CCEF’s Project SMILE in Barangay Biasong Talisay, aims to create a sustainable program where local communities are capacitated and prepared to become resilient to the impacts of overfishing and climate change. Part of the project objectives deals with the establishment of an Ecopreneurship/Livelihood Program to People’s Organization benefiting from the supplemental livelihood sources. Last February 20, 2020 CCEF conducted a livelihood/orientation training for the Biasong Fishermen’s Association (BFA) at the Biasong Barangay Hall, Talisay City, Cebu.
Twenty participants from the Biasong Fishermen’s Association attended the training, with the special participation of the Biasong Environmental Committee Head, Mr. Eljohn Fabrica, who also used to be the President of the association. The purpose of the training is to orient the organization on how to start up a business, needs assessment, identifying the strengths and knowledge that already exist in the organization and to build the foundation of the microbusiness/livelihood program based on the existing information available.
The training started with the opening remarks from the CCEF Co-founder, Ms. Evangeline White. This was followed by the presentation of Project SMILE by Mr. Justine Baisac, Project SMILE Associate.
The Orientation started off with a presentation by the Lloyd Yosoya, Our Ocean Program Coordinator on the topic of how POs can be involved in marine conservation and their role in protecting the environment. This was then followed by the basics of registering your PO in the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) which was presented by Jonathaniel Apurado, CCEF Education officer.
A focus group discussion was facilitated by Auburn Patrick Samson, CCEF Executive director to assess the current status of the PO with regards to their documents, registration and other permits.
