Fair Trade Org. lauds Duterte admin's pro-people program; Calls for inclusion of livelihood development in resilience-building

[Press Release] The Community Crafts Association of the Philippines, Inc. (CCAP) through its Executive Director, Voltaire P. Alferez, lauds the Duterte administration’s pro-people program of government particularly in ensuring that all communities are resilient to disasters and the impacts of climate change. “Pres. Duterte’s pronouncement in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday to prioritize pro-people programs particularly in ensuring that communities are resilient to the impacts of disasters and climate change in the country bodes well for the many communities who live through the very environment where they are located,” said Mr. Alferez. “It gives us hope in CCAP’s mission to ensure that these communities have alternative sources of income through community-based livelihood initiatives,” he added. For more than four (4) decades, Community Crafts Association of the Philippines, Inc. (CCAP) and its subsidiary CCAP Fairtrade for Development, Inc. (CCAP Fairtrade) have assisted marginalized handicraft producers through product design and development and exporting their handicrafts to Fair Trade buyers abroad. Quite recently, it opened its domestic line under the brand name, Likhang Atin by CCAP Fairtrade. Furthermore, Mr. Alferez calls on the administration to include livelihood development in any resilience-building plan. He emphasizes that a pre-disaster resilience-building initiative will be more responsive by having a livelihood development component for the communities. Towards this end, CCAP launches its Business Development Services Program where CCAP and its experts in business and entrepreneurial development and related aspects will provide assistance to community organizations, non-government organizations, funding agencies, corporations and government agencies to help in developing and strengthening livelihoods of communities, partners or beneficiaries. Moreover, CCAP could provide for a market for handicraft products as long as said products are compliant to Fair Trade standards which CCAP is ready to assist the producers.# “The idea is to draw out from our decades of experience in community-based livelihood development and apply DRR-CCA principle in the process so that said livelihood activities could be easily revived if and when a disaster strikes in a particular area,” explained Mr. Alferez. He notes that in this way, while rebuilding is being done, a possible source of income could be tapped in addition to the different strategies in rehabilitation such as cash for work, among others."

Chef Next Door with Chef Jonas Ng - Season 2

[Press Release] The Group Entertainment together with Lifestyle Network channel welcomes another feisty, hot character on the block this July. Say hello to the Chef Next Door – Chef Jonas Ng. Chef Jonas, head chef and owner of Huat Pot Hotpot Restaurant in Greenhills and Le Jardin in Bonifacio Global City, takes us on a culinary journey to the food industry by showing you the faces, places, and stories behind the food industry that we are only starting to discover. He shares the easiest and most practical ways to cook restaurant recipes, some tricks of the trade and chef hacks that he has learned over ten years of working inside a high-pressure, solution-oriented professional kitchen. Each episode teaches viewers how to come up with restaurant quality output from modern urban limitation and just like in real-life kitchens, be prepared to see how Chef Jonas bounces back from realistic kitchen struggles like lack of time, space, and budget by doing his #chefninjamoves as he “MacGyver” his way to coming up with creative and informative solutions in every kitchen crisis he is thrown with. Comical, adventurous, and passionate. Be prepared to fall in love with ….. or maybe just “friend-zoned” in the Chef Next Door. “Chef Next Door Season 2” will air regularly on Lifestyle every Wednesdays at 9:30PM, Thursdays at 1:00AM, Saturdays at 6:00PM, Sundays at 10:00AM, Mondays at 3:30PM, Tuesdays at 12:00MN. The show is a joint production venture by The Group Entertainment and iSnap Creatives. Lifestyle is available on SKYcable channel 52.