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100 tobacco farmers' children receive 2-year scholarships At the end of November 2004, 100 tobacco-farming families have been provided with the first part of a two-year scholarship worth P. 20,000 (USD 355). Grant ceremonies took place in the municipalities of Pinili (province of Ilocos Norte), San Juan and San Emilio (Ilocos Sur) in the presence of parents and children, as well as officials representing the municipalities, the provinces and the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE), which is in charge of implementing the 2-year project. Marc Hofstetter, ECLT Foundation Director, took part in these events. Similar ceremonies also took place in the municipalities of Balaoan (La Union) and Alcala (Pangasinan). The beneficiaries selection criteria had been defined by DOLE, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Tobacco Administration (Department of Agriculture), in order to identify the neediest tobacco-farmers in the different municipalities. Because of the farmers' low-income and economic difficulties, their children are either school drop-outs or absentees, as they have to help their parents in farming chores. Thanks to the scholarships, they now can reintegrate school classes on a permanent basis. Close monitoring will be carried out to ensure that they do attend school and are not employed in tobacco-growing. Special attention will be paid during the tobacco peak seasons. In the next few months, the 100 beneficiary parents will be grouped in each of the 5 municipalities and trained by specialists to develop new income-generating activities, which will provide them with additional income and skills. This will help them to sustain the costs of sending their children to school once the 2-year scholarship programme is over. Each group of farmers will be granted P. 100,000 (USD 1,800) as alternative livelihood assistance. Preceding these two programmes, 23 sessions have
been carried out in different municipalities and barangays (villages)
of Region 1
to raise awareness on the health hazards linked with tobacco-growing
for children and the need for parents to send their children to
school. More than 1,200 tobacco farmers have been reached through
these activities over the past 15 months. Geneva, 17 December 2004 |
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