PCW, OPAPP issue new policy document in addressing women’s concerns in conflict, post-conflict areas
Women’s vulnerabilities, needs and concerns in conflict and post-conflict areas will soon be fully integrated across all implementing agencies and partners of the government following the signing of a policy document between the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).
The Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2014-01, signed on October 15 at the Cocoon Boutique Hotel in Quezon City, mandates the member agencies of the National Steering Committee on Women, Peace and Security (NSCWPS) and PAMANA (Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan) implementing partners to incorporate women, peace, security programs and activities in their annual Gender and Development (GAD) Plans and Budgets (GPBs) and Accomplishment Reports (ARs).
The JMC, which will strengthen the roles of the two oversight agencies, also aims to intensify the operationalization of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAPWPS).
For PCW Chairperson Remedios I. Rikken, the memorandum circular is another milestone for the bureaucracy as this will ensure that GAD budget for programs and services for women in conflict-affected areas will be rightfully and equitably allocated and utilized.
“Our advocacy never stops here. We will continue to monitor the implementation of this policy to ensure that women’s issues and concerns, in conflict and post-conflict areas, will be addressed in a more gender-sensitive way.”
OPAPP Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, meanwhile, said that the agency is hopeful that this policy will be a “lasting legacy of this administration.”
The NAPWS or NAP is the “Philippine Government’s response to the three landmark international normative standards on women, peace and security.”
The National Steering Committee on Women, Peace and Security (NSCWPS) is composed of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), he Department of National Defense (DND), the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) while the PAMANA implementing agencies are composed of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), PhilHealth, the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
Kababaihan at Kapayapaan
Aside from the re-launch of the revised NAPWS and the signing of the JMC, the OPAPP has also unveiled the second edition of their publication, “Kababaihan and Kapayapaan” Magazine featuring the women frontrunners of the NAP and anecdotes of women leaders who devoted themselves to peace work.
Rikken, Deles, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman and Justice Secretary Leila De Lima graced the cover of the magazine.
