Virtual Hand Over Ceremony of Water System to TCES in South Upi, Maguindanao

  

    
On November 9, 2020, Embassy of Japan’s Economic Minister Masahiro Nakata joined BARMM Labor and Employment Minister Romeo K. Sema, South Upi Mayor Renalbert O. Insular and International Labour Organization (iLO) Country Director Khalid Hassan in a ceremonial hand over of a Level II water system to the Timanan Central Elementary School (TCES) in South Upi, Maguindanao. In view of the pandemic, a virtual turnover ceremony was held with the invited guests.
 
More than a thousand children and hundreds of households in South Upi, Maguindanao will benefit from this water system. To generate employment during these challenging times, people in the community were engaged to construct the water facility. In addition, the South Upi LGU and the  TCES Parent and Teachers Association were trained on the Operations and Maintenance of the water system. These undertakings will ensure ownership and sustainability of the project.
 
This initiative is under the ILO-Japan Water and Sanitation Project in the Bangsamoro Region, which was signed last March 6, 2019. The ILO intervention envisions to develop water infrastructure that will benefit an estimated 11,814 households in the Bangsamoro region. Around 1,750 informal sector workers in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Cotabato City and 63 barangays in North Cotabato are provided emergency employment with social protection. To ensure the safety and health of workers, 70 hand washing facilities are established in the work sites, workers will be taught proper hygiene and CIVUD-19 responsive occupational safety and health protocols are in place. While the over-all goal of this undertaking is peace and development in Mindanao, it will also contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation, as well as Goal 8 on decent work and economic growth.
 
 Since 1974, Japan  has a longstanding cooperation with the ILO. In the Philippines, Japan has supported a number of ILO  projects on disaster response, sustainable livelihood , peace and security, local economic development, among others.