Our Stories
The Digital Jobs Project – Lowering Barriers to Job Market Entry
September 22, 2022
The Philippines is a global leader in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, which is the delegation by a company of IT-intensive business processes to an external provider, either based in the same country or another. B2Gold’s Masbate Gold Project, on Masbate Island in the Philippines, is partnering with the Philippines Department of Information and Communications Technology on the Digital Jobs Project to harness this competitive advantage and help local residents to find new and alternative sources of income in the BPO or digital industries.
Dexter Gianan, Community Relations Manager at Masbate, explains how the program works: “The Digital Jobs Project provides training to community members near the Masbate Gold Project in various technical courses such as virtual assistance, web development, search engine optimization, graphic design, e-commerce, and online bookkeeping. After one month of technical training, beneficiaries spend a second month generating clients or finding online positions, guided by trainers who belong to a network of online professionals.”
For the project to materialize, the Company converted a building to serve as a training centre and work hub, which was open 24/7 to cater to the needs of the overseas clients. Pilot implementation began in mid 2021 with 50 trainees. Success stories include a former unemployed mother without a college degree, who now works as a Lead Generation Agent and Online Administrative Assistant for clients based in the USA and Australia. Another previously unemployed mother has gained work in Social Media Management and works with clients from the USA and Canada.
“We are confident that the project will continue to increase livelihood opportunities in the digital economy for recent graduates of the program and individuals seeking flexible work arrangements, and to increase alternate income options for former small-scale miners, stay-at-home mothers and unemployed youth,” said Dexter.
