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Pinoy Wise Initiated
Atikha and the Philippine Consortium on Migration and Development (PHILCOMDEV) organized the PINOY WISE MOVEMENT (Pinoy Worldwide Initiative on Savings Investment and Entrepreneurship) an information, value formation and education campaign to encourage OFWs and their families to save and invest the hard earned money of the Overseas Filipinos wisely.
There are approximately 8 million Filipinos overseas in about 200 countries all over the world. In 2009, the remittances of overseas Filipinos reached about $ 17.3 billion. Filipinos working abroad receive relatively higher salaries than their counterpart in the Philippines and their remittances provide the much needed assistance for the basic needs of their families. However, a closer look at the life of migrants shows that the majority of the Filipino migrants have been unable to channel their remittances for long-term investments to secure their and their families future.
The lack of savings and investment of migrants is due to the following reasons:
- Majority do not have knowledge on budgeting, financial planning, fund management, saving and investing so they become easy prey of unscrupulous investment companies and loan sharks
- There are quite a number of OFWs who are experiencing family problems due to separation that drain their resources such as dependency of the whole family on migrant earnings and luxurious lifestyle of the family. Some families in the Philippines stop working the moment they have a migrant.
- Some have problems with values, attitudes and behaviour such as “bahala na attitude”, they feel so guilty for leaving family behind so they splurge on the family, splurging on family pasalubong on vacation using up hard earned savings for one year, self-sacrifice etc
- Some are able to save and invest in business but a big number of their business failed
The overseas Filipinos sacrifice being away from the country and their family. Some had to work doubly hard working in double jobs just to be able to provide for the family. Others are even working under difficult situations and it is a pity if despite all of their sacrifices, they remain a failure in achieving their goals for migration. Calling them “Bagong Bayani” is not enough. We need a multi-stakeholder initiative involving the national and local government, schools, migrant and family organizations, NGOs, faith based organizations, cooperatives and corporations to reach out to migrants and their families to provide information, value formation activities and skills to enable them to save and invest to achieve their family and financial goals. This is the reason why Atikha and the Philippine Consortium on Migration and Development (Philcomdev) initiated the Pinoy Wise Movement.
Atikha is a non-government organization providing economic and social services to migrants and family left behind to mobilize migrant resources towards the development of the OFWs and their families and to help address family issues that drain their resources, initiated. “Atikha” is a tagalong word which means to be able to slowly save and invest which was adopted as a name of the NGO, which embodies the dreams of migrants and family members when migrant returnees and religious leader established the organization in 1995. The Philcomdev is a network of NGOs, social enterprises, microfinance organizations and cooperatives in the Philippines involved in the issue of migration and local economic development.
The Pinoy WISE Movement aims to:
- create a network of stakeholders from the government, non-government and private sector who will spearhead the campaign and provide concrete services to address the lack of savings and investment of OFWs and their families,
- reach out to OFWs and their families and provide information, value formation and training activities to encourage them to save and invest;
- enroll OFs and their families to concrete savings and investment programs of selected cooperatives, microfinance institutions, social enterprises, insurance companies, banks and other agencies; and
- leverage migrant resources with government and corporations towards local economic development.
As part of the campaign there are plans to launch Pinoy Wise Radio Program. This is currently under negotiation with RH Radio Natin. RH Radio Natin has 100 radion stations nationwide and the program will be aired simultaneously via satellite. This program will also be aired via RHTV thru Cablelink in Metro Manila and carried by 600 other cable networks in the provinces. This is a 1 hour live program every Sunday from 10:00 to 11:00 am. The program will also be seen through web cast by Filipinos abroad.
The Pinoy Wise Movement will be launched in September. Schedules of Roadshows
Abroad
- Italy – September 2 -19, 2010
- United Arab Emirates – December 2-19, 2010
Philippines
- Laguna and Batangas – October 2-17 and November 6-21.
Pinoy Wise Movement Participating Organizations:
- Atikha Overseas Workers and Communities Initiatives Inc. (Atikha)
- Filipino Women’s Council Italy (FWC)
- International Network on Alternative Financial Institution (INAFI)
- Philippine Consortium on Migration and Development ( Philcomdev)
- Soro-soro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC)
For interested organizations/ individuals to be part of the Pinoy Wise Movement email us at : atikha@atikha.org or ninia.atikha@yahoo.com call us at 0063-49-5623156 or 0063-49-8000082
