The Philippine Business for Social Progress recently conducted a Product Development and Mentoring Workshop for the Weavers of Sinagtala in Marawi City. The workshop was made possible with the assistance of the RAHEEMAH PEACE WEAVERS Executive Director and Volunteers.
This was participated by the fifty (50) women who were into handloom weaving. This was part of PBSP's continuing livelihood intervention, with the support from Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and Fundacion Concordia y Liberatad (FCL).
During the actual workshop, Raheemah Peace Weavers facilitated the workshop activities which has also paved the way for actual designing and prototyping products, including face masks, bags, home products and decors and clothes. Every group were able to learn new experiences that help them strengthen their creativity and collaboration with other women.
Creating this kind of platform has increase the interest on women participation, strengthening women’s economic self-sufficiency, and will provide them with a network of support to earn a stable income and improve their livelihoods.
Economic and educational opportunities to all women are essential tools to empower women to gain confidence and achieve economic stability and success. By working with the vulnerable women we will have a deeper understanding on the social and cultural needs and challenges they were facing. The Raheemah Peace Weavers Chairman Sittie Aisha “Baicon” Cayongcat-Nuska believes that by providing them with the tools, resources, and skills they need they were able to change their families’ lives.
Raheemah Peace Weavers has provided access to economic opportunities, to needed tools and trainings and to financial services and education. And in so doing, it has connected women to the world around them, giving them opportunities that were previously inconceivable. Because Raheemah Peace Weavers has known that women, when empowered, they will change the world.