Executive Summary
The Philippines is endowed with a rich supply of natural resources, a large labor force, and an advantage in the business-process outsourcing industry due to the population’s ability to speak and converse fluently in English. These placed the country in the spotlight as one of the emerging economies in the region. However, the problem of poverty is still rampant. According to the National Statistical Coordination Board (2009), an estimated 20.9% of the population in the country till lives below the poverty line. This statistic is further supported by the CIA and the World Bank, which suggested that almost 45% of the country’s population in 2006 is earning less than a dollar per day.
Skills are increasingly seen as critical to educational development, labor market inclusion and economic growth, making TVET one of the four priority areas in UNESCO’s education program. TVET reinforces the ability of youth and adults to cope with the changing labor market conditions and helps to reduce the vulnerability of fragile groups. TVET assists learners in acquiring skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to develop professional careers and enter the world of work as well as active citizenship and lifelong learning.
CPSC, as an inter-governmental organization for the development of TVET in the Asia and the Pacific Region, heeds this advocacy. Through this In-country Program on Champion Trainers Program on Poverty Alleviation through TVET Skills Development, CPSC contributes to the raising of awareness necessary to put TVET skills into practice for mutual efforts for poverty alleviation.
This special in-country program on developing champion leaders intends to harness the experiences and expertise of learned individuals and organizations to further reiterate their plan to fast-track initiatives to implement TVET skills development programs. This program is launched in the Philippines through the collaboration of the National TVET Trainers Academy (NTTA) of the Technical Skills Development Authority (TESDA) under the government of the Philippines.
At the end of training program, the participants should be able to:
- Appreciate the significance of TVET skills in the context of poverty alleviation
- Elucidate diverse approaches to employability through TVET skills and generic skills development
- Integrate entrepreneurship programs for addressing poverty alleviation
- Formulate TVET skills development modular programs and strategies
- Develop action plans to tackle poverty alleviation through TVET
