Sisterhood of Mindanao vendors helps them earn more

By Rita Festin, ADB At the market in Panabo, in the southern Philippine province of Davao del Norte, times have been hard for 68-year-old vendor Remedios Homesillo. "It's so difficult nowadays to sell - we need a new livelihood," says this mother of nine and grandmother of 20, who with her husband has been selling meat at market for the best part of six decades. Balancing parenthood with eking out a meager living has not been easy for any of the vendors. And with business now on the downturn, there is often little for them to do but sit and gossip. But a new project has been trying to bring new hope and incomes to the vendors to help break them out of the cycle of poverty and debt, by teaching them new skills, improving working conditions, and in the process helping them become better parents. Backed by a US$1 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan, the project is targeting about 1,600 poor women vendors in public markets in eight areas of Mindanao. Aside from Panabo, these include Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur; Ozamiz, Misamis Occidental; Kidapawan City, Cotabato; Surigao City, Surigao del Norte; Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte; and in the towns of Buluan and Parang in Maguindanao. An important feature of the project is the establishment in each town of a women's resource center (WRC) to provide space for training, a drop-in clinic, daycare for pre-schoolers, and cold storage, lockers, and wash rooms, all available at a minimal fee. The WRCs have become in effect the nerve center for all the women's activities where they can meet and interact like a sisterhood, says Myrna Lim, Executive Director of the Notre Dame Foundation for Charitable Activities, Inc. Women Enterprise Development (NDFCAI-WED), the project's implementing agency. "The project … hopes to provide sustainable gender-sensitive social safety nets for women market vendors [and] improve the quality of their working environment," she says. Vendors have hailed the centers as a place where they can socialize and group together, rather than simply face problems on their own. "It’s a place where we can get closer to each other, see each other often. Not like before where we did not know each other and we were on our own," says 31-year old Geraldine Aguia, a vendor in Panabo City and mother of three. "We now have someone to turn to and we just do not go direct to City Hall. If we go individually, there is no action. As a group, we have their ear because we are more powerful." Change didn’t come easy, though. In Panabo City, attendance at training sessions was at first poor because vendors were reluctant to leave their stalls and sacrifice sales. Since most of them start their day at the market at 4:30 a.m., they found it a burden to attend a full-day of training from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. But once they realized the benefits, attendance picked up drastically. For example, Gabriela Ocaña, a 49-year old mother of two who sells fruits for a living, attended customer service seminars and soap-making training. “I have sold some soap, and my family uses my own soap so we have also reduced our expenses," she says. Popular with the vendors is training on preparing and handling food. For example, Jean Sotto, 50, who has been running an eatery for the past 20 years, has used the training to extend her culinary knowledge so she can diversify into new food items, such as desserts. Her sister, Elvira Senuino, 55, who assists her, attended training in Christmas decoration making and was able to sell P2,000 worth last year. By mid-year she will begin making decorations again to meet the expected demand for orders. Vendors are also taking up herbal medicine, hair styling, dressmaking, and nail care, among others. A requirement before market vendors can benefit from the project is for them to be formally organized, including electing a board. Their association gives them an independent voice separate from the larger federation that includes male members. Recognizing the potent political force that the women wield, the vendors’ associations have attracted strong backing from local politicians. In Panabo City, the Mayor has agreed to provide a P200,000 microfinance revolving fund. In Ozamiz City, the mayor’s office provides health services through the Women’s Resource Center. And in Mahayag, the mayor immediately provided temporary stalls for the vendors when stalls were damaged in a market fire earlier this year. The eight project areas are also benefiting under the ADB-funded Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector Project (MBUSSP), which is upgrading and rehabilitating much-needed infrastructure through a $30 million loan. In Mahayag, the newly-built municipal hall is funded with P14-million from the project, with the JFPR-funded Women’s Resource Center for the vendors standing by its side. From being the dirtiest municipality in Mindanao in 1997, with a 1960s municipal town hall, Mahayag has turned around its image to become the second cleanest municipality in the province this year. The town mayor says the building has directly helped Mahayag raise more revenues, which in turn led to their being upgraded into a third class municipality in 2005. Department of Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary Austere Panadero was so impressed by the building that he called it the “best municipal building in the whole Mindanao" during its inauguration in March 2005. "We are proud of this building. Before, Mahayag looked like it was left behind," declares Mayor Paulino Fanilag. "Now, no more. People pay their taxes because they can see where their taxes go." The WRCs and the infrastructure projects under MBUSSP are being completed one after another. In Panabo City, a new bus and jeepney terminal that will put the city on the map will rise by the end of this year, and women market vendors will have stalls there as well. In Ozamiz City, a new and modern two-storey public market will soon be built to replace the completely dilapidated existing building where, as women market vendors often joke about, it rains both inside and outside during the wet season. "I am very happy that this project came to Mindanao," says Loli Aginones, a 50-year-old mother of three who learned to bake and sell peanut butter, tarts, and macaroons through the project. "It's a big help to the women of Panabo. At the same time, I enjoy what I'm doing." In Mahayag, a word that means "to illuminate" in the local dialect, poor women market vendors can indeed look forward to a brighter future. - ADB