PCW-NAPC Recognizes Best Practices in GAD Mainstreaming in a three-day Multi-Stakeholder Sectoral Confab




Five (5) best practices in gender mainstreaming were recognized by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), and the NAPC Women Sectoral Council during the Virtual Multi-Stakeholder Sectoral Conference on Gains and Challenges of Gender Mainstreaming held on October 18-20, 2022. 


The recognition of best practices serves as inspiration for stakeholders to continue developing and implementing gender-responsive programs and interventions that address existing and emerging gender issues in their sectors or communities. In this conference, PCW and NAPC selected programs that were able to integrate gender perspectives in its design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation, as well as documented positive outcomes and impacts on the beneficiaries, especially women. The program proponents came from both the government and non-government organizations, and are focused on the following sectors: Education, Environment, Peace and Security, Women’s Economic Empowerment. The selection of best practices forms part of the Gender and Development Transformation and Institutionalization through Mainstreaming of Programs, Agenda, Linkages and Advocacies, or GADTimpala.



GAD Mainstreaming Best Practices in the Environment Sector



Three non-government programs were recognized for having “Best Practices on Gender Mainstreaming for the Environment Sector” namely the Women in Emergencies Network (WENet), Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), and the Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK).


WENet was recognized for its implementation of the program titled Promoting Women’s Rights and Resilience in Emergencies in the Philippines. The program helped address gender issues such as women’s access to basic services, specifically reproductive health services and protection from gender-based violence during disasters and in the advent of COVID-19.


The ICSC bagged the same award for the program Building Women’s Empowerment in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Sulu-an Island. This program championed women as leaders and innovators of community-based, climate-resilient, and low-carbon development initiatives through the installation of solar street lights and solar home systems. It also provided training to women scholars in the community to provide access to renewable energy in times of disaster.


Completing the list of awardees is PKKK for the program Rebuilding Women and Children’s Lives, Rebuilding Communities: A Self-Help Program for Rehabilitation in Barangays Tinabanan, Tag-alag, Canyoyo, Binukyahan and Ferreras in Marabut, Samar. This program contributed in advancing and strengthening of community-based self-help groups and gender-responsive disaster preparedness through organizing gender-based violence and sexual reproductive health watch groups in rural communities.



GAD Mainstreaming Best Practices in the Peace and Security Sector



Two (2) national government agencies were awarded for the Peace and Security Sector: the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 11 (DSWD XI).


DND was awarded for their program, “Inter-Agency Gender, Peace, and Security Forum”. Said program seeks to promote the importance of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security to the general public, raise awareness on the role of women and the challenges they encounter during peace and conflict transformation, and recognize Women, Peace, and Security champions within the department.


Meanwhile, DSWD XI garnered recognition for “Nagkakaisa sa Isla ng Pag-asa Program”, an innovation to create a safe environment for the protection and development of women and children through effective child protection and development mechanisms in Balut Island, Davao Occidental, a geographically isolated and disadvantaged conflict-affected area.



Special Citations


The Special Citation on Gender Mainstreaming in the Education Sector was awarded to the University of the Philippines Cebu (UP Cebu) and the Philippine Normal University (PNU), while the Special Citation for the Women’s Economic Empowerment Sector were awarded to DSWD Field Office VIII (DSWD VIII) and to the Quezon City Office of the City Mayor – Gender and Development Council (QC GAD). Special Citations were likewise awarded to the City of Muntinlupa and the ICSC for the programs that they submitted under the Peace and Security and Environment Sectors respectively.
UP Cebu was cited for the First Responders’ Drill on Anti-Sexual Harassment, or #ASH1st2022. This is a program of the university’s Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment that focuses on students’ and employees’ vulnerability to gender-based violence in the form of sexual harassment, empowering members of the UP Cebu community to respond competently when faced with a disclosure of sexual harassment.



PNU also got a citation for initiating a Participatory Gender Audit to address the university’s organizational culture, accomplishments, and gender equality directions. The success of this gender audit process is expected to be replicated across the Philippines’ higher education institutions.


A citation was also awarded to DSWD VIII for the program, KALAHI-CIDSS FO-8 Gender Agenda: Building alliance with TESDA to empower women in Almeria, Biliran. It is a community-based initiative by the DSWD VIII under the KALAHI-CIDSS Project, which capacitated women in the community through provision of skills training on non-traditional jobs such as plumbing and masonry.


QC-GAD’s livelihood project Tindahan ni Ate Joy likewise garnered a special citation in recognition of their relentless efforts for the economic empowerment of women. Now on its 10th year, the project has reached more than 5,000 recipients, who are mostly home-bound mothers, solo parents, survivors of violence and abuse, and wives of drug dependents undergoing treatment in community rehabilitation centers.


In recognition their efforts to address Violence against Women and Children concerns, the City of Muntinlupa received a citation for their Sagip ng Muntinlupa Program (SAGIP), a 24/7 crisis center for abused women and children. SAGIP provides vital services to address the immediate and safety needs of victims/survivors and actively promotes the protection, welfare, and rights of women and children through advocacy, intervention, and collaboration with relevant stakeholders.


The ICSC likewise received a special citation for their programs, Finding the Nexus: Gender, Health, and Climate Change in Community-driven Development Policy; and Women Empowering Women Frontliners on Disaster Preparedness and Response: Women-led Solar Scholars Training Experience of RE-Charge Pilipinas and the Marabut Women’s Federation in Samar Province, Eastern Visayas



Knowledge-sharing and documentation of emerging GAD best practices



All recipients of Best Practices and Special Citation Awards shared valuable lessons from implementing the programs in their sectors and communities during the three-day virtual Conference. 


“Kayo po ang dahilan kung bakit nagiging matagumpay ang ating adbokasiya tungo sa pagkakapantay-pantay ng bawat indibidwal, at para sa karapatan ng mga kababaihan”, PCW Executive Director Atty. Kristine Rosary E. Yuzon-Chaves said as she expressed gratitude to stakeholders on the first day of the Conference. 


These lessons as well as insights from the Conference participants will be documented and translated into the Compendium of Emerging Good Practices on Gender Mainstreaming, which is expected to be released in 2023. 


“I can say with confidence that the Conference was not only able to provide a venue for sharing good practices for the Education, Environment, Peace and Security, and Women’s Economic Empowerment Sectors, but more so, hear the sharing of experiences and insights relevant stakeholders who are beneficiaries of the programs. At dahil dito, masasabi kong naging makabuluhan po ang ating tatlong araw na pag sasama,” PCW Deputy Executive Director Maria Kristine Josefina G. Balmes emphasized towards the end of the event.


On the part of NAPC, Women’s Sectoral Council Officer in Charge, Ms. Aurora Chavez encouraged everyone that these practices should not end with the conference.  


“Kinakailangan nating ipagpatuloy ang pakikipag-ugnayan sa mga ahensya ng pamahalaan upang pag-usapan, gumawa ng mga polisiya, programa at proyekto na tunay na magtataas ng antas ng sector ng kababaihan at ng ating lipunan,” Chavez concluded.


Also present in the event are Director Ferdinand B. Hombrebueno and Basic Sector Coordination and Advocacy Service Division Chief Ms. Cyrus Pangan, and Ms. Leony Acuña-Martinez of NAPC; PCW’s Sectoral Coordination Division led by Mr. Macario T. Jusayan; Sectoral GAD Experts Atty. Allen Espino, Ms. Amelita Atillo, Dr. Melanie Reyes, and Ms. Cecilia Fantastico; members of NAPC and its Women Sectoral Council, as well as representatives from various government, civil society organizations, and communities involved in identifying, designing, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating gender-responsive programs and projects.


The Multi-Stakeholder Sectoral Confab is an initiative of the PCW, NAPC, and the NAPC Women Sectoral Council. It is one of the two projects that three partners agreed to jointly undertake under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The other project which focuses on the Assessment of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act (RA 9262) is still ongoing.