TESDA, ILO project put nearly half of poor youth to work

26 November 2012

Skills training focused on young people in the country’s four poor provinces has already put to work nearly half of the 2,000 youth selected as scholars under the Joint Program – Youth Employment and Migration (JP-YEM). 
 
A total of 906 out of the 2,001 youth, who have completed training, have found employment after they were assessed and certified by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The scholars were chosen from the provinces of Masbate, Antique, Agusan del Sur and Maguindanao.
 
Of the scholars who completed the training, 1,904 were assessed and 1,407 were certified across various qualifications.  A total of 1,492 youth were also provided post-training assistance.
 
Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA Director General, said TESDA and its partner Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions are continuously keeping tabs on the progress of the JP-YEM graduates who have yet to find employment.
“We are in partnership with local government units, other national government agencies, and non-government organizations that can assist us in the employment of graduates.  Aside from this, we have secured commitment from 93 companies for this program,” Villanueva said.

The TESDA chief expressed hope that the same intervention could be replicated in other provinces of the country that similarly need training for their youth.
 
“We can claim that the program has delivered success,” Villanueva said. “We’re now focused on assisting the rest of the graduates who have not found employment.”
 
As an additional intervention, TESDA is currently conducting entrepreneurship development training programs in the four provinces to enable the youth to establish their own small businesses.
 
In addition to free training, TESDA said, qualified youth will be given tool kits for their start-ups.
 
“Self-employment is a good option for creating employment opportunities in the countryside where there are limited jobs in the wage employment sector,” Villanueva added.
 
The implementation  of the skills training programs is part of the JP-YEM program funded by the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F) established by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and the government of Spain to contribute to the alleviation of poverty in selected countries.
 
 JP-YEM is being implemented in the Philippines by the United Nations country team composed of the International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Philippines. The skills training component is being undertaken by TESDA and the ILO. The other components are managed by the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Education, and National Youth Commission.
 
In addition to the above gains, Villanueva said that TESDA has finalized and rolled-out the gender-sensitivity curriculum and the manual to be used by the TVET trainers in teaching gender sensitivity among their students and trainees.
 
“TESDA has recently issued the circular rolling out the implementing guidelines and making gender sensitivity a component of all TVET programs. We are very optimistic that very soon copies of the manual will be printed and distributed nationwide through the assistance of the UNFPA,” he said.
 
TESDA is finalizing the administrative arrangements with UNFPA for the printing of the said documents.
 
During the conference recently held by the UNCT team to celebrate the successes of the program, the following good practices were shared by TESDA:
 
·         Establishing strong partnership with business establishments for on-the-job training and employment of the graduates;
·         Convergence among TESDA, local government units, business establishments, other national government agencies, and other partner institutions;
·         Provision of training allowance to the youth while on training in the institution and during on-the-job-training;
·         Provision of post-training assistance to the graduates;
·         Inclusion of gender sensitivity in the training programs;
·         Inclusion of entrepreneurship development in the training programs
·         Provision of tool kits for self-employment to qualified graduates.