Family, food, money cause women OFWs stress

MANILA, Philippines—Family expectations, money, relationship with employers, and food and religious beliefs in host country are five of the most common causes of stress among women overseas Filipino workers.

This was revealed by Dr. Maria Theresa Ujano-Batangan of the Action for Health Initiatives Inc. Philippines (Achieve) Tuesday, citing an initial research based on interviews and focus group discussions.

The initial research is in preparation for a more comprehensive quantitative survey of 500 OFWs in five places around the country to be funded by the European Commission as part of its Joint Migration and Development Initiative it is conducting with the United Nations Development Programme.

Achieve, in partnership with Netherlands-based Vrije Universiteit-Metamedica/Health Care and Culture (VU-MHCC), has received a 154,689-euro grant to identify the “stress factors among women migrant workers.”

“Usually, women OFWs are stressed not by work but by what happens in their home countries. Money is another key stress factor, especially if money is not enough or if it is mismanaged by relatives,” said Malu Marin, also of Achieve.

Achieve’s 18-month project to “develop interventions to address stress and mental health problems among women migrant workers” is only one of the four projects that the European Commission is funding in the Philippines.

The three others are related to increasing the linkages between the overseas employment and the development of the migrant workers’ home countries.

Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation Philippines, Migrant Forum Association, and Commission on Filipino Migrant Worker Netherlands received 200,000 euros for an 18-month project “to enhance the capacity of migrants as partners in economic development.”

Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos Philippines and COS Utrecht, Netherlands also received 200,000 euros for an 18-month project “to harness the disapora, local women’s groups, rural banks, and local government for rural development.”

Atikha Overseas Workers and Communities Initiatives Inc. Philippines and Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli Italy received 198,575 euros for an 18-month project “to maximize the gains and minimize the social cost of overseas migration in the Philippines.”

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, said the four projects form part of the worldwide program of the European Union’s executive arm on migration and development out of a total of 55 projects across 16 countries.

He said the 753,264 euros (about P52.35 million) for these four Philippine-based projects is part of the 10 million euros the European Commission has released for the project.

MacDonald said that while the EC has come up with a “triple win” policy approach (triple win for the host countries, the receiving countries, and the migrant workers themselves), the “reality is that migration is extremely complex that no one-size solution can be found.”

He said he hopes the four projects would help achieve the goal of migration as an informed choice, not a compulsion for OFWs.

After all, he said, the migrant workers have invested “their lives, years of their lives” to it. - Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net, November 17, 2009