Capacity building program for Muslim women in Trento, Agusan del Sur /
Ali R. Mamailao.
- 88 leaves : color illustrations
Public Management Development Program
National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) is a government agency mandated under Republic Act No. 9997 to preserve and develop the culture, traditions, institutions, and well-being of Muslim Filipinos, in conformity with the country's laws and in consonance with national unity and development. The proposed ReP is a realization of an assistance requested several years ago by a community of Muslims far away from the urban center. The community is in Trento Municipality which is four hours travel from Butuan City, Agusan del Sur. The beneficiaries are originally evacuees from Maguidanao Province who were victims of the Mindanao conflict and luckily they were warmly welcomed by the local government of the municipality. They were able to build their Mosque and an Arabic School as a symbol their culture and religious beliefs. The objective of the ReP is to empower the community women whose husbands' main source of livelihood are farming and Abal-abal driving and improve their lives by providing them with additional source of living. Augmenting their families' income is the desired outcome of this ReP. This is a big challenge on the part of the Commission to sustain the assistance given to the community. The women will be organized into a cooperative to provide them with personality and avail of government assistance. They will also be trained how to manage a cooperative because successful cooperatives are well managed by a qualified managers and board of directors. There are lots of successful Muslim women cooperatives that improved the lives of their members and have been expanding their membership. The project was a collaborative one because I needed to request the Cooperative Development Authority to conduct the required Pre-Membership Cooperative Education Seminar. Our Regional Office in CARAGA based in Butuan City was very instrumental in the implementation of this project. They were the ones that initiated it from the time the information to assist the target beneficiaries was conveyed to the them, during site visitation and validation and until the implementation period. The cooperative was named "Trento Muslim Women Producers Cooperative" with thirty five (35) original cooperators and its main business is production of Smoked Fish. This was chosen over other choices such as dress making and handicrafts making because it is easy to make and needs little capital. The cooperative shall have its captured market the more or less one thousand Muslims living in the adjacent municipalities of Bunawan and Rosario. Their products will have an edge in marketing to these customers because of its being produced by a fellow Muslim and they are assured of its purity (Halal). Our regional office will monitor them because this is out pilot project in this region and its sustainability and success is significant to us.
National Commission in Muslim Filipinos. Muslim women--Philippines.