Coca-Cola Philippines’ active participation in helping empower more Filipino women was highlighted during the recent 61st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) held in March at the UN headquarters in New York City.
The company was the sole organization from the local private sector invited to be part of the Philippine delegation, which was led by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
During the two-week forum, a parallel event session (with the theme Here4Her: Making Reintegration Work for Filipino Women Migrant Workers) featured Women Entrepreneurs Reintegrated and Economically Active at Home (WOMEN REACH) program, an initiative under the partnership of Coca-Cola Philippines’ 5by20 Sari-sari Store Training and Access Resources (STAR) Program and DOLE’s Assist Well (Welfare, Employment, Legal, and Livelihood) Center. (5by20 is a global effort of The Coca-Cola Company with the aim to have 5 million economically empowered women across 80 countries, where the brand is present, by year 2020 –Editor)
Coca-Cola Philippines was represented by Sustainability and 5by20 Lead Gilda Custodio-Maquilan.
Coca-Cola and DOLE shared insights and accomplishments attained during the first year of implementation of the program. “The WOMEN REACH program partnership was conceptualized to help facilitate women economic empowerment and the effective reintegration of returning women overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) by providing them access to livelihood programs, building their entrepreneurship know-how and connecting them to resources that will help them establish their own small enterprises,” said Coca-Cola Philippines Sustainability and 5by20 Lead Gilda Custodio-Maquilan.
The program prioritizes provision of assistance to help improve the financial well-beings of returning women OFWs and their families.