BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The Regional Gender and Development Committee (RGADC) in the Cordillera strives to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of gender and development (GAD) projects in the region.
Members of the RGADC in their third quarter meeting on October 4, 2024 in Baguio City, discussed the necessary integration of the Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGDG) in the formation of gender responsive projects and activities.
This is to address observation that some agencies and local government units are yet to use the HGDG in their respective places.
“This is one of the deficiencies or needs improvement, how to use the Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines, considering this was part of the Magna Carta of Women in Section 36, institutional mechanism. It is explicitly included as a section, emphasizing the use of the HGDG to determine or to assess the gender responsiveness of programs and projects. For some national line agencies, some have already been doing that, but for local government units, I have not seen the HGDG” Ferdinand P. Gonzales, vice-chairperson of the RGADC said.
Department of Social Welfare and Development-CAR Regional Director and RGADC Chairperson Maria Catbagan-Aplaten emphasized that the technical working group will look at its development.
“It is very important that all of us who are members of the committee are well versed with this HGDG and be at the forefront in doing the technical assistance and education campaign of this particular program. We will work on that and eventually it will be cascaded to the local government representatives,” she said.
The committee is also planning to localize the guidelines to fit the diverse settings of the GAD programs, and to incorporate the indigenous practices of the Cordillera.
The HGDG is a project of the National Economic and Development Authority, the Philippine Commission on Women, and the Official Development Assistance Gender and Development Network.
The guidelines seek to specifically provide NEDA, ODA donors, Philippine government agencies, and development practitioners with a common set of analytical concepts and tools for integrating gender concerns into development programs and projects, and to help achieve gender equality and empower women through, projects and programs. (JDP/CVBT-PIA CAR)
