The Information Communications Technology (ICT) in Davao City, a metropolis in the southern part of the Philippines, expects a 30% jump this year in terms of jobs in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

ICT-Davao president Lizabel Holganza said in an interview published in Sun Star that she expects last year’s upward trend in the BPO sector to continue in 2013, especially after more industry players have eyed Davao in particular to be the host of their next BPO centers.

Holganza added that she sees more partnerships between the industry and the academe for 2013, emphasizing “a heightened synergy between the academe and industry as evidenced by frequent engagements in 2012.”

The health IT sector is also expected to provide more employment opportunities in 2013, particularly for nursing and healthcare professionals.

ICT-Davao executive vice president Bert Barriga, on the other hand, said that last year, an estimated 16,000 jobs have already been generated by the city’s outsourcing sector. This is already more than half of ICT-Davao’s target of 30,000 employment opportunities for Dabawenyos by 2015.

Barriga said that Davao City has a considerable talent pool which is why they are doing their best to provide training that will help meet the requirements of outsourcing firms.

He added that there is a new project called Smarter Countryside which will be attended by about 25 representatives of all ICT councils in the country. The Smarter Countryside project will provide prospective BPO employees with more training on a number of BPO disciplines, both voice and non-voice.

The new undertaking will work side by side with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (Tesda) Industry-Based Training for Work Scholarship Program (I-TWSP) for prospective outsourcing firm employees.