DSWD program to empower Cordillera youth

THE new cash for training program (C4TP) of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) is expected to help indigent youths in Cordillera region to fight off poverty.

The C4TP is a joint project of the Tesda and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that will be implemented for six months from December 2012 to May 2013.

Tesda director general Joel Villanueva led the launching of the program for the region’s beneficiaries last week in Baguio City. He revealed close to 5,000 out-of-school youths and unemployed people are the target beneficiaries of C4TP in Cordillera. He added the program will help the beneficiaries land a job or start their businesses.
  
Prior to the launching in Cordillera, the program was initiated in Pangasinan province benefiting around 2,000 scholars.
  
Villanueva said, “Young people who are either unemployed or out of school do not give good prospects for the community. With this program, we want to integrate them into the education loop, their tool for survival when it is time to hunt for jobs or start a business of their own.”
  
DSWD will provide the funds for the training and help Tesda identify the beneficiaries.

Tesda will conduct the actual skills training. The program will be implemented in two independent components namely training for wage employment and training for self-employment.
  
For self–employment, the training will be conducted onsite, either a training institution or through a partner nongovernment organization (NGO).
  
The qualified beneficiaries for the wage employment will receive the free training and will also be entitled to free assessment and training allowance. Beneficiaries for the self – employment category will be given livelihood tool kits.
  
The director general said courses being offered under this program are those under agriculture, horticulture, agri–business, business processing outsourcing, creative industries, construction industry, and tourism.

“There’s so much work for the youth out there. We just need to provide the stimulus to keep them going. For the young farmers, we will enhance their competencies in agriculture so that we could contribute in increasing their productivity and income. For the others, we will hone their skills and make them specialistas in the course of their choice so they can knock on the doors of companies and get a job,” Villanueva said.