THE University of the Philippines Mindanao School of Management (SOM) launched its Strategic Planning for Women's Enterprise training seminar to help women of Bago Oshiro village transform their livelihood into an economic enterprise.
Professor Raymundo Pavo of UP Mindanao's Gender Committee said they started with their livelihood training for the women of Sitio 117, Bago Oshiro village in 2014, along with the Office of Extension and Community Services (OECS) of the university. Pavo was the guest last Wednesday at Habi at Kape, Abreeza Ayala Malls.
From the livelihood training, the women learned to make slippers, beads, mats, ice cream, and food services sold at small stores in Mintal.
The same group of women who benefited from the training seminar continued to form their own group which they plan to transform into a cooperative.
The Strategic Planning for Women's Enterprise is a joint project of UP Mindanao Office of Gender and Anti-Sexual Harassment (Ogash), SOM, OECS, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA) as it aims to equip the women with skills in managing their organization and enterprise.
The training seminar, with existing 30 participants, started on February 6 and will last until March 25. Topics to be discussed include Women Becoming Entrepreneurs, Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Operations Management, Organizing a Cooperative, Financial Management and Marketing Management and Online Marketing.
"The key output of this training is that the participants in the program will be producing a strategic plan wherein they will indicate their vision and mission as an organization and the specific strategies so that they will eventually succeed in their chosen enterprise," Pavo said.
The project also aims to assess the role of women in their community given the encountered issues and constraints. The project was also formulated to help the participants apply selected financial tools and evaluation for the efficient utilization of their financial resources.
The Strategic Planning for Women's Enterprise will be a highlight of the projects launched by the Ogash during the February University Anniversary celebration. By the end of the training seminar, the participants are expected to come out with a strategic plan paper for their own women organization.
"We know that in gender studies, there are so many issues that we need to tackle. Not just about livelihood, about organizing. We also need to contextualize the enterprise through the gender perspective. Ultimately, we want this enterprise to contribute to gender equity in the community," he said.