Monday, December 11, 2006 S. Cotabato chosen as Dole pilot area
KORONADAL CITY -- The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has chosen South Cotabato as one of the six pilot areas in the country for the implementation of the Self-Employed Workers Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (Sweed) program.
South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes said Sweed will seek to raise the level of livelihood capabilities of informal sector workers.
"It intends to help train our poor residents into productive and competitive entrepreneurs," she said.
Under the program, the beneficiaries will undergo six-month entrepreneurial courses on basic business, technical and vocational skills under its WorkTrep Training Course component.
The Sweed program is an initiative of Dole and the United Nations Development Program for micro-entrepreneurs and self-employed workers in the informal sector.
A consultation workshop on the Sweed program was conducted last month by the Dole in coordination with the Bureau of Rural Workers.
Fuentes said Dole has committed to help local government units establish their own Sweed programs by providing capacity-building services, work entrepreneurship training, facilitating access to technology, market, and raw materials and facilitating access to credit under the government's micro-finance program.
She said the program will be launched in Mindanao in January 2007.
The program's other pilot areas are Laguna, Benguet, Southern Leyte, Bohol and Surigao. (Allen V. Estabillo)
