Around 600 participants are expected to gather together for an event on ICT.
These participants are composed of online professionals, freelancers’ organisations, digital career advocates, industry players and government representatives.
According to a recent press release, the Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is set to conduct the third iteration of the Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference (PISCON) 2019 in line with its continuing mission to empower local digital entrepreneurs with ICT-based knowledge and skills.
One of the highlights of the two-day event is the launch of the digitaljobsPH program, which is a rebrand of Rural Impact Sourcing (RIS) program.
digitaljobsPH
The digitaljobsPH program is one of the major initiatives under the digitalPH Program of the Department, which is led by the ICT Industry Development Bureau (IIDB).
This initiative aims to help reduce the unemployment rate in the Philippines by creating meaningful ICT-enabled jobs in the socio-economically disadvantaged areas.
The digitaljobsPH capacitates people in the countryside to do online freelancing as a means of livelihood using their own Internet platform or RIS Hubs.
RIS Hubs have been established to provide working facilities for digitaljobsPH/RIS graduates who do not have their own computers and internet connection yet.
This Program has allowed people in the countryside to gain employment, working mostly from home and earning approximately the same income as Overseas Filipino Workers.
These graduates do not have to migrate to the big cities or leave their families in order to work abroad.
Part of the program is also capacitating Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to increase their market coverage through e-Commerce.
RIS Program graduates
The Department, through the IIDB and all the regional clusters, will celebrate the stories of the RIS program graduates during the conference this year.
The stories are about generating positive impact by improving one’s skills to take advantage of opportunities for sustainable livelihood.
The RIS Program empowers not just Filipinos in the countryside but also the marginalised sector like women, out-of-school youths and people with disabilities.
This is achieved by giving them the opportunity to make a living out of what they learn.
In order to reach more of these sectors this year, the number of target locations had been increased to expand the reach to more socially-disadvantaged areas in the country.
Training plans
During the first two years of implementation, the number of individuals who have received ICT-related training from 93 key locations in the Philippines reached a total of 1,832.
This year, the Department, through the IIDB, will be training 2,112 Filipinos nationwide.
Geared to promote the Philippine online freelancing ecosystem, PISCON will also feature presentations on the Future of Work and Future of Skills reports.
Additionally, there will also be panel discussions on impact of online work in the economy and best practices of local government units (LGUs) on implementing it.
