Waste pickers undergo trainings on livelihood, solid waste mgmt.
About 120 waste pickers in Iloilo City will undergo a series of trainings that seeks to enhance their livelihood opportunities, skills, and participation in the city’s Solid Waste Management program.
Iloilo City Public Service Officer III Salome Villamor said the participants are members of the Uswag Calahunan Livelihood Association, Inc., from the three barangays around the city’s dumpsite in Mandurriao district. These are barangays Calajunan, Nabais, and Sooc.
Villamor said the participants were grouped into three batches consisting of 40 for a four-day training that will be held at the UCLA Center in Brgy. Calajunan. The training for the first batch starts this week.
UCLA started as an initiative to integrate Calajunan’s reclaimers in the over-all rehabilitation of the city’s disposal facility. Currently, it has more than 200 members.
During the trainings, resource persons and experts will tackle on various topics such as values formation, conflict management, responsible parenthood and family life, and teamwork, among others.
Participants will also be given an overview on the status and project development plans for the upgrading of the Calajunan as proposed by the city government. They will also be briefed on the legal framework of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and Workers Safety and Occupational Health Concerns.
There will also be a skills training on recycling bag making, jewelry, and accessory making out of used posters, composting using organic waste, and compost application during the four-day training.
The training is funded by GTZ, a German development agency that assists the city government in its Social Development program in line with the rehabilitation of the city’s dumpsite. The activity is also supported by the academe, private institutions, and other concerned agencies. PIA
