Global Peace Festival Foundation
Philippines
GPFF Alternative Learning System Advances Livelihood Workshops to Help Sustain Community Development
The workshops were facilitated by professionals and were duly supported by GPFF-ALS stakeholders who are also present during trainings in their respective venues. After the sessions for theory and practical applications, learners were able to demonstrate their new skills acquired through simulation activities in which they cooked meals, sewn dresses and crafted fashion accessories and coin purses.
To promote livelihood for community development and enhance the learners’ entrepreneurial skills, GPFF Alternative Learning System (GlobALS) organized a simultaneous Livelihood and Community Development Workshop within its four community learning sites in Metro Manila.
Another aim is to provide assistance to the learners, individually or as a group, for those who wanted to venture into livelihood projects or open up a small business. Hence, learners were taught on practical skills to support themselves, their families and eventually their communities through a variety of economic activities such as Basic Hotel and Restaurant Services; Handicraft Processing; Basic Pattern and Dress Making; Hairdressing and Cosmetology Services; and, Food Processing and Preservation.
“When I first heard about the GlobALS livelihood project, I was doubtful because we thought ALS only focuses on academic sessions,” Amara Gazann, one of the Muslim learners from Quezon City shared during an interview. “When some of the housewives in our area are very much interested about it, we took the opportunity to learn new skills. We wish to have more livelihood projects from GPFF,” she added.
In Mindanao, continuous practical trainings such as Welding and Electronic Services are being implemented as it also became a driving force for the learners to be more active and present in all sessions. Different approaches of teaching to cope up with growing number of learners were also carried out.