By EDD K. USMAN, SDN, Twitter @edd1819, Instagram @bluestar0910, Facebook: SDN — Science, Digital & Current Affairs
MORE support comes to Gender and Development (GAD) in the Philippines.
Various organizations — public and private institutions — are joining together in a collaboration meant to advance GAD.
They will launch on October 04, 2019, “LIPAD Pinay Replication Manual: A Development Guide to Good GAD.” (In English, “lipad” means “fly”.)
Lending their collective hands together are the local government unit (LGU) of Quezon City through the Office of Mayor Joy Belmonte, SEAOIL Foundation, and SPARK! Philippines for the event to be held at Bulwagang Amoranto of Quezon City Hall Building.
LIPAD Pinay or Local Inclusiveness Project for the Advancement and Development of Filipino Women is a two-year program launched in 2017 covering eight of the city’s barangays (villages), to wit: Culiat; Central; Greater Lagro; Quirino 3-A, Batasan Hills, University of the Philippines (UP) Campus; Sta. Lucia; and Sto. Cristo.
In an email to SDN — Science and Digital News sent by SPARK! Philippines, it was learned that the eight villages picked as the pilot implementation communities undertook to improve their GAD governance system aimed at improving the lives of 20 micro-entrepreneurs for each barangay.
A total of 50 barangay leaders have participated in the program, as well as providing additional income to 160 women micro-entrepreneurs.
To realize the goals of the program, two modules of Bridging Leadership training were offered during a training “to help them move from a personal understanding and ownership of their respective community’s GAD issue to a collective action to resolve the issue.”
GAD-focused governance
Its coverage included encouraging village leaders to integrate women-led initiatives in their GAD plan and budget designed to result in livelihood projects and women’s strengthened participation in the affairs of the community.
Under the program the women beneficiaries in each barangay received seed grants as they also underwent a series of capacity building training and mentoring sessions on their way to putting up their businesses.
Recall that in the Philippines the government has been addressing gender responsiveness in governance, one of the initiatives through Congress through the Magna Carta of Women (MCW), the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) has emphasized.
PCW said the MCW “mandates non-discriminatory and pro-gender equality and equity measures to enable women’s participation in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies, plans, and programs for national, regiona, and local development.”
The ways to mainstream GAD in the bureaucracy covers:
- Enforce compliance to GAD mainstreaming policies.
- Enhance existing structural mechanisms to accelerate mainstreaming of GAD.
- Localize GAD mainstreaming efforts.
- Enhance capability of local and regional GAD. practitioners/trainors to deliver GAD programs
- Strengthen linkages and partnerships among various partner.
Expected program flow in the LIPAD Pinay event includes a messages by City Mayor Maria Josefina Belmonte; Mark Yu of SEAOIL Foundation; and Ms. Zorayda Amelia C. Alonzo.
The Replication Manual’s launch follows through Kimberly Tiburcio and Trix Rodriguez of SPARK! Philippines and Fennel, respectively, and messages from Sto. Cristo Barangay Chairman Mark John C. Navarro and LIPAD Pinay beneficiaries. (SDN)