By Prof. Sarex Dalida Dipol, Jr.

Nanay Judith and Nanay Ninfa are the remaining original members of Asosasyon ng Pantawid Pamilyang Mananahi (APPM) who still tirelessly tailor and repair the uniforms of some Centralian students and faculty.

In 2015, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), specifically the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), and Central Philippine University organized the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), also known as Pantawid Pamilya. One of the government’s poverty reduction-related programs provides conditional cash transfers to poor households to foster their health, nutrition, and education.

The CPU and DSWD-SLP named the organization of women “Asosasyon ng Pantawid Pamilyang Mananahi (APPM).” This group of women undergoes sewing training, and after the training, they are also given a sewing machine. Meanwhile, the University provides the group with a venue. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe disruption to the livelihoods and the economy, in which this group of women sewers was not spared. Most of them retrieved their sewing machines from the University and brought them home. Some members were displaced due to the rehabilitation of their previous work area. They were in a small area in the Fine Arts Building on campus.

Early last year, the remaining group of women approached the outreach office to seek the reorganization of the association. After a meeting, the Community Engagement and Service-Learning Center director, the Gender and Development Office (GAD), the Review, Continuing Education and Consultancy Center (RCECC), and the Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) decided that these women become beneficiaries of the University’s Women and Development Program. This program, developed by the University of the Philippines Open University and Central Philippine University, was conceptualized when one of the faculty members pursued studies in Women, Gender Studies, and Development.

This year, the activities based on their needs are literacies related to the duties and responsibilities of the parents, programs and services offered by the government to women, mental health, alternative livelihood training, and financial literacies. Additionally, some of the sewing machines are now being repaired and restored.

Furthermore, the Office of the Vice President for Administration is searching for a more spacious and comfortable location for the group. This new location will serve as both a tailoring shop and training center, where the women will become the primary trainers of those men and women interested in learning sewing and tailoring.

Previously, the Women and Development Program’s first beneficiaries were women in the Ati Community, located in Brgy. Lanit, Jaro, an adopted community of the University.

Indeed, the Women and Development Program of the University is a gender-based program intended to address the challenges and issues men and women face.