The project aims to contribute to improving the living conditions of extremely poor and vulnerable families in the Philippines by helping them generate their own income. The project is being carried out together with CCT (Center for Community Transformation).
Goal
The project aims to:
- Establishing profitable and sustainable businesses for poor and vulnerable people (mainly women) in the slums of Metro Manila (Mandaluyong, Payatas, Quezon City), Mindanao (General Santos) and Visayas (Cebu, Eastern Samar) and Mindoro. This is done through a combination of education and support for business-oriented activities, in combination with savings groups.
- Equip other organizations in the field of business development by applying the MBC approach in their field.
The Project
The project is being carried out in collaboration with CCT, a Christian micro credit organization based in the Philippines. CCT has been active for 25 years in the field of savings groups, providing loans for micro-business and job creation. MBC’s business training really appeals to them. Their role is to provide motivated entrepreneurs and coaches for training in the areas where CCT is active. In addition, it provides loans for start-up companies.
The work area
The work area of the project has been chosen for:
- Payatas is a huge garbage dump (70 ha.), about 20 km from the center of Manila, in Quezon City. The landfill is also referred to as Smokey Mountains or Smokey Valley. Tens of thousands of people live on the enormous waste mountain. They earn their living by collecting and separating the rubbish, an activity that involves many women and children, who go through the bags one by one with their bare hands..
- Cebu: Typhoon Haiyan hit the central part of the Philippines in November 2013, killing more than 6,000. In some areas, 90% of homes were destroyed, affecting about 2 million families in 12,000 villages. Two years after this devastating event, many people are still suffering the consequences. Livelihoods, especially in agriculture and fishing, were severely affected and many businesses and households were forced to rebuild their livelihoods from scratch. Often the resources for this are completely exhausted, so that it is very difficult to make a new start.
- Mindanao is the island in the south of the Philippines. In General Santos, CCT has a training center from which MBC will train potential entrepreneurs in business development, together with coaches to support the new entrepreneurs. CCT has identified a group of extremely poor households, many households with large families and where the woman heads the household and large families.
- In Mindoro is PLDT a partner organization set up by a group of 120 mountain churches with more than 15,000 members. PLDT works for one of the poorest mountain people of Mindoro. MBC trains and coaches a team of PLDT, so that they can then help the Mindoro population (mostly farmers) to achieve a better life.
