“Our association was formed as a commitment to one NGO (WorldFish) who saw how we really needed alternative livelihood opportunities after Super Typhoon Yolanda. In the town of Madridejos, Brgy. Mancilang has the most number of indigents who only relied on fishing for their livelihood. That is why most of our members are women; they wanted to help their husbands earn income for their families through fish and meat processing. We received a lot of support from other agencies but the biggest assistance to us was the multi-commodity solar dryer donated by Help from Germany and the International Labor Union through PBSP. With a high-tech dryer, we are now able to dry fish faster even on cloudy and rainy days. We dry squid, bananas and corn which allowed us to diversify our products. Because of our new facility, we have agencies like DTI and DOST who are now helping us market our products because they know they are germ-free and dust-free. Our trainings also developed us into capable caterers. Before, we cannot even pay Php20 to process the registration of our association but now we can earn Php10,000 each in just 10 days from our products and catering services. Now, we are teaching other women’s groups how to use their own solar dryers and create other products so they can have the same success that we have. I also want to share what I learned from leading our association: it is not important how many your members are but how committed they are for the group. As a leader, it is your responsibility to inspire that commitment and make sure that more opportunities are given to your group so you can be sustainable.”—VILMA REBAMONTE, President, Madridejos Fish and Food Processing Association, Brgy. Mancilang in Madridejos, Cebu