THE DEPARTMENT of Labor and Employment (DOLE) helps self-employed and unpaid family workers, such as housewives, by providing them livelihood assistance with income the same as that of minimum wage earners through its Unlad Kabuhayan program.

Qualified beneficiaries are informal workers such as farmers, fisher folks, ambulant vendors or peddlers, ambulant service providers, vendors, tricycle or pedicab drivers and operators, among others.

DOLE, through its provincial offices, provides funds to buy equipment, raw materials, and tools. It also gives trainings, orientation and advisories on the entrepreneurship development, business planning, productivity improvement, workers’ safety and health, and networking and business alliance.

Applicants need the following requirements:

1. Certificate of Accreditation by the DOLE Regional Office (RO)
2. Application Letter addressed to DOLE RO Director

The DOLE provincial and field offices implements the program in partnership with the Accredited Co-Partners (ACPs). The ACPs serve as the bridge for financial assistance between DOLE and the beneficiaries.

The ACPs can be non-government organizations (NGOs) including church-based organizations, peoples’ organizations (POs) and the academe, the local government units (LGUs) and other government agencies (GAs).

This project has no application fee and the submitted proposal of the applicant has an indefinite validity period.

Interested applicants may go directly to any Regional Office/Field Office of the DOLE. Processing period is ten (10) working days upon receipt of complete documents and interview/site inspection.

Source: Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC)-DOLE http://www.ro6.dole.gov.ph/fndr/mis/files/Unlad%20Kabuhayan.pdf