Over the years, there has been an increasing number of women leaving to work overseas. Most of their work falls under the low-skilled category, which includes domestic and service workers; making them vulnerable to poor working conditions, abuse, and exploitation.  When women migrants return home, they face limited opportunities for livelihood and reintegration. The Empowering Women Migrants Through Cooperatives project empowers women migrant returnees (entertainers from Japan and domestic workers from the Middle East and Asian countries) through a cooperative, a different yet effective approach for reintegration. This is achieved by providing them with economic opportunities and support network among peers. This initiative conducts team-building activities that establishes a camaraderie and forges ties among women migrant returnees. A series of capacity-building seminars are conducted to equip members with the necessary skills to manage and operate a cooperative. These activities provide a foundation for engaging them into a cooperative as this will require competencies and strong peer support. Several activities are also transpire carried out to increase awareness on issues of women migrant returnees and establish partnerships with various stakeholders.

”I didn’t notice that I had someone who I can lean on, and this is the DAWN – MPC. I am a member of DAWN – MPC since 2013. But during my first years, I took it for granted. I didn’t take it seriously. That’s why my debt went up. But as time goes by, I became a chairperson in 2017. ” Gilda Mosatalla DAWN- MPC member

As put in the quote above, DAWN-MPC members now understand the importance of the cooperative as an individual and as a group and their plans for its future. Members regularly build-up their share capital and continuous patronage of the cooperative’s products and services. The youth share their expertise through providing GAD and VAWC seminars and using social media for marketing SIKHAY products. DAWN-MPC has participated in bazaars of CARITAS Margin and other meetings and functions. All these have been part of DAWN – MPC project, Empowering Women Migrants Through Cooperatives. Members now fully understand the aspect of managing the cooperative and this led them to be more active and participative in their roles, duties and responsibilities at the cooperative. Some members are inspired and interested to pursue formal education in Bachelor in Cooperatives. Members are now active in participating in meetings, policy planning and product development and marketing. DAWN-MPC plans to continue its programs and services for its members. Among them is continuous education and training. Another is to work on potential businesses that are sustainable to augment the economic situation of the members. They plan to materialise all the plans developed during the various capacity building activities, including the marketing of hand-woven products of SIKHAY made by the women by joining on-line and or on-site exhibits/ bazaars. they plan to have a webpage for DAWN-MPC and maintain networks, links and partners for better implementation.

Empower Women Migrants Through a Cooperative 

Development Action for Women Network (DAWN) Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MPC), (DAWN-MPC) established camaraderie among 20 migrant women returnees and the youth.  Their confidence was boosted which enabled them to share their experiences, ideas and knowledge. This contributed to the success of every capacity-building workshop, which included topics on leadership, basic cooperative and recording management, and conflict resolution, among others.  DAWN-MPC members understood the importance of the cooperative as individuals and as a group and its link to their future plans. Members regularly built up their share capital and continuous patronage of the cooperative’s products and services. The youth shared their expertise through providing Gender and Development and Violence Against Women and Children seminars and using social media for marketing the livelihood arm of the cooperative, SIKHAY. Members also now fully understand the aspect of managing the cooperative and this led them to be more active and participative in their roles, duties and responsibilities within the cooperative. One youth and three women members, are inspired and interested in pursuing formal education in Bachelor in Cooperatives. Members are now more active in participating in meetings, policy planning and product development and marketing.  The most significant changes that happened is evident in the manner that women and youth members are now actively advocating their own issues and concerns by sharing their stories in forums and interviews. Women migrant returnees and the youth complement each other in terms of their views in life, discussions and decision-making in the different tasks in the cooperative. There is an elected youth representative in the board of the DAWN-MPC. The women and the youth members can have the same rights and tasks. The youth members’ ideas create impact in the discussions of new projects. The youth are able to share their expertise with the women members. The youth developed maturity and confidence because of the tasks and opportunities given to them. Because of this, youth – mother relationships also improved.   

“As you can see, a lot has changed as the time goes by. Back then, the DAWN staff are always busy doing the programs and taking care of the children. But today, the youth are already helping on planning the programs and we sometimes run our own program like Mother’s Day. Since we are already considered youth, we are now welcome to be part of the DAWN MPC. It is actually our first year to be part of the cooperative, and we already have our positions. Because our mothers believe in our innovative ideas. But we are still on the process of knowing how cooperative works, and through the program and our partnership with Voice PH now we could finally understand what the true meaning is of a ‘cooperative’. I am happy that at a young age I was able to be part of a cooperative and I am looking forward to it. I am hoping that this year our cooperative will be more productive and it’s time to make a change.” 

– Mitzie Petisme 

DAWN-MPC now actively markets the SIKHAY hand-woven products made by the women themselves. This innovative venture materialized in the last quarter of 2019 where DAWN-MPC participated in various bazaars and exhibits organized by Caritas Margins and during the forums and events that DAWN-MPC was invited. DAWN-MPC has considered tapping social media and on-line selling and have more partners to collaborate with. In the packaging, there is also a plan to place the story of the women/weavers making the products. The youth members are considering modelling the products for the online and printed catalogues and develop a website.    

“I am proud of myself because despite of being a solo parent, I still managed to succeed. Being a solo parent is not a hindrance for you to reach your goals in life. For me, you don’t have to work abroad to be successful. There are lots of opportunities here in the Philippines, you just have to work hard. I am also proud of my two boys. Even if I raised them alone, I became their mother, father, and best friend at the same time. They grew up with a good heart and smart. This year, they will be graduating from senior high school. I know that I still need to work hard for years before they graduate from college. But we’re already in the middle, just a little harder work I know we’re so close in reaching our goals. I will not lose hope as long as I have DAWN who guides us and DAWN – MPC that we can lean on. Through growing of capital, patronizing our own products, and from the services that we received from our cooperative, this is where I was able to help my children in their education. And I know that someday my children will finish their studies and they will finally reach their dreams.”  –  Gilda Mosatalla 

Link to outputs 

DAWN Sikhay Products: https://www.facebook.com/sikhayproducts 

Feature of DAWN-MPC sharing about their Voice project and how they continue to thrive during the pandemic: 

https://app.box.com/file/805168721409 

International Migrants Day Celebration video 

https://app.box.com/file/579439752326 

Photos  

https://app.box.com/file/478780621311  

https://app.box.com/file/480150253217 

https://app.box.com/file/480144990165 

https://app.box.com/file/480142446222