The Office of Gender and Anti-Sexual Harassment of the University of the Philippines in Mindanao has launched its latest extension program supporting the women’s group from Sitio 117, Barangay Bago Oshiro, Davao City.
Dubbed, “Strategic Planning for Women’s Enterprise,” the project which kicked off last February 6 and will be culminating on March 27 intends to equip the 25 women participants with skills in managing their organization and enterprise through a series of trainings.
Speaking during the weekly media forum at Habi at Kape, Abreeza Mall, Davao City Wednesday, Professor Raymundo Pavo, coordinator of Office of Gender and Anti-Sexual Harassment, said the women’s enterprise is the result of the livelihood trainings conducted by the Gender Committee and the Office of Extension and Community Services in 2014.
“Usually if there are livelihood trainings, the question is if it will progress. That is the main concern,” said Pavo who explained that several trainings were conducted to the women’s group but only few succeeded.
Pavo said these women capitalized on the skills they acquired from the trainings by producing locally made food and woven items which include ice cream, slippers, beads, and rugs which are now sold in small stores in Mintal and Calinan.
He added that these women organized themselves into a group, which they plan to transform into a registered cooperative.
Pavo sees the training as a deviation from the usual livelihood trainings to equip the women the understanding of the concept of an enterprise which they plan to establish.
Perlita Pastor, one of the participants said the training which is already on its second week, is beneficial for them because the speakers have given them insights and information on business management which will equip them to establish their “dream enterprise”.
Meanwhile, on the selection of women as participants of the training, the coordinator stressed that based on Gender Studies, many issues affect women not only in the area of livelihood and they don’t want women to be further burdened by depriving them of these opportunities.
“Ultimately, we want this enterprise to contribute to equity in the community,” said Pavo.
The training is provided by the University of the Philippines Mindanao Office of Gender and Anti-Sexual Harassment (OGASH), School of Management (SOM), Office of Extension and Community Services (OECS), and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA).
Speakers are provided by the School of Management (SOM) to discuss topics concerning women becoming entrepreneurs, organizational behavior and human resource management, operations management, organizing a cooperative, financial management, marketing management, and online marketing.
The participants are expected to come up with a final output which is the strategic plan paper for the women organization in Sittio 117.
The proponents of the project will also evaluate the impact of the training to the participants, their organization and enterprise. Hence, a budget has been allotted to gather data from the participants before and after the training.
