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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Rural micro-enterprise promotion program pilots in Sarangani
ALABEL, Sarangani Province -- The foreign funded Rural Micro-Enterprise Promotion Program, or Rumepp, will soon find home in Sarangani Province to provide much needed boost among the rural micro-entrepreneurs in the province.
Department of Trade and Industry Sarangani Director Nenita Barroso announced this upon her arrival from the three-day orientation and pilot implementation workshop and selection of pilot provinces on August 18-20 at Baguio City.
"Sarangani Province is one of the eight provinces selected for pilot-test launching of the Rumepp from among the 19 target provinces of the program nationwide," Barroso said.
"The Rumepp is an innovative program in terms of matching the goals of poverty alleviation with sound commercial credit delivery complemented with effective value-adding business development service. It is a pioneering effort in the Philippines for a synergistic delivery of financial and non-financial services with the end in view of establishing and promoting more rural micro-enterprises," she added.
The Rumepp is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.
The eight provinces selected as pilot areas shall be the beneficiaries of the Php175 million earmarked for micro financing and Php12.5 million for business development services.
"In a nutshell, the program adopts a two-pronged approach, credit and product development, as it takes cognizant of the fact that while the supply of micro-finance resources is essential, it also calls to respond to the need for technical assistance such as training, marketing and product development," the DTI director further explained.
As a strategy, two micro-financing institutions (MFIs) operating in pilot provinces shall be selected and to be accredited as conduits of the micro financing facility. Business development services provider (BDS) shall also be tapped to provide related business support services. Target MFIs are rural banks, credit cooperatives and credit granting NGOs.
In related development, an orientation briefing among possible MFIs and BDS operating in Sarangani is scheduled by DTI on August 25 at its office in Alabel.
"The orientation-briefing signals the commencement of the program in Sarangani Province. We will continue to tap more MFIs and BDS and will welcome applications since Rumepp is a seven-year program. Eventually, it will be opened to a wide number of partner MFIs." Barroso bared. (Eddie de Asis, Info Officer, DTI Sarangani)
(August 29, 2005 issue)
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