GREAT Women Project forges partnership with Quezon Province
The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), the national machinery for the advancement of women, signed a three-year partnership with the Provincial Government of Quezon and its three municipalities of Real, Infanta and Nakar (ReINa) to implement the Gender-Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) Project.
The MOA signing was held last June 30 at the Quezon Convention Center during the 100th day of the term of Rafael Nantes as Provincial Governor.
The partnership with Quezon Province is focused on building the capacity of the LGUs to review, enhance or develop, implement, monitor and evaluate policies, plans, programs and services directed to women in livelihoods and microentrepreneurs. It likewise aims to strengthen partnerships of the LGU with other support networks such as the private sector, business support organizations, civil society and non-government organizations, academe, among others to support women microentrepreneurs. It is expected that this partnership would enable more women to benefit from economic empowerment initiatives and activities of the LGU.
Signing the agreement are NCRFW Executive Director Emmeline Versoza, Quezon Provincial Governor Raffy Nantes, and Municipal Mayors, Joel Diestro (Real), Grace America (Infanta) and Obing Ruzol (General Nakar). Present during the MOA Signing were Vice-Governor Carlos Portes, NCRFW Commissioner Poneng Tolentino, CIDA Senior Program Officer Myrna Jarillas, and staff from various provincial government units, line agencies and municipal representatives from ReINa.
Representatives from the various line agencies at the provincial level and representatives from the ReINa municipalities who form part of the Provincial Technical Working Group (PTWG) likewise signed a Pledge of Commitment, affirming their “a strong interest to participate in the GREAT Women Project and facilitate its implementation.”
Quezon Province is one of eight provinces identified as local partners of NCRFW in implementing the GREAT Women Project. “With the GREAT Women Project implementation in Quezon, NCRFW and local government partners in Quezon will advance together the creation of models of women’s enterprises out of disaster-stricken municipalities of Real, Infanta and Nakar and that this model will be sustained and replicated throughout the province and in other areas,” NCRFW Executive Director Emmeline Verzosa emphasized in the signing ceremony. Furthermore, Ms. Verzosa stated, “Quezon’s battlecry, ‘Pilipinas, Quezon naman,’ was surely heard by NCRFW that is why we are forging this partnership with your LGUs.”
The GREAT Women Project is five-year governance and capacity development project that aims to enhance the enabling environment for women microentrepreneurs. The project is executed by the NCRFW, with support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
