperation. The current programmes of the Colombo Plan are in the areas of Public Administration and Environment including post-graduate long-term scholarships, Private Sector Development and Drug Demand Prevention in member countries. In this regard, Colombo Plan has established three programmes for capacity building, namely, Drug Advisory Programme, Programme for Public Administration and Programme for Private Sector Development.

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