aidha in The Philippines

The Philippines has an estimated population of about 92 million people, with an additional 11 million citizens living overseas. Migrants contribute much to the economy: their remittances surpass foreign direct investment as a source of foreign currency, and have been steadily rising. In 2009, overseas Filipinos sent home US$17.348 billion.

The majority of domestic workers in Singapore call the Philippines home.  And, not surprisingly, most of aidha’s Singapore students are Filipina.

They work hard.  They achieve.  Our graduates are creating potential back home – economic potential – in the form of caribou, buffaloes, pigs, tricycles, houses, farms and other small businesses.

Liza Padua is one of them. Liza was inspired to build up her savings while in her Financial Compass Club. In October 2010, with the money she had saved, she returned to the Philippines to lease the land with which to start a working farm. She also invested in a cow and a buffalo – investments that give continued returns every year! Her farm is now a source of employment for many of her relatives. Liza is changing lives.

The Compass Club programme that inspired Liza was constructed using insights from  field research conducted by aidha with the support of the IDRC in 2008 and 2009. The intent of the research was to better understand the real needs of our student community and the challenges of ‘re-integration.’   aidha’s research team visited the Philippines in the spring and again in the summer of 2008 to conduct interviews with a returned migrants, to learn of their hopes, frustrations, and needs now.   The findings illustrate clearly the need to introduce financial education early in the migration process, and emphasise the importance of programmes targeted at achieving behavioural change, tailored to address the migrants’ specific life goals and experiences.   We also learned how critical it is to support productie investment.  Savers must learn how to use their money to make money!

This research was the basis of aidha’s Compass Club programme.  Our on-going in-house research enables us to continually update our curriculum to keep it relevant to the needs of our students.

Recognising the potential of overseas Filipino workers like Liza, aidha also looks forward to providing increased support to returning migrants. At the end of 2008, aidha’s research team again visited the Philippines to explore opportunities for micro-franchising.  Microfranchising presents fascinating opportunity and we look forward to exploring it more in the future.    At the very least, it provides one vehicle through which to extend more comprehensive services to our students.

Check out aidha’s 2008 Philippines field research diary here.

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