BONTOC, Mountain Province – Municipal Gender and Development (GAD) focal point persons, Municipal Social Welfare Officers, members and technical working group of the Provincial GAD Council now have a better understanding on Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines.
This is the result of the three-day Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines Training spearheaded by the Provincial Government of Mountain Province through its Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) last August 10-12, 2016.
Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Rosalinda T. Belagan said that it was earlier requested by the participants that the training be conducted for them to be informed and updated of the new GAD guidelines. Also, the activity aimed to enhance the knowledge of participants and capacitate them on gender analysis and GAD planning and budgeting.
Internal Auditor Johnny Co who represented Governor Bonifacio C.Lacwasan Jr. said that today, women are considered partners in development. “Look at employment, look at workplace, or even politics, and even at home, women have indispensable roles,” he remarked.
However, Co affirmed that integrating gender and equality and women empowerment in workplaces, in development works, programs and projects may still be needed in some aspects in the public and private sectors. With this, he urged the participants to give all their efforts in determining the equality among men and women, and the empowerment of both.
Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Joseline P. Niwane of the Provincial Government of Ifugao, a certified member of the Philippine Commission on Women GAD Resource Pool, was the resource speaker during the training.
During the first day of the training, the participants were able to differentiate sex from gender, identify gender issues in the workplace, gender roles in the family and what are to be charged to the GAD budget (at least 5% of the LGUs total annual budget). On the same day, Niwane discussed the Basic Gender and Development concepts.
Other topics discussed to the participants in the succeeding days were the Harmonized GAD Guidelines, Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework (GMEF) and GAD Planning and Budgeting. Accordingly, the Harmonized GAD Guidelines will serve as a common instrument among implementing agencies and donor organizations for ensuring the gender responsiveness of programs and projects in their various stages. It also seeks to promote the twin goals of gender equality and women empowerment and address the issues of inadequate sex-disaggregate data and statistics for development planning and programming. The Harmonized GAD Guidelines was formulated by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in collaboration with the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) and the Official Development Assistance -GAD Network.
By Alpine L. Killa
