By Gideon C. Corgue
PAGADIAN CITY –
The Women Empowerment Movement-Rural Improvement Club (WEM-RIC) has received an
accolade from the Embassy of the United States for promoting agricultural entrepreneurship
among disadvantaged women in Zamboanga del Sur.
Speaking
on Friday before the WME-RIC municipal chapter presidents at Balay Bisaya in
Barangay Dao here, Ms. Carolyn B. Glassman, counselor for public affairs section,
US Embassy-Manila, said the “US embassy is honored working with the 42,000 WEM-RIC
members across the region in that the organization has great potential in
utilizing the skills of its members in agricultural entrepreneurship to improve
productivity among them.”
The
WEM-RIC project, Glassman added, aims to realize the women’s full potential to
help augment their incomes as “it endeavors to open other opportunities in agriculture
and rural-micro enterprises training.”
Glassman
disclosed that the project got funding assistance from the American people through
the US State Department “in the hope that the WEM-RIC would achieve great
things in the future.
WEM-RIC
received a grant of $200 thousand from the US embassy to help empower the
women-farmers and entrepreneurs. The grant was secured in October 2014 and was
released in February 2015.
Ms.
Junaflor Cerilles, WEM-RIC provincial federated president said “the WEMC-RIC
members are happy that the US embassy had granted their request to implement
the project which would benefit the women-farmers in the province.
“This
project aims to contribute to expanding women’s equal opportunities to access
and participate in key decisions over agri-based economic resources and
technologies, and to provide knowledge and skills to disadvantaged women and
men farmers. It also enables them to understand their roles, as well as the
importance of sustainable agricultural practices to the livelihoods, food
security and overall health and well-being of the family and community,”
Cerilles explained.
A
total of 810 disadvantaged farmers (675 women and 135 men) across the 27
municipalities of the province shall be benefit from the project, including 27
women organizations.