The SM Foundation is well known for its “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan” Farmers Training Program that it started in Bacolod City five years ago and is now undertaken all over the country. This is the 12-week training program for the production of high-value vegetables and other crops.

Very little known is the fact that the Foundation has also come up with several other livelihood skills development program, especially in Nasugbu, Batangas where the mother company has special development projects. These training programs are designed to provide skills for better livelihood and employment opportunities.

Landscaping Installation and Maintenance is the latest skills development course that was initiated by the Foundation which has so far graduated 26 out-of-school youth.

The 30-day course was conducted at the SM Foundation Skills Training Center in Nasugbu by Dr. Armando Palijon of UP Los Baños and Lorenz Palec, a landscape supervisor at the Costa del Hamilo, Inc. estate management office. Better work opportunities await the graduates after hurdling the examination and skills assessment by TESDA or Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Other skills development courses have been earlier conducted. These include Specialized Hospitality Skills Training program, tailoring and dressmaking, candle making and the “Isang Gunting, Isang Kulot” program.

These training programs are conducted in partnership with Fil-hair Foundation, Taal Vista Hotel, CDHI, and Pico de Loro Beach and Country Club, and Hotel Specialist, Inc. Most of the graduates are already employed in the partner agencies while others opted to find employment in Metro Manila. Still others have put up their own businesses like candle-making.

Other projects include free-range chicken raising, hog raising and carabao dispersal, tree planting and mangrove reforestation, and backyard farming.

In the free-range chicken raising, the Foundation educates the local community on raising chicken the natural farming way, using locally available feeds such as grains, vegetables and fruits.

The litter-sow dispersal system of the Department of Agriculture has been adopted by the Foundation in its hog raising and carabao dispersal projects.

SM Foundation introduced and encouraged backyard farming to the residents so that they will be assured of their daily food requirements. With vegetables readily available in their backyard, hunger can be addressed and malnutrition reduced, says Cristie Angeles, SM Foundation’s AVP for Livelihood and Outreach program.