Google, YouTube spearheads upskilling channel for Pinays

CEBU, Philippines —  The world’s largest search engine, Google, is intensifying its efforts in teaching Filipino women how to maximize the internet by learning new skills in partnership with YouTube.

The joint “Digiskarteng Pinay” project, aims at helping Filipina women learn new skills in their own time, at their own pace, by pulling together upskilling videos on YouTube.

The online program encourages women to learn and diversify their skill sets to provide for their families and grow as a member of the society.

A joint initiative of various non-profit organizations, government agencies, brands, and local creators, the Digiskarteng Pinay YouTube channel houses curated local video content centered around upskilling and educational topics like family nutrition, recipe videos, financial literacy lessons, DIY craft tutorials, coding and technical skills, livelihood, and more.

  “Women in the Philippines are smart, hardworking, and resourceful in their own right. That diskarte attribute is where the term digiskarte came from. This program aims to bring women online and connect them to the opportunities of the growing digital economy. We believe that there’s a great opportunity to use the Digiskarteng Pinay platform to promote a more gender equitable internet and provide them with better choices online centered around their needs,” said Gara Santos-Ontiveros, Google Philippines Industry Head.

Several women have already testified to how YouTube has provided them with opportunity to create their own livelihood. Among them is Jhoan, a simple housewife and mother of three, who found a source of income for her family through her newfound passion for turning used bottles and scraps into recycled crafts by watching videos on YouTube.

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world.

Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.