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Friday, June 17, 2005
Business sector provides livelihood training in Lanao
TUGAYA, Lanao del Sur -- In a bid to support livelihood and the educational needs of poor Maranaos, the corporate sector, through the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), provided a livelihood development assistance project to the Parent-Teacher Community Association (PTCA) of Tugaya Central Elementary School (TCES).
The program is expected to address parents' worries over limited economic activities to support their children's schooling.
Residents in this town, which is near Lake Lanao, depend on fishing, marginal farming and their craftsmanship as a source of for their livelihood. The town also lacks regular power supply that is why economic activities are not maximized in various barangays in far-flung towns populated mostly by Muslims.
With community support through the PTCA, its leaders partnered with PBSP to support the growing student population in the municipality.
Previously, the Japanese Embassy, through PBSP has provided a school building to TCES as replacement of its makeshift classrooms. The additional classrooms provided a much better learning environment for the students and accommodated additional enrolment.
However, it was noted that there was a continuing problem in the participation rate, with only 74% compared to the 99.56 percent participation rate in the province and the 93.64% participation rate in the Armm. This situation has been attributed mainly to the lack of economic opportunities and livelihood of the parents.
"The livelihood assistance project has been a great help to our community specially among the parents," said Subaida Calauto, TCES-PTCA President. "It gave us opportunities to learn technical skills which help us generate additional income to support our children to finish their studies."
In partnership with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), PBSP organized two technical vocational education and livelihood skills training for the PTCA members. These are the Basic Garment Sewer Course and the Bakery Training Course.
"The courses were based on the need assessment conducted by PBSP and TESDA among the PTCA members," said Dennis Ellorimo, PBSP Program Officer.
"Tesda assists us in developing the training modules for the said courses. Prior to the training, PBSP conducted a strategic management planning and teambuilding seminar for the PTCA to prepare them in handling projects of their own," Ellorimo added. Some 75 PTCA members attended the training courses held at the school.
Funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) under its Philippine-German Technical Cooperation, the livelihood development assistance project aimed to provide potential livelihood ventures for the parents to increase their incomes that will be used for the continuous education of their children.
The Elena Tan Foundation, a PBSP partner, have provided additional funds for the purchase of equipment such as sewing machines, oven, baking equipment etc. for the PTCA.
"The equipment given to us have helped us to mobilize ourselves to put up our own dress shop and bakery," said Calauto.
Today, the PTCA are now managing their own business that caters to more than a thousand residents of the town. According to Calauto, the parents, especially the mothers who were once idle and unemployed, now have opportunities to spend their time productively and earn with it through the livelihood assistance given to them.
The PTCA hopes to provide scholarships to deserving students in the future. To concretize this commitment, PTCA members recently passed a resolution to fix a part of their income to scholarship fund.
Currently, the bakery shop is the only shop in Tugaya town that produces fresh loaves of bread. Calauto said that they also plan to expand their business by providing services to schools outside of Tugaya, including Masiu town at the far end of Lanao del Sur.
(June 17, 2005 issue)
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