2nd CALABARZON Regional GAD Convention

2nd CALABARZON Regional GAD Convention

May 31 – June 1, 2012

Kimberly Hotel, Tagaytay, City

Rationale and Objective

Good morning everyone and we are very happy to welcome all of you to our 2nd CALABARZON Regional Gender and Development (GAD) Convention.

Our 2nd GAD convention is a follow up activity of our 1st Regional GAD Convention held last April 25 - 29, 2011 at the One Tagaytay Place Hotel Suites. It was participated by almost 117 participants (16 males and 101 females) from the Local Government Units, Regional Line Agencies, State Universities and Colleges, other Higher Learning Institutions, Private Sector and Non Government Organizations.

Gender awareness and sensitivity, GAD related policies, GAD mains-treaming, planning, and budgeting, including initiatives and best practices on the implementation of GAD programs and projects were the main couse of the 1st GAD convention.

We were positive, that the 1st GAD convention helped the participants understand the concept, application and mainstreaming of GAD concerns to their regular programs and activities.

After the said activity, based from reports, some agencies, LGUs, learning institutions and organizations started to:

- organize their GAD committees or GAD local council;

- the CALABARZON GAD Resource Center (GRC) with PGAD of Quezon, NEDA and others started to provide technical assistance and served as resource speakers to the GAD trainings conducted by the various agencies, units and offices. Last year 2011, our Regional GAD Resource Center which is housed at the University of Rizal System in Morong, Rizal accommodated almost 18 agencies/institutions, LGUs and women’s groups for their Gender Sensitivity Training/Orientation...

LTO 4A is a good example on this initiative, last November to December 2011, their GAD focal persons invited us at the Regional GRC and we gave GST to all their Directors, Division Chief and Staff in the regional and provincial offices and what is also very interesting is they also extend their gender related program to their provincial officers in MIMAROPA (Regional 4B). From the activity they identified some gender issues and concerns in their respective provincial offices and they are considering those to their GAD plans and budget.

- there is regular inter-agency coordination meeting on GAD;

- some shared their best practices and PGAD of Quezon continue to assist other LGUs not only on gender mainstremaing but also in crafting and finalizing their GAD Code;

- PGAD of Batangas and other LGUs in the region strengthen their social welfare and development services considering gender perspective and participatory mechanism which involve different sectors of women, they also intensify their programs and projects on children, elderly, differently-abled, also inclue men and others;

Due to the cited accomplishments, there is clear indication that our 1st GAD convention influenced and changed the mindset of some of our GAD focal persons/ GAD Council/ GAD Committee and other GAD key players. They were motivated and trying to contribute and sustain their gender mainstreaming efforts that can help improve the situation of women and men. In some way, they already understand how they can use their GAD budget and how to become gender sensitive and responsive not only to their co-employees/workers and clients but also to their family, community members and others.

However, as GAD planners and program implementors we must be aware that continuing advocacy can help sustain our gender mainstreaming efforts which is equally important in developing support on GAD. Continuing advocacy includes continuous education, public awareness campaign, strengthen the implementation of comprehensive gender programs, coordinate constantly and consistently the GAD efforts to the clients and partner agencies, build linkages and partnerships to other stakeholders in and outside of their agency, institution, units and organizations.

In liu to this, the Sub-Committee on Gender and Development under the Sectorial Committee on Social Development of the Regional Development Council of Region IV-A, initiated the 2nd CALABARZON Regional GAD Convention with the theme “A Call for Partnership among Local Government Units, Government Agencies, Private Sector and Civic Society Organizations to Strengthen Gender Mainstreaming Efforts in CALABARZON.”

It aims to provide facts on women in Philippine history and their current situation with men particularly in CALABARZON. It will also focus on the current and emerging GAD concerns which include Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC), Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Transgendered Rights (I’m sure our speaker on this topic will also mentioned something about the gay, lesbian and bisexual... ), another persistent gender issue is adoloscent sexuality, HIVs and related issues. It will be followed by an open forum on GAD Implementation Issues and we invited distinguished panelist from selected goverment agencies who are playing prominent role in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of GAD programs and projects. In the evening you are all invited to join our solidarity/fellowship night with dinner which will be hosted by the Cavite State University.

For the second day, we will focus on the Institutional Initiatives to address gender issues and concerns like how we can organize and institutionalize the CODI (Committee on Decorum and Investigation) for sexual harassment cases in our agency or institution. It also comprise of the role of men to eliminate all forms of violence against women that’s why we invited a representative from MOVE Philippines to give us some orientation on this.

Another significant part of the convention is the topic on how we can build and strengthen our linkages and partnership to different GAD key players for the effective implementation of GAD, it means that we should know where and how we can get support to strengthen our GAD mainstreaming efforts.

In the afternoon, there will parallel session, we will divide you into two groups, Group A will be composed of the participants from the academe and civic society organizations, they will be enlightened on how to eliminate gender bias and promote gender equality not only in the classroom but also in the curriculum and the GAD initiatives of UPLB Gender Resource Center will be imparted also.

On the other hand, our participants from LGUs, RLAs, and CSOs, will be assigned to Group B, wherein our selected participants and representatives will share their experiences on making GAD budget work for women and men. According to a handbook on Breaking New Grounds for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, this is a compilation of experiences and insights in implementing GAD budget policy, which states that the GAD budget is not always “how much,” more importantly we need to see what happened, in other words, on GAD the benefits are more important than how much we actually spent.

Before the end of the convention there will be synthesis, evaluation and next steps or plans. We strongly believe that this 2nd CALABARZON Regional GAD Convention can help increase not only your capability but also your appreciation and commitment to continue and sustain what we have started or initiated on your GAD mainstreaming activities.

We hope that from this kind of gathering we can start communicating with other participants, make more friends to build up our networks, because on GAD we must learn from one another and we must help one another to make a difference on the lives of women and also men in our region.

Thank very much and welcome once again.

WILHELMINA P. MASINSIN, Ph. D.

GAD Program Coordinator

URS/CALABARZON GRC

Morong, Rizal