TESDA to provide more livelihood programs for women, OFWs

THE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) said on Wednesday that it plans to offer more upskilling and livelihood programs to women and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) this year.

“We plan to empower our women industrial trades to provide them more opportunities for wage and employment,” Aniceto D. Bertiz III, deputy director general of TESDA, said at a briefing.

He said retooling and upskilling will encourage its trainees to find high-quality employment in the Philippines instead of working overseas.

Mr. Bertiz said the TESDA Women’s Center has trained more than 10,000 women since it opened in 1998.

“TESDA also recognizes the need to help retool and upskill the more than one million OFWs who were displaced and repatriated during the pandemic,” he said.

The agency also plans to set up 18 innovation centers to provide training in information communications technology and other diploma courses.

TESDA was placed under the Department of Labor and Employment’s supervision in September.

In December, the Department of Migrant Workers said it will provide livelihood programs for jobseekers who fell victim to human trafficking schemes.

The unemployment rate improved to a three-year low of 5.4% in 2022, the lowest rate since 5.1% recorded in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.

“By developing industrial skills in these non-traditional trades, women are given the chance to be more competitive in these industries mostly dominated by men,” Mr. Bertiz said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez