Feature articles

2013

1. PESO starter kit: Guide to understanding the Public Employment Service Office

   28 January 2013

   The Public Employment Service Office (PESO), is a non-free charging multi-service provider established and accredited pursuant to Republic Act 8759, otherwise know as the PESO Act of 1999.

2. Labour market-responsive technical vocational skills training programme for the disadvantaged youth

   28 January 2013

   The labour market-responsive technical vocational skills training programme aims to increase access to decent work of young women and men.

3. Entrepreneurship training programme for the disadvantaged youth

   28 January 2013

   The entrepreneurship training programme for the disadvantaged youth aims to promote entrepreneurship as a career option, a priority to address youth employment challenge.

4. Capacity building programme on Local Economic Development to promote youth employment

   28 January 2013

   Existing policies and programmes on youth employment are implemented in a fragmented manner or have minimal impact on their target group.

5. Alternatives to work migration promoting employment opportunities for youth in their home provinces

   28 January 2013

   Shortly after graduating from the Los Arcos National High School in Agusan del Sur in 2009, Junrey Juanich made a decision to try his luck and apply for work in the big city. He chose Manila for this purpose because he has relatives in the city with whom he could stay while looking for work. After a few futile searches, he was able to find a job as a helper in a glass company and was employed there for the next seven months.

6. Strengthening local employment services to promote youth employment: A case study

   28 January 2013

   Local employment services facilitate local labour market transactions including matching jobseekers with enterprises seeking workers. These services are usually carried out by the government through a network of Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) whose functions include job matching, providing labour market information (LMI), and guidance services.

7. 

   Rebuilding a better future in the wake of typhoon Bopha

   25 January 2013

   Almost two months after Typhoon Bopha slammed the Philippines, survivors are still struggling to rebuild their lives. The ILO is helping give communities new livelihood prospects, but renewed flooding has affected aid efforts.

2012

1. Breaking the barriers: Young women in non-traditionaltechnical vocational careers

   26 November 2012

   The role of women as co-equal partners in development has gained much ground in the Philippines. To fully mainstream gender equality in a society that bears traces of a stereotypically macho culture requires further advocacy and attitude change especially among people in culturally segregated and rural communities.

2. Entrepreneurship education at the secondary level in Antique and Masbate

   21 November 2012

   "The assistance that the Joint Programme provided to our school has helped us in a big way especially in reducing the student dropout rate. It also has a strong effect in making entrepreneurship education more relevant to the needs of students." This was Rodolfo Caberoy’s summation of his experience with the Joint Programme’s interventions in his home province of Antique in the last three years.

3. Antique in the spotlight: Local economic development to create youth employment

   23 October 2012

   In the Philippines, a great number of young people cannot find work. According to the 2011 data from the National Statistics Office, almost half of unemployed were young workers aged 15-24 years.

4. Technical vocational training in Maguindanao: Harnessing the local pool of talent through skills trainings

   17 September 2012

   6 June 2012 was a red letter day for Jonell Venancio. He got up bright and chirpy that morning anticipating the afternoon’s activities in which he was slated to formally graduate from his training course.

5. 

   Domestic work is no longer a “domestic issue”

   05 September 2012

   The ratification of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers by the Philippines this week breaks new ground in extending basic labour rights to the nearly 100 million of domestic workers worldwide. We look at what it will mean for these workers when the Convention comes into force next year.

6. Technical vocational training in Antique: Enhancing on-the-job training and post-training services

   30 August 2012

   It is a sad but common fact that not all young people who have gone through technical vocational training or college education are able to find jobs. Some of them are not able to find any job and this is especially true for people in localities with a labour market characterized by mismatches between available jobs and skills, among others.

7. 

   Building disaster-resilient communities in the Philippines

   29 August 2012

   Helping disaster survivors get back to work and support their families is a vital part of rebuilding lives and communities. At the same time these programmes – such as that run for survivors of Tropical Storm Washi in the Philippines - can help people learn new skills, so opening up new opportunities for the future. By Minette Rimando, Information Officer, ILO Country Office in the Philippines.

8. Antique’s disadvantaged youth shows that entrepreneurship is an option

   28 August 2012

   Early trials and life lessons have led 22-year old Ian Lester Diana to an emotional maturity not common for his age. Ian Lester hails from a fishing village in Anini-y, the southernmost town of Antique province in the central Philippine island of Panay.

9. “Soap of life: micro soap production provides more than bread and butter for families” (Success story of a youth entrepreneur)

   28 August 2012

   One of the sixty (60) recipients of Starter Kits of the Labor Market-Responsive Entrepreneurship Training Programme in the Province of Maguindanao is a 22 year-old out-of-school youth and a resident of Old Maganoy, Datu Abdullah Sangki, 2nd District Maguindanao.

10. "I can and I will: great things come in good and bad ways…" (Success story of a youth entrepreneur)

    28 August 2012

    “The world is round” has been a cliché since time immemorial but we seldom realize its truth unless we experience it ourselves. Nasef is just one of the many who could say that this cliché applies in real life.

11. 

    On course for decent shipping

    20 August 2012

    When the ILO adopted the Maritime Labour Convention in February 2006, Director-General Juan Somavia called it “making labour history”. Following the ratification by Russia and the Philippines, the Convention will come into force in 12 months’ time. What does this mean for the world’s 1.2 million seafarers?

12. 

    The coop that helps to weave dreams

    08 August 2012

    A cooperative in the Philippines goes beyond lending money to indigenous people – it equips them with the skills they need to improve their businesses.

13. 

    Philippines: Boosting entrepreneurship to ease jobs crisis

    16 July 2012

    One third of the Philippines population live in poverty, and thousands head out every day to work abroad. The ILO is promoting entrepreneurship as an alternative to hard-to-get wage jobs and migration.