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)