The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) launched Luzon’s first digital transformation center (DTC) in Pampanga.

It partnered with the government of Japan and the International Labor Organization (ILO) under the latter’s Bringing Back Jobs Safely Project for the construction of the facility at Barangay Dau in Mabalacat City.

DICT Undersecretary for Infrastructure Management, Cybersecurity, and Upskilling Jeffrey Ian Dy stressed that the facility strongly backs the government’s thrust to continuously narrow the digital divide in the Philippines by boosting competitiveness and fostering job creation through expanding the technological capabilities of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Central Luzon.

“We at the DICT are eager to broaden the training coverage as part of our information and communications technology (ICT) literacy and competency development programs to harness competitiveness of the current and future workforce and the marginalized/special needs sector towards an ICT-enabled society,” he added.

Meanwhile, ILO Country Director Khalid Hassan stressed that there is an urgent need to aid MSMEs in order to reduce their vulnerabilities and economic disruption in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The center 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,” he said.

The Japanese government, which funded the construction of the DTC, highlighted the value of digitalization especially in business as one of the lessons learned during the pandemic.

“We learned to adapt, and as we recover let us continue our way up and further the knowledge that we have gained and utilize it to our great advantage,” the Embassy of Japan said.

The facility was launched to meet the training needs of the general public, particularly MSMEs seeking to improve their operations by using digitalization as a way of achieving business sustainability.

Over the years, the DTC initiative has offered online self-paced digital literacy courses through its partner platforms, which benefitted partner-center management as well as underserved and unserved members of the communities.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) launched the DTC initiative in 2019 to enhance digital skills, especially in underserved areas.

In 2020, DICT signed an agreement with ITU to take part in the initiative to bolster people’s digital skills. (PIA Region 3)