Cebu City, Cebu – On May 31, 2024, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with partner companies and an educational institution to implement the Dual Education and Training (DET) program for the seafood processing sector. This move aims to address job-skills mismatch through industry-academe collaboration in the implementation of DET in Metro Cebu through the FISH Visayas Project.

Serving as an excellent platform for workforce development initiatives, CCCI’s Assessment, Certification, and Accreditation Services (CCCI-ACAS) partnered with six companies from the seafood processing industry, including Central Seafoods, Inc., Siargao’s Bounty Seafoods Corp., Phil-Union Frozen Foods, Inc., It’s One ExImport International, HJR International Corporation, and Akai Foods, Inc. The program will be implemented with the support of academic institutions, such as the Salazar Colleges of Science and the Institute of Technology.

Notably, the agreement has facilitated the establishment of a cluster that identified the in-demand skill sets and competencies necessary for the industry. Further, qualification profiles and curriculums were developed through the program. The job profiles under the sector include Quality Inspector, Seafood Production Worker, Specialized Machine Operator, Quality Assurance and Food Safety Assistant, and the newly developed Seafood Processing Plant Assistant.

Moving forward, the selection and orientation of 50 learners who will undergo training will be conducted in collaboration with partner companies and educational institutions. These processes are crucial to highlighting the roles of both industry and academe in workforce development, further addressing the skills gap in the region.

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The MOA Signing Ceremony of DET partners aims to achieve Result Area 2: Dual Training in the Fisheries Sector of the FISH Visayas Project.