Moro women complete skills training

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – More than a hundred women, some of them wives of Moro guerillas, graduated last week from a skills and livelihood training program on alternative livelihood that can generate extra income for their families.

The training, participated in by women from different towns in the first district of Maguindanao, was a common initiative of the office of Rep. Sandra Sema, Menardo Nosca of the Knowledge Channel, and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DAF-ARMM).

The participants trained on production of detergents and preservation of ready-to-sell food, such as fish and squid balls, that can be marketed in their respective villages.

The training was funded by the office of Sema, whose socio-economic projects are designed to complement the government’s peace initiatives in the first district of Maguindanao.

Kally Dimalen, a senior technical staff of the DAF-ARMM, said the training project was essential to the empowerment of Maguindanao’s women, who have suffered the brunt of previous armed conflicts in the province. The DAF-ARMM helped facilitate the skills training.

Sema said they are also formulating plans on how to help the trainees market their products outside of their towns.

“Empowering the women sector in Maguindanao is very important. The women comprise a big part of our population and mothers play a big role in building communities of peace-loving, productive people,” Sema pointed out.

Sema said extra earnings can help mothers sustain the schooling of the children.

“If we give mothers education, employment and support, we are building a strong community,” Sema said.

A trainee, Sharifa Kapisah, said she did not realize until she underwent the skills and livelihood training that producing detergent is not just easy, but can also be a source of income.

“We also have so much farm products in our surroundings that we can preserve and sell to the markets,” echoed Amirah Musib, whose spouse is a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Some of the trainees were either relatives or wives of guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Most towns in the first district of Maguindanao are bastions of the MNLF and the MILF.