UP ISSI convenes women-led MSMEs
MANILA, Philippines – Through the Communities of Practice for Entrepreneurship (COPE) program, Institute for Small-Scale Industries of the University of the Philippines with the Women’s International Network on Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) – Philippine Chapter gathered women for the learning session “Promoting Resilience of Women-Led MSMEs and Pilot Testing of the UNDRR’s Multi-Hazard Quick Risk Estimation Tool” held at UP ISSI Bldg., January 24.
With a total of 69 participants, the first episode of the COPE series highlighted stories of women empowerment and resilience among micro, small and medium enterprises.
“Fear has two faces: forget everything and run or face everything and rise,” said Jazmin Aguisanda-Jerusalem, Executive Director of Leyte Center for Development Inc. during her sharing about the experiences of their organization, and the people of Samar during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013.
She added how they helped in rebuilding the many lives in their community by capacitating with relevant skills that helped the people cope with the impact of the disaster.
Joanna Rose T. Laddaran, Focal Person, UP ISSI HANDA Program: Disaster Preparedness and Business Continuity Planning for MSMEs, led the orientation of the Overview of the UNDRR’s Quick Risk Estimation Tool and Breakout Session Mechanics.
Breakout sessions for the Pilot Testing of the UNDRR’s multi-hazard QRE tool followed which were facilitated by UP ISSI staff.
Prof. Melanie M. Moraga-Leaño, Director of UP ISSI graced the event with her opening remarks, while Branwen Millar, Gender Advisor of United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and Dr. Maria Teresita Pastor-Medado, Convenor, WIN DRR – Philippine Chapter delivered their message of support and closing remarks respectively through their recorded videos.
COPE is an advocacy program of UP ISSI that aims to promote entrepreneurship education by knowledge exchange among MSME owners, government agencies, and private organizations engaged in MSME development.