Guimaras Production Center: Empowering women through the years
The place is filled with sewing machines and women can be found in almost all corners. Some are cutting fabrics, some are sitting before sewing machines while some are busy looking into linens with their measuring tapes.
This is the usual scenario inside the Guimaras Production Center based at Jordan, Guimaras. Situated adjacent to the Guimaras Provincial Capitol, the building has not just helped women find a way to earn. More than the income, the center has been a vehicle for empowering women.
“This serves as a training center for disadvantaged women. Through this center, we have helped improve the lives of disadvantaged women and enabled them to become productive and empowered individuals,” said Shirley Gabutin, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer of Guimaras Province.
In 1997, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office VI and the Japanese International Corporation Assistance (JICA) jointly implemented the Practical Skills and Capability Building (PSCB) with Guimaras Province as recipient. A total of 52 sewing machines were turned over to Guimaras. The following year, the Province was able to access funding from DSWD for the establishment of a building for them to implement the PSCB. In 2004, the Province fully took over management of the Production Center and was able to sustain the operation until now.
Lauded by DSWD
The Provincial Government of Guimaras was lauded by the management of DSWD Field Office VI for a job well- done in ensuring the operationalization of the PSCB through the Production Center.
“We congratulate the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office and the entire Province of Guimaras for doing a good job. Sustaining a DSWD program which has been turned over to the LGU is one tough job and Guimaras was able to do it,” said Evangeline Felecio, Chief of the Management Division of DSWD6.
Records of the Production Center as revealed by Anilyn Zaldivar, Production Center in-charge, show that the Center has a total of 2,498 graduates since 1997. If broken down, 1,023 are now self-employed as dressmakers; 642 are open employed; 647 are occasionally accepting sewing jobs to practice sewing; while 148 are students who are completing academic courses and 38 are from BJMP and Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth (RRCY).
Now serving entire province
The Production Center now serves not only residents of Jordan town located but also those coming from neighboring towns. Aside from the regular trainings conducted, the center has a total of 20 regular sewers and 14 who work on an on-call basis.
The center accepts sewing jobs for school and office uniforms, casual wears, gowns, pants, blouses, curtains, bedsheets, clothing for infants, t-shirts, pillow cases and sofa covers.
For her part, Zaldivar said, “Through the production center, we are helping women earn. As a worker for the center, I am happy to see women transform because they are already earning.”
