Buy and sell is a traditional livelihood of Filipinos. From ambulant vending to sari-sari store selling, the micro business allowed people to decently earn. With the advent of the Internet and smartphones, trading has evolved into online selling, which the likes of Nina Duma and other women of Isabela, Basilan ventured into to support their families.

Duma took up IT course in college but found it hard to find a job after graduating, so she sold various items online, she recalls. It was a very challenging work.

“From morning to night, Monday to Sunday, almost without rest, deliver here and there,” was how Duma describes online selling.

“Because of lack of capital, I did pre-orders. I make buyers pay in advance to buy the orders and deliver it to them. I am thankful that my customers trusted me. But my income was small and enough only for our daily food needs,” Duma says.

One day, the Public Employment Service Office in the city posted a notice about Connected Women’s (CW) Elevate AIDA (artificial intelligence data annotation) training schedules. Duma saw the post and registered in the link provided. She was chosen as scholar or trainee of CW and Aboitiz Foundation, which co-implement the upskilling project) and provided with a Huawei Matepad and Prepaid Globe WiFi load by Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman.

Under the AIDA training, trainees were taught different digital skills such as data annotation.

“Data annotation is the process of putting labels or annotation on data to help AI models analyze and understand them,” explains Duma.

Duma first trained on AIDA in 2022 at their home. The remote teaching was a combination of theories and application. The trainers discussed data annotation concepts, machine learning and AI, after which they give activities or project assignments to the trainees for them to show what they learned. The trainees help each other as a group to complete the project and learn.

Aside from data annotation, Duma learned skills in data analysis and the use of tools like transcriber.

“The CW gave wide knowledge on digital skills that helped trainees find jobs. After our training, I was employed by the CW as a data annotator. I joined 7 projects of CW.”

“I was happy learning and working through Elevate AIDA because this is the kind of job that I like,” says Duma.

The training was rewarding.

“Before, my income covers only our daily needs. We could not save money. Now, I have a wage to expect from Elevate AIDA whenever I am hired for a project,” she says. “I now have hope to improve our life because of this job.”

Duma hopes to have an electricity service for their own home through her AIDA income as right now she uses the Wi-Fi at her cousin’s home to go online.

In an interview with the DAILY TRIBUNE, CW co-founder Ruth Yu-Owen says doing data annotation, image boxing and data labeling allows Elevate AIDA graduates to earn up to P600 per day from their homes while balancing family responsibilities.

“During their training, they are also provided with a daily payment of P250 for 20 days, which is part of the P25,000 budget allocated per person under the program,” Yu-Owen adds.

The e-wallet service provider GCash, another partner in the Elevate AIDA program, allows graduates working from home to manage their savings, track income and achieve financial freedom, according to Yu-Owen.

With the expansion of the Elevate AIDA program following the formal partnership of Aboitiz Foundation with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, the number of self-employed digital workers like Duma would be multiplied 300,000 times in the next three years.

The figure, the target number of beneficiaries or women to be trained on AIDA, includes thousands of women in the Bangsamoro Region of Muslim Mindanao.

“For the Aboitiz Foundation, this program is not simply about technology. It’s about transformation. Through Elevate AIDA, we are opening doors — to remote work, to freelancing, to digital entrepreneurship — doors that lead to better incomes, stronger families, and more resilient communities,” says Aboitiz Foundation president Ginggay Hontiveros-Malvar.

with Chynna Audrey Basillaje