The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) trained women entrepreneurs in Puerto Princesa City and other cities in the country in an effort to capacitate them to access various online platforms as marketing tools to improve their operations.
The project is part of activities under the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative.
This year, the USAID and its partner agencies conducted various activities that geared towards the empowerment of the women sector including training and webinar.
During the first quarter of 2021, the USAID and the Department of Trade and Industry – Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) hosted a webinar entitled “Digital Exporting through SheTrades PH Hub” in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC). The activity trained more than 180 participants from the Cities Development Initiative (CDI) cities of Puerto Princesa, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Iloilo, Legazpi, Tagbilaran, and Zamboanga
The participants learned about the SheTrades PH Hub and ITC’s e-commerce programs and how women entrepreneurs can benefit from them.
SheTrades is a decentralized platform of the International Trade Center for women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses that facilitates networking, exchange of market information, access to training, trade events, and other related services. The activities under the SheTrades Philippine Hub aim to increase the capacity and competitiveness of women entrepreneurs in the country.
SheTrades Hub in the Philippines and other countries aims to contribute to the overall SheTrades goal of connecting three million women to markets by 2021. USAID is helping enlist interested women exporters from the CDI cities to participate in this global portal.
The participants also learned e-commerce value chains and ITC’s e-commerce programs such as ecomConnect which aims to build the world’s largest community of e-commerce entrepreneurs and e-commerce tools including diagnostic tools and cost calculators, among others.
They also gained insights on the available financing programs of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for inclusive lending for women-led MSMEs and exporters to help them recover from the losses brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The USAID is strengthening the economic competitiveness and resilience of cities outside of Metro Manila through the Cities Development Initiative (CDI). It is part of the shared goal to accelerate and sustain inclusive growth in the Philippines. CDI seeks to advance the development of these cities as engines of growth that is inclusive, environmentally sustainable, and resilient. Depending on the most urgent needs of the city, USAID provides a range of technical assistance, drawing from resources in economic growth, health, energy, environment, governance, and education, to help cities achieve inclusive and resilient growth.
USAID has eight CDI partner cities—Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Iloilo, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa, Tagbilaran and Zamboanga. USAID worked with these cities to develop city action plans to address economic growth, education, environmental resilience, and health challenges.
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