Canada contributes PhP 320-million for women’s economic empowerment in the Philippines The governments of the Philippines and Canada recently launched a PhP 320-million bilateral project to improve economic development for women in the Philippines. The 6-year Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) project will help Filipina micro-entrepreneurs in the food, textile, and home-style sectors to sustainably grow their businesses. It will also support women entrepreneurs to enhance their products and improve their productivity, marketing and compliance with safety and business regulations and standards, as well as improve their connections to both domestic and international markets. “Building womens economic empowerment is a strong complement to Canadas objective of helping build sustainable economic growth in developing countries. Womens micro enterprises play a critical role in many economies around the world, including the Philippines,” Canada’s ambassador to the Philippines, Neil Reeder, said during the signing ceremony in Pasig City. This new project builds on the success of the recently completed Gender-Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) project implemented by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), also funded by the Government of Canada. This 6-year initiative benefited close to 14,000 women micro-entrepreneurs across the Philippines. The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) will be the lead implementing agency of the project. It will coordinate with key national government agencies, such as the Department of Trade and Industry, local governments and the private sector to make business development programs and services more environmentally sustainable and responsive to the needs of women entrepreneurs. Once completed, approximately 11,500 of an estimated total of 46,000 women’s microenterprises operating in the food and textile sectors will have benefited from increased sales of at least 30 percent annually, along with a re-investment rate of at least 20 percent per year. “We hope that this project can show us innovative approaches to women’s economic empowerment that can contribute to the Philippines’ goals of inclusive growth,” Ambassador Reeder added. Since the restoration of democracy in 1986, Canada has provided over eight hundred million dollars in official development assistance to the Philippines. Canada also recently designated the Philippines as a country of focus for future development cooperation.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 05:34:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015