Livelihood training making a dent for local residents

The IRRI Partnerships Office (PO) launched another training course under the Ganda Mo, Hanapbuhay Ko (Your Beauty, My Livelihood) program offered to residents of Los Baños and Bay towns on 21 October.

Sixty-six unemployed women registered for the 5-day livelihood course, Basic Cosmetology, which covers hair and nail treatments. The PO partners with a Philippine company, the Ang-Hortaleza Foundation, Inc. (AHFI), which provided the trainers and materials for the course.

At the end of the course, each graduate will receive a starter kit from the AHFI that they can use to start earning a living from their new skills. The graduates will also hold a "libreng gupit" (free haircut) event in the town plazas of Los Baños and Bay on 25 October.

In October every year, IRRI offers the GMHK to unemployed women from the two towns that the IRRI headquarters straddles. A follow-up session is held two months after the training to determine how graduates are using what they learned from the course and whether they have earned income from it. There have been several success stories from the program, included those of graduates who now earn more that Php 900 a day doing manicures and pedicures,  have their own beauty salons, or have been hired abroad for their skills.

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