Sustainable Entrepreneurial Livelihood Program for a Local Community in the Philippines

A community’s essence, which is the combination of its identity, purpose, and culture, is dynamic. It is influenced or shaped in part by what the community is capable of. Extension, through its educational programs, plays a large part in leading the community to progress. The academe making a linkage with organizations builds community engagement which is a powerful vehicle for bringing out environmental and behavioral changes which contribute to the holistic development of a community and its members. These collaboration efforts help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners. This study evaluated the grassroots community entrepreneurial livelihood undertakings and its needs. Respondents were randomly selected from the grassroots community of Pili, Camarines Sur, Philippines. Based on the data gathered, 40% of the respondents are store owners, 20% were into buy and sell business, 10% are into direct selling, 10% are pedicab drivers, 10 % are educational plan agent and the remaining 10% are food vendors. But despite a steady income from their entrepreneurial projects they still applied and avail loans from a private lending institution. Moreover, it showed that the community lacks the knowledge about governance education and entrepreneurial development. With these findings, it is opportune to adopt the Expanded Grassroots Project to combat poverty in the country. However, this implicate strengthened partnership and linkage to sustain productive and decent work for all in the community.

Keywords – grassroots governance, assessment, livelihood, community extension