Gender and Development

Women's Resource and Development Centers

We've all heard of the "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." It’s the movie about a group of childhood girlfriends and their daily adventures of life. In this sisterhood, there are no major Hollywood stars. The stars are poor women from Mindanao or from Siem Reap and Kampong Chhnang. Women resource and development centers in the Philippines and Cambodia are "one-stop" resource centers for female entrepreneurs.

Philippines: Social Protection for Poor Women Vendors in Mindanao

Female vendors in Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur display their products. Photo provided courtesy of Karin Schelzig Bloom, 2007.

We've all heard of the "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." It's the movie about a group of childhood girlfriends and their daily adventures of life. But have you heard about the sisterhood of market vendors in Mindanao?

In this sisterhood, there are no major Hollywood stars. The stars are poor women vendors from Mindanao—the second largest island in the Philippines. Mindanao has an average poverty incidence of more than 50%.

Vendors in public markets in Mindanao comprise more than 80% women. These women vendors work long hours. They have limited access to affordable credit, safety nets and essential social services such as basic health care. Strengthening the sisterhood among poor female vendors has been one of the significant outcomes of ADB's Project, supported by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.

WRCs are a "one-stop" resource center for female vendors. The establishment of WRCs adjacent to public markets has helped improve the working environment for poor female vendors. WRCs provide washing, storage and refrigeration facilities to support vending activities, day care facilities for their children, and basic health care services for women and children.

WRCs have training facilities and equipment to facilitate capacity development and training for female market vendors in livelihood and basic business skills. A total of 170 entrepreneurship skills and personal development training sessions have been completed, with more than 6,800 participants. To date, approximately 9,500 women vendors have been trained in a variety of areas, including food preparation, craft making, managing small businesses, basic accounting skills, and health and nutrition.

Through the establishment of Women’s Resource and Development Centers (WRCs), the Project has increased social capital and strengthened safety nets among women vendors. A total of eight WRCs have been constructed in cities and municipalities across the regions—

• Panabo City;
• Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur;
• Ozamiz, Misamis Occidental;
• Kidapawan City, Cotabato;
• Surigao City, Surigao del Norte;
• Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte;
• Buluan in Maguindanao; and
• Parang in Maguindanao.

Working with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Project aims to also establish a framework for gender-responsible urban services through public markets. For more information, contact Karin Schelzig Bloom, SESS.

Cambodia: Women's Development Centers

Women Development Centers (WDCs) in Cambodia are similar to the ones in Mindanao. WDCs, as one-stop women-friendly facilities, aim at providing support beyond just traditional skills training. In Cambodia, women participate mostly in the informal sector and low-productivity agriculture. Few women are involved in the wage-earning formal sector. The Project responds to the need to better prepare women to participate in the formal sector and benefit from the increased importance and attention being paid to micro- and small enterprises. The Project will provide (i) life skills and advocacy support, (ii) micro- and small enterprise development and support, and (iii) capacity building and project management support, including workshops on gender mainstreaming.

The ADB Project, financed by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, was approved in 2006 to help reduce poverty by increasing women's access to social and economic development opportunities and associated services. About 3,000 women are expected to directly benefit from the project, which will translate to about 12,000 household members benefiting from women's improved skills and income. Still in its early stages, the Project will build a new WDC facility in Siem Reap and renovate an existing center in Kampong Chhnang. For more information, contact Januar Hakim, SESS.