Looking for gifts?
 03 October 2008

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WITH Christmas less than three months away, now is the best time as any to start thinking and shopping for gifts for loved ones and friends. One can settle for the usual trinkets and keepsakes bought from some nearby mall, or one can dare to be a little bit different and buy gifts from the numerous small businesses helped by the Self-Employment Assistance – Kaunlaran (SEA-K) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Started 39 years ago, the SEA-K program has enabled a lot of our countrymen to establish and maintain their own enterprises using the bayanihan concept, and has led to the creation of many indigenous and innovative products.

The program is a constant source of pride and gratification for current DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral. So certain was she that the SEA-K products are now at par with other items on the formal markets today that the department has embarked on efforts to establish these products’ readiness for the mainstream places of trading.

The department has already come up with a catalogue that showcases the products of SEA-K beneficiaries. These products include not only the usual beverage and food items, but also commodities such as decorative pillows and mats, native jewelries and other accessories. The catalogue is readily available in the DSWD offices nationwide as well as in the offices of its partners and donors. The DSWD hopes to distribute the catalogue in banks and schools with social work degrees. The effort has already led to an order of 100 bottles of bottled bangus and pickled papaya from the Elena Tan Foundation.

The DSWD is also hard at work in establishing a website for the SEA-K products, with the end-in-view of opening the SEA-K products to the global market. The website shall not function as a mere catalogue but is planned to be a virtual shop, with capabilities for online ordering and payment. Complementing the online marketing efforts shall be tri-media exposure of the SEA-K products which shall highlight the creativity and innovativeness of the program beneficiaries.

In San Fernando, Pampanga as well as in Davao City, SEA-K trading centers were established providing residents and visitors to the said places to have a first-hand look at the showcased SEA-K products.

The DSWD went so far as to develop a seal, which is prominently displayed in the packaging of every SEA-K product. Part of the seal bears the colors of the Philippine flag, emphasizing the indigenous nature of the products. The seal serves as a mark of quality and that the product is indeed a genuine SEA-K product.

In the last meeting of the MSME Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee, attendees were given a first hand look at some of the products for sale. I can personally attest that the products indeed can be given as gifts – hindi na nakakahiya ipang-regalo, ‘ika nga.’

Purchases not only help these SEA-K businesses become more established and sustainable, but shall also lead to more jobs being generated – ultimately lessening poverty in the country.

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