Servicio Filipino and ACT Partnership to Boost Work Readiness in Philippines

The problem with human resources development in the Philippines is real and there something that must be done. Today.

The Servicio Filipino, Inc. (SFI) has signed a partnership with ACT, Inc. which will help address the assessment needs of the Filipino labor force in terms of building the human capital in line with the current skills.

Luis “Lloyd” Alberto Anastacio II, President and Chief Executive Officer, SFI Group of Companies, said that the partnership will use ACT System as a tool for the upgrading the skills of students and trainees entering the work force.

“We will implement the full-scale Work Ready Communities (WRC) framework in the Philippines. The main purpose of the study was to examine key strengths and weakness of the workforce in terms of their level of foundational workplace competencies based o the 21st century skills framework,” said Anastacio.

The program proposal is in line with ACT WRC framework being implemented in selected states in the US.

“This program envisions that the ACT WRC process, platform, methodology, and common criterion metric can be successfully adapted for Philippine government national workforce development strategy,” he also said.

Simmy Ziv-El, Vice President, Global Business Development, Act, Inc., Iowa City, represented the ACT, Inc. during the launch of the tie-up dubbed “Partnership for Workforce Readiness” held at Luxent Hotel in Timog, Quezon City recently.

“ACT Workeys Curriculum helps people build the essential skills employers demand in today’s competitive business environment,” said Ziv-El.

Also joining in the panel are Pawan Adhikari, Regional Business Development Director for Asia, ACT, Inc., Iowa; and Gina A. Jusay.

The effectiveness of ACT KeyTrain, an interactive online training system, has been proven when the the provincial government of Bataan in coordination with SFI and ACT launched the study in 2014. The online training system aims to help students improve their work readiness and skills levels.

In the study, 520 high school students were pre and post-tested with ACT Workeys Applied Mathematics, Locatng Information and Readinhg for Information.

Results showed that the KeyTrain curriculum significantly improved participants foundational skills in Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information.

About 300 participants are qualified for International Career Readiness Certificate after intervention, officials said.

Anastacio said that the partnership will bring the program to Mindanao where they will also examine the key strengths and weaknesses of the workforce.

The partnership also aims to provide training options for the labor force, develop the first registry in the country, propose the national recognition of Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority of the ACT assessment, training curricula and certification as part of the career portfolio among students, etc.