Narratives of the Community Skills Development Program Completers in District 1, Makati

Abstract

The Community Skills Development Program (CSDP) is a term encompassing all the skills training taken by our completers as implemented by TESDA or DSWD in partnership with other government bureaus, the local government units (LGUs), and/or with the support of private entities or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide skills training to the low-income and vulnerable sectors of the municipality. The study focuses on the completers from the 1st District of Makati, their perspective, and experiences in taking the CSDP and allowing us to highlight the achievement of its main goal of combatting poverty by enhancing the participant’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes increasing their employability, productivity, and capacity. The completers as described in this study are the participants of the CSDP who completed any form of livelihood training, and skills training particularly those who were awarded a Certificate of Competency (COC) by completing a particular or cluster of units of competency or with a National Certificate (NC) by completing all units of competency that comprised a Qualification. We have also explored the role of CSDP in helping our completers achieve long-term socioeconomic benefits through the free barangay skills training program and the distribution of financial grants and training materials such as Seed Capital Funds, training allowance, tool kits, and more. The CSDP is a sustainable and cost-effective program that will allow people to develop and upgrade their skills to adapt to the challenges of globalization continually