ASEAN women offered retraining

ASEAN women offered retraining

JAKARTA (JP): The International Labor Organization has launched
a program that aims at training ASEAN women in nontraditional
skills and diversifying their employment opportunities.

The ASEAN Network for Women in Skills Training is funded by
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Canadian
International Development Agency.

The program is now being implemented in Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, a UNDP statement
said yesterday.

The ASEAN Network for Women in Skills Training is the
first effort to link the providers of vocational training across
the seven ASEAN member countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

"Through an ASEAN network between departments, national
ministries and other relevant organizations information,
knowledge and other resources could be pooled, shared and
exchanged," the UNDP said.

Many women in ASEAN face traditional and structural
constraints which limit them to participate in nontraditional
economic activities despite the impressive economic progress the
member countries have enjoyed over the past three decades.

The program aims at providing vocational training to ASEAN
women to diversify and upgrade their existing skills to achieve
positions in the middle management level.

"Disadvantaged" women in the region will obtain technical
assistance in the form of hands-on training to improve their
living conditions.

The assistance will also be offered to training institutions
to develop curricula and training methods suitable for women.
(pan)