Kanlungan sa Erma does not only provide children with their basic needs just to get them through the day. We also teach them how to be self-sufficient for their life outside the center, for their future. The Skills Training and Income Generating Program was launched in 1990 at our Malate and Laguna centers. This program is not limited to children at our centers, those who are outside are welcome to learn for free. We are also training children in the streets who wish to gain an income.In this program, our staff instructs the kids about basic livelihood skills such as paper-making, card-making, cross-stitching, and candle making.

Paper-making started in 1990 and still continues until now, thanks to our newspaper donors. Out of newspapers, our seven to sixteen year olds are able to make recycled paper. From mere brown paper, they can transform it into colorful greeting cards that are perfect for Christmas and other special occassions. These are purely created by the children themselves just like our candles and cross-stitch designed hand towels.

Another project of this program is due to the unconditional support of the Manila Pavilion, formerly known as Holiday Inn. Just for Php 30, hotel guests can have their shoes shined by the our older boys (fifteen years old and above). Since they go on training first, we assure you good service.

The Skills and Training program aims to teach basic livelihood skills, which the children can use as a source of income in the future. This also allows the child to save and recognize the value of money. Since this program is also open to street youth, this gives them the chance to earn a regular or an extra income. This also serves as a therapy for abused children. It serves as an outlet for their emotions and keeps them preoccupied. For example, a child's anger can be expressed through drawings or the process of compressing newspapers. It shifts his attention away from his previous experiences and focuses on discovering his own identity, talents, principles, and aspirations.

Through this process, children realize their self-worth and develops self-confidence. This program is also a way to reorient them about important values and attitudes such as hardwork, honesty,responsibility, and cooperation. With these values, they veer away from seclusion and they start to communicate and interact with others again. Moreover, the knowledge and values they have acquired in this program protect them from "street business" such as begging, drug trafficking, prostitution, stealing, and the like. Through this program, we are making them aware that there are options and they can make the right choice.

Like any other organization, we need to sustain our programs and services. Aside from our generous donors (20-10% local and 80-90% from abroad), we also rely on this program to continue our operations. Since we are a non-profit organization, every peso goes to our general fund, which sustains our various programs.

With the frequent bazaar invitations from other local and international non-government organizations, we are able to make our products available to the public. These opportunities have also developed our ties between other NGOs such as Asian Development Bank, British Women's Association, Scandinavian Ladies' Association, Swedish Association, The Church of Manila, and the National Council for Social Development. Other visitors who frequent our centers also show their support by availing of our music album and other gift products. The album is jointly composed by the staff and children of Kanlungan, which is based on the moral values that our organization lives by. It is about the experiences of today's children and youth. Apart from bazaars, invitations for our Children's Chorale to perform in some gatherings have paved the way to communicate our goals and organizational values to a wider range of audience. Also, it allows us to gather more support from outsiders.