Pinoy TVET

As another very strong typhoon leaves the Philippine area of responsibility (16 dead, PhP21.3 million damages to roads, bridges and irrigation facilities in Cagayan alone; Philippine Daily Inquirer , August 29, 2011), local government units and various government agencies are scrambling to put into place activities that are intended to help the affected provinces get back to their feet.  In most cases, the immediate concerns include the restoration of road networks, electricity, water facilities and communication lines.  After these however, the concerns will begin to move on to helping the local economy recover from the damages to crops, loss of properties and paralysis of business activities. To help them do this, local government units can implement quick response programs which, in essence,are economic recovery packages that involves various government agencies and partner private and non-government organizations.  For local government units that have already tried ...

Due to the present chaos in the Middle East thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are expected to return home. While many of these workers will go back to the oil-rich region once the situation stabilizes, they may not return to the same job or company they used to work for.  Others might try to apply for work in other more stable countries such as Canada or Australia, especially if they have already acquired the necessary work experience required by these countries. Many others, of course, will return home simply to wait for the situation to settle down and return to the same company. This means that, whether these workers realize it or not, they will need to have training while they are in the Philippines. The training that returning OFWs will need could be one or a combination of two or more of the following: Training in qualifications related to what they already have. For example, a welder who had extensive experience in oil and gas might want to get some tra...

With the effects of the financial crisis taking its toll among businesses not only in international economic centers but also here in the Philippines, more and more would be entrepreneurs and existing business people are thinking of putting up businesses that are mainly based on the Internet. Internet-based business is cheaper to put up (mainly, you only spend for a domain name and server space, in contrast to spending for rental of a physical space or constructing your own building), doesn't need to be closed and opened everyday (it is always open once you upload your website on a server); and doesn't need to have sales assistants, store clerks and similar personnel. A major gap in TVET courses now in the Philippines, especially those dealing with entrepreneurship, is the minimal attention given to competencies that one needs to put up an online business.  Partly because of this, most Philippine companies that thrive online are also big mortar-and-glass companies that have...