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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider Cultivating Filipinas in AI space

Cultivating Filipinas in AI space

Published Mar 8, 2024 10:05 am

As more women become unshakable fixtures in the Philippine business landscape, Connected Women, a group engaged in digital technology solutions, is paving the way for Filipinas to enter the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) space.

With a community spanning 170,000 members, Connected Women has made significant strides in helping women, especially those in remote communities, learn essential skills and find fulfilling remote employment opportunities.

 

The group has been able to train 58,000 women in a program in partnership with US tech firm Meta, with over 1,000 women specializing in artificial intelligence (AI).

Through their flagship accelerated learning program, "Elevate AIDA (AI in Data Animation)," the group is able to equip women with skills necessary for remote work. In regards to AI, these skills include data-labelling, image identification, and data cleaning, which are involved in AI-training.

"AI allows Filipinas to be a part of the economy. We're targeting ladies from underserved communities whose skills are not discovered," Connected Women Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Agnes Gervacio told Manila Bulletin Business.

This priority demographic include full-time mothers, elderly women, domestic helpers, displaced or former overseas Filipino workers (OFW), women with disabilities, high school graduates who have no income opportunities, workers displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as working students and single mothers.

"Our training is targeted towards women who know how to use Facebook, Youtube, matututo ng AI 'yan (they can learn AI). We have proven that 1,100 times, because that's the number of graduates we have," said Gervacio.

Connected Women Co-Founder Ruth Yu-Owens added that their trainees are able to easily adapt to the technology since AI-training involves repetitive tasks.

"For you to train AI, for one object you need millions of data . Who's going to train? Of course the human in the loop, which are the ladies. At first they are still getting the hang of it, but after that they get used to it," she said.

Yu-Owens mentioned that one of their star data analysts is a fisherman's wife.

Meanwhile, Gervacio shared that her 61-year-old assistant, based in Baguio, participated in the Elevate AIDA program because she felt she could no longer find jobs due to her age. Now, she is a permanent member of the Connected Women company.

Unlike other jobs, Connected Women have minimal and basic requirements for potential trainees, who must be 18 years-old and above, have basic English skills, have working knowledge of social media apps, and are eager to use new technologies.

To expand their reach, Connected Women signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on March 8, to collaborate on programs for women and intensify their AI services, aligned with the National AI Strategic Roadmap. DTI Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual and Gervacio signed the MOU. 

"We are making sure these ladies are afforded jobs that are remote, flexible in nature so they can work from home. That's the reason why this partnership with DTI is very important. We feel that its not only the number of women that are entering the workforce, but is also the skills otherwise not recognized," said Gervacio.  

"They literally go from zero to P600 a  day. We don't only train. The reason we're partnering with DTI is so we can have continuous projects so women can work on them. For us to have this partnership, it's all hands-on-deck," added Yu-Owens.

Connected Women is the first and only firm to receive a "Big Data Analytics" program recognition certificate from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Under their program, the firm aims to teach 1,000 trainees, which they hope to expand.

Last year, Connected Women also signed an agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), and Aboitiz Foundation to train 300,000 women on AI machine learning within eight years.

Yu-Owens also expressed her interest in also partnering with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to align its programs for women with other government agencies.

 

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