Over 10,000 pandemic-hit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will benefit from the new $2.2 million joint project of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the government of Japan.

Under its Bringing Back Jobs Safely Under the Covid-19 crisis in the Philippines: Rebooting small and informal businesses safely and digitally, ILO aims to allow vulnerable entrepreneurs cope with the socioeconomic disruption caused by the pandemic through capacity building.

The project, funded by the Japanese government, will cover over 200 trainers, who will be tasked in training 10,000 to 20,000 entrepreneurs nationwide.

"Enterprises and workers in hard-hit sectors are struggling. Some are barely surviving while others have stopped operations. Urgent measures are critical to support them in dealing with the impact of Covid-19, and to build back better and safer. We need to also help people access safe and decent jobs in their own town," ILO Country Office for the Philippines Director Khalid Hassan said in a news statement.

During his online presentation last Thursday, ILO Enterprise Development Specialist Hideki Kagohashi explained the program would focus on helping MSMEs comply with occupational safety and health (OSH) through a development approach.

He also said the project will have a component to help in the digitalization of the operations of MSMEs and informal sector members to allow them to efficiently operate despite existing quarantine restrictions.

To cascade the effects of the program to the 1.4 million registered MSMEs nationwide, Kagohashi said they would also be mounting a nationwide advocacy campaign in cooperation with concerned government agencies. He added they would also be tapping the "innovation hubs" of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for this purpose.

The project is also expected to supplement the government's Balik Probinsiya, Bagong Pag-asa (Return to Province with New Hope) program since it will focus on beneficiaries on cities and provinces outside of Metro Manila, which were affected by the pandemic, according to Kagohashi.

The project was launched last month and will last until June 2022.

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