Davao City aids 264 cooperatives, micro-entrepreneurs

The City Government of Davao continues to cultivate the institutional and economic growth of the city’s cooperatives, as well as small enterprises, through various financial and educational assistance programs.

Out of the 400 active cooperatives in Davao City, 264 have been assisted by the Davao City Cooperative Development Office (DCCDO) as of the second quarter of this year. This number equates to 71 percent of the 374 cooperatives targeted by the office to provide assistance to in the form of capital loans, along with education, skills, and capacity-building training for 2022.

These 264 cooperatives were given various education and skills training by the DCCDO under its Comprehensive Cooperative Training and Development Program, Operations Support Services Program, and Livelihood Development Program. Aside from capacity-building programs, the office also grants loan assistance to small and micro cooperatives and individual entrepreneurs. These programs are in line with the local government’s commitment to poverty alleviation and education, as well as its directive to bolster self-sufficiency and economic sustainability of the residents.

DCCDO Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Unit’s Supervising Cooperative Development Specialist Donna España, in an interview with the City Information Office on July 15, 2022, said that the DCCDO has awarded loan grants to three cooperatives in the city in the second quarter of this year under its Cooperative Financial Assistance Program. Each cooperative received loan assistance of P300,000 payable within three years with no interest.

Meanwhile, 26 small and micro-entrepreneurs—with a focus on indigenous people, PWDs, disadvantaged women, farmers and fisherfolk—were awarded capital assistance under the office’s Start-Up Capital Assistance program during the same period. Under this grant, entrant small businesses can avail of the start-up capital loan assistance amounting from “P10,000 to 20,000 repayable within a year at 0% interest rate” while operating businesses can avail of the working capital loan assistance ranging from “P30,000 to P50,000 repayable within 3 years with no interest”.

España said that over P1 million of allocated funds is still available for loan disbursement to Davao City cooperatives this year. She said that the office is currently “focusing on new clients” while still catering to all beneficiaries of the office’s programs and projects. She added, “the DCDDO is mandated to prioritize small and micro cooperatives”; this is under the Executive Order No.1 series of 2015 known as “Enhanced Livelihood and Enterprise Assistance Program (ELEAP).” Small and micro cooperatives make up 80 percent of the total number of existing cooperatives in the city.

From 2014 to June 30 of this year, 72 cooperatives in the city were granted loan assistance (ranging from P100,000 to P300,000 for small and micro cooperatives and P301,000 to P1million for medium and large) by the DCCDO. A total of 9,538 cooperative members benefitted from these loans. CIO