Yolanda survivors learn carpentry, masonry with TESDA

ORMOC CITY – They got hit by a 300 kilometer-per-hour typhoon in November 2013 leaving them homeless.  A few days later, they got government relief.  Then the co-op helped them re-build their homes – permanent homes that can withstand 300-kph winds from local materials with solar power and running water.

Once they had roofs on their heads, the next challenge was giving them a livelihood.

Even in the disaster zones of Leyte and Samar provinces, there are opportunities.  When Typhoon Yolanda hit Samar and Leyte, thousands of homes were destroyed.  Since then, there had been a great shortage for construction workers. 

That is why the NATCCO Enterprise Development Center, in partnership with Swedish cooperative federation WE Effect, the National Union of Building and Construction Workers (NUBCW), Metro Ormoc Community Cooperative Inc. (OCCCI), Barangay Dolores, and the Technical Education & Skills Training Authority (TESDA) partnered to teach 22 worker-trainees in carpentry and masonry.

The Carpentry cum Masonry Training took one month.  And on October 10, Virgilio del Rosario, an assessor from TESDA conducted a whole day assessment to evaluate the trainees.

Given that the construction technology is not conventional, the assessor requested the worker-trainees to do an actual activity instead of evaluating their output per group. This was to make sure that they had learned the standard procedures of carpentry.  At the end of the day, del Rosario announced that all of them passed the assessment and could get their national certification.

On October 11, the graduation ceremony was facilitated by the NATCCO Enterprise Development Center (NEDC) and OCCCI and attended by: Jessica Soto, Country Director of WE EFFECT, Atty. Ernesto Arellano, President of the NUBCW and also the Asia-pacific representative of Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), Michael Encina, Board Member of OCCCI, Engr. Fortunato Dilao, Administrator of the TESDA, Pedro Pepito, Captain of Barangay Dolores, and O-BALAY Housing Cooperative Members. 

NEDC is targeting to start the next batch of trainees on first week of November, this time in the municipality of Abuyog, also in Leyte.

This article was also published at:

http://www.natcco.coop/index.php/home-2/232-yolanda-survivors-learn-carpentry-masonry-with-tesda