Local GAD champion ushers entrepreneurial transformation in Pavia
The Pavia Entrepreneurs’ Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PEMPC) is a women’s group that oversees the municipal public market and the Eco-Savers’ Bank.
In 2007, the Municipality of Pavia, through the municipal mayor and the Sangguniang Bayan (local council), approved the transfer of the public market to PEMPC, to reverse the declining sales of market vendors. PEMPC, after the handover, transformed the public market into a viable enterprise for women, and contributed to local government revenue through the remittance of rental fees and business permit dues to the local government. Later on, it ventured into managing the Pavia Eco-Savers’ Bank, a facility where women can trade recyclable refuse into cash points. The Eco-Savers’ Bank then drastically reduced solid waste in the municipality.
Through the GREAT Women Project, the local government of Pavia and the PEMPC fortified its partnership for women’s economic empowerment. PEMPC amplified the voice of women entrepreneurs in local government planning and programming, as a cooperative representative in the project’s technical working group and an accredited member of local special bodies. It also served as a vehicle for women microentrepreneurs to relay their concerns regarding the issuance of business permits.
“Our group has been represented in the processes and structures of the local government, where we raise women microentrepreneurs’ concerns. This resulted to shortening the period of renewing business permits and being able to participate in the review of ordinances that are beneficial to women microentrepreneurs,” Joy Palmada explained on the group’s impact of being represented in local special bodies.
PEMPC assists its members in business registration and in accessing training programs provided by the local and national government. It is, in fact, moving into new ventures such as accelerated production of vinegar, therapeutic massage and cosmetology and now creates jobs for unemployed women. “With accelerated vinegar production, we will be addressing the problem on coconut water being wasted away,” Palmada said.
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Pavia LGU are currently assisting PEMPC in its various enterprise development endeavors.
