A Digital Transformation Center, built in collaboration with the the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Japanese government, was opened in Pampanga on April 26.
The construction of the DTC was funded by the Japanese government through the “Bringing Back Jobs Safely Project” of the ILO.
The center is expected to provide for the digital needs of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Dau, Mabalacat City, Pampanga and the larger Central Luzon region like resources and training in order to drive their competitiveness and foster jobs.
“The centre will support enterprises in Central Luzon to overcome the digital divide and address the lack of digital infrastructures that make it hard for small businesses to succeed in a digitalized economy,” said ILO Country Office Director Khalid Hassan in a statement.
The establishment of the center is aligned with the agreement signed by the DICT in 2020 adhering to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)’s DTC project, which was first launched in 2019.
The initiative aimed to offer online digital literacy courses, accessed through platforms like the CISCO Networking Academy, SkillsforAll, and HPLife.
DICT Undersecretary for Infrastructure Management, Cybersecurity, and Upskilling (OUIMCU) Jeffrey Ian Dy said the agency is eager to “broaden the training coverage as part of our ICT literacy and competency development programmes to harness competitiveness of the current and future workforce and the marginalized/special needs sector towards an ICT-enabled society.”
Aside from the DTC in Pampanga, the ILO, DICT, and Japanese government also built a DTC in Cotabato City alongside providing computers and internet connection in the area.
The DTC initiative is aligned with ILOs past partnership with DICT to train the agency’s trainers on business digitalization.