Redesigning work: A PPP blueprint for the PH care economy
In my earlier article “Addressing the unpaid care challenge,” I wrote about how unpaid care work remains one of the most significant yet least recognized barriers to women’s full economic participation. With Oct. 29 declared by the United Nations as International Day of Care and Support, awareness is growing about the invisible hours spent caring for children, older persons, and households, and how these responsibilities continue to limit opportunities for millions of women. But recognition is not enough—the real challenge is translating understanding into action.
Addressing unpaid care requires more than individual effort or isolated interventions. It demands a coordinated response from the government, business, civil society, educational institutions, and communities. Working together, these stakeholders can create solutions that are sustainable, scalable, and impactful, proving that investing in care is no longer only a social responsibility but also a strategic imperative.
A care ecosystem built on shared responsibility. Anchored on the theme of this year’s International Day of Care and Support: “Building Sustainable Care and Support Systems Through Decent Work,” this proposed model recognizes that care is not solely the responsibility of families and should not rest disproportionately on women. Care may begin in the home, but its impact extends far beyond. The responsibility for addressing unpaid care must therefore be shared by society as a whole.
Local government units (LGUs) can serve as the backbone of the initiative by allocating available spaces in barangay health centers, community facilities, or other government-owned properties. Through their gender and development plans and budgets, LGUs can support the preparation and upgrading of these spaces as gender-responsive interventions that reduce women’s unpaid care burden, especially for low-income families and women seeking employment. LGUs may consider providing incentives to private organizations that partner with them in funding care facilities.
National government agencies, such as Tesda, DSWD, and Dole, can build a professional care workforce by developing competency standards, training and certifying caregivers, accrediting community care centers, monitoring quality and safety, and establishing pathways for the professionalization of care work. This opens opportunities for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to transition into meaningful careers within the local care economy, as many of them possess caregiving experience acquired abroad.
The private sector has both a business and social interest in ensuring that employees have access to reliable care services. Companies can support the model by funding facility development and equipment, providing operational support, sponsoring employee care slots, offering care vouchers as benefits, and incorporating care investments into ESG, sustainability, and diversity initiatives. Employers can participate in shared community-based care centers instead of creating their own care facilities, making the solution more affordable and scalable.
Development Institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank Group, International Finance Corp., UN Women, Unicef, and bilateral development partners can provide seed funding, technical assistance, impact measurement tools, capacity-building, research, and policy support during the early stages of implementation. Development partners can further strengthen the case for paid care work by generating evidence on the economic and social returns of care investments.
The care hub in action. Imagine an employed working mother who, instead of leaving the workforce because she lacks childcare options, is able to enroll her child in a care center located within her community. The facility operates in a refurbished LGU space, is managed by certified caregivers trained through government programs, and is equipped through private sector investments and employer-sponsored care vouchers.
The result is a system where children receive quality care and early learning opportunities; women remain economically active; employers retain skilled workers; returning OFWs are accredited as carers and gain dignified employment; communities benefit from new jobs and services; and local governments advance their gender equality objectives.
This care hub reframes care not as a private burden but as a shared investment in human capital, inclusive growth, and national development. The message is clear: When we invest together in care, we invest in women, families, communities, and the future.
—————-
Ma. Aurora “Boots” D. Geotina-Garcia is founding chair and president of the Philippine Women’s Economic Network (PhilWEN), and chair of the governing council of the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment. Boots is president of Mageo Consulting Inc., a corporate finance advisory firm.
—————-
Women Who Lead is an initiative of PhilWEN.
