Development of Small Enterprises for Women with Disabilities in the Philippines: The KAMPI Experience
Venus M. Ilagan
President, KAMPI
The National Federation of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities of the Philippines
Abstract Women with Disabilities are historically among the most disadvantaged of sectors in the Philippines. Socially, economically, politically and even culturally, the needs of the women's sector are often relegated to the margin. More so for Women with Disabilities who at best are marginalized or ignored by society and at worst are subject to abuse and discrimination. This paper suggests people with disabilities are able to operate a small business by their own. First, the economic situation which is a main factor for the above project in the Philippines will be discussed. Second, the KAMPI's experience in the development of small business will be addressed. Finally, the country's employment situation which affects to a certain extent the development of small business will be analyzed.
The Situation of Women with Disabilities in the PhilippinesDespite the presence of numerous government policies and legislation in favor of persons with disabilities and women, these laws and policies often do not translate into concrete action and implementation. Furthermore, the Philippine government is also operating on a budget deficit and all government agencies are constantly cutting down on spending thus making it more difficult to deliver the social services required by the sector.
With regards to the economic status of women with disabilities in the Philippines, it is not surprising to note that the majority of them are in fact, living below the poverty level. Employment opportunities are limited owing to the fact that a vast majority of them have had little formal education or training. (It is worthwhile to note that although public elementary and high school education is free in the Philippines, problems of accessibility, the lack of adapted materials, inadequate trained teachers and others factors hinder the participation of women with disabilities in regular schools.) Those few who have gone to school and who meet the qualifications required by employers are also faced with other barriers such as discrimination or the lack of accessibility in the workplace.
The Country's Employment Situation and the Importance of Micro-Enterprises
Developing countries such as ours are often characterized by a rapidly growing population and labor force. Providing employment for an increasing number of job seekers is a reality which is difficult to confront. While a significant number of workers can be absorbed into traditional agriculture, studies indicate that in the next few years more job seekers (2 out of every 3 according to the World Bank) will look for work in non-agricultural occupations.
In the Philippines as in most developing countries, available employment opportunities could not cope up with the big demand from new job seekers. Unfortunately, the country does not have enough capital to even absorb a mere fraction of the labor demand. Public policy must therefore aim to stimulate new job creation at a much lower average capital cost in non-traditional occupations like farming. One of the more efficient ways to foster the creation of more non-farm jobs without spending too much on capital is by encouraging the development of small scale enterprises.
Aside from being a more capital efficient way of generating jobs, small scale enterprises gives several other benefits to the economy of a developing country. It nurtures the development of entrepreneurs by providing them training and improved technical skills as well as generate savings.
Small Scale Enterprises (SSE), according to the World Bank, serve as resources of stability and coherence in communities. It reduces inequalities of income distribution between regions and economic groups, produces a less adverse environmental impact than do larger firms.
Other advantages include the potential of SSEs to help stem migration to metropolitan areas to use agriculture, agribusiness, and industrial linkages, to increase rural labor productivity and income, and to engage very poor people in employment ownership and decision making through cooperative and community-based projects.
Furthermore, small enterprises are considered the best way to make the most out of a developing country's most abundant resource which is labor without using its most scarce resource, foreign exchange. Experience in industrial countries likewise show that people are happier working in small units where they know everybody and are involved in the whole process.
SSEs are flexible enough to change and adapt when the needs of a market change. Although products produced by them are not equal in quality to those produced by big firms, these are usually more affordable. After all, for most consumers, the finest products in the world are not good enough for the buyer who cannot afford it.
KAMPI'S Experience in Small Business Development
KAMPI, the national federation of disabled peoples organizations in the Philippines has 215 chapter organizations composed of cross disability self-help grassroots groups. It was organized during the Second National Congress of Filipino people with disabilities in July 1990. From an initial membership of eleven groups from seven provinces, KAMPI has expanded tremendously to its present membership of 215 chapters covering 58 provinces, 17 cities and 73 municipalities.
Since 1996 KAMPI has been operating a project called Breaking Barriers Philippines in cooperation with the Danish National Society of Polio and Accident Victims (PTU) which generously provided the federation of approximately one million US dollars through funds from the Danish Foreign Ministry (DANIDA).
One of the components of the project is the provision of loans and grants for small enterprises to organizations of persons with disabilities with preferential options for women with disabilities, indigenous people with disabilities, and poor parents of children with disabilities. Initially, KAMPI earmarked approximately $30,000.00 for the purpose.
Up-to-date, KAMPI has provided 33 organizations with livelihood funds of up to $1,200.00 or P50,000.00. It also extends technical assistance to these organizations as well as help in the marketing aspect of their finished products. KAMPI likewise facilitates their access to additional funds from other NGOs, and local and national government agencies for fund augmentation if their projects show promise of success.
Among the successful initiatives undertaken by women with disabilities funded by KAMPI include ornamental plant growing, flower cut marketing, operation of variety stores, handicraft making, vegetable and fish vending and even hog and poultry raising. One member-organization consisting of deaf women has successfully turned a grant of $357 or P15,000 into a small enterprise producing and selling handicrafts and gift items. This project is now providing benefits to several other women with hearing impairment in the locality where it operates.
Indeed, in a country like the Philippines where resources are scarce, and where statistics show that 10 million people have no jobs and 15 million others are under-employed, the task to provide employment opportunities for thousands or more of unskilled women with disabilities can prove to be a tough challenge.
But as an organization of disabled people who, for many years, have always been lacking in resources, we in KAMPI have chosen not to be discouraged by this harsh realities of life. We discovered that money is not the only resource. The more important resource remains to be ourselves - our skills and talents, our time, and our commitment to create a dent in the lives of other persons with disabilities.
Armed with this strong fighting spirit, we were able to generate funds to start a project to rehabilitate poor children with disabilities. That proved to be our big break.
Today, Breaking Barriers-Philippines project provides, among other things, comprehensive rehabilitation services to 1,688 disabled children as of middle of August. We expect the number to increase up to 2,000 when we shall have completed the project in April 1999.
Learning from this experience, we are convinced that lack of resources sometimes makes better persons out of us because we develop the skill to be resourceful. With an established track record gained from our implementation of Breaking Barriers-Philippines, KAMPI now finds it easier to generate resources for its other programs and projects both locally and internationally.
I wish to stress though, that when we look for funds we should not always aspire for something not readily within our reach...foreign funding. We have to start with what we have, build on these capabilities, and things will just take its natural course.
There will always be resources for a good project. That is the lesson we have learned from our efforts to break barriers in the Philippines.
Mrs. Karen Ngai
Executive Editor
c/o Division of Social Studies
City University of Hong Kong
Tat Chee Avenue
Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2788 8834
Fax: (852) 2788 7709
E-mail: scngai@cityu.edu.hk