Dedicated to provide quality products and services that are gender and development (GAD) responsive, the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) capacitated its employees through a GAD training-workshop to serve as primary drivers of gender mainstreaming in the agency.

This, according to Ma. Theresa Sawit, PCC GAD Focal Point System (GFPS) Undersecretary and Senior Science Research Specialist, was the main focus of the training-workshop on Gender Sensitivity, Gender Analysis and GAD tools held last July 10-12 at the PCC National Headquarters and Gene Pool in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

“GAD mainstreaming is not merely for compliance but an initiative to provide quality services to our women and men clients. It involves the integration of GAD perspective in all agency’s programs, activities, and projects,” she said.

She added that a tool known as Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework (GMEF) is being used to show how well an organization performs gender mainstreaming in four entry points such as policies, people, enabling mechanisms, and programs, activities and projects (PAPs).

“Compliance with the policy, however, would require capacity building mainly because none of the PCC’s GFPS members and program or project leaders have been oriented yet on how to use gender analysis tools designed for program or project implementation,” she said.

PCC invited Arlene Pascual, certified GAD trainer, to orient and train the participants on gender concepts and its application particularly on the use of gender analysis tools such as Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGDG) and the various checklists to mainstream GAD in all PCC programs, projects, and activities.

“Development is about attaining a full and satisfying life for all and it is a shared responsibility. You are all contributors to it,” Pascual said.

She emphasized that the development projects that PCC will implement should address gender issues by identifying gaps or differences between men and women and understanding why these gaps exist and persist.

PCC Executive Director Dr. Arnel Del Barrio, on the other hand, shared the agency’s compliance to the Magna Carta of Women (MCW) or RA 9710 and the General Appropriations Act (GAA) on formulating its annual GAD plans and budgets to mainstream gender perspectives in its policies, programs, and projects by allocating at least 5% of its total budget to GAD activities.

“We have existing programs, trainings, and projects that involved men and women clients that’s why we didn’t really start from zero when it comes to implementing GAD activities but the problem is we still have to improve documentation so we can effectively analyze GAD-related data,” Dr. Del Barrio said.

“I can assure that we, at the top management, are very supportive of the GAD projects and programs. We will experience a lot of benefits if we start embracing the full context of GAD,” he added.

Dr. Del Barrio also underscored that carabao, which is the main commodity of the agency, is just a tool for development. It is a tool to help improve the lives of men and women farmers.

The training involved discussions, workshops, and action planning to institutionalize the use of HGDG in PCC’s programs, projects and activities cycle.

It was participated in by PCC’s GAD Focal Point System members, research and development program or project leaders, and ICT and infrastructure project leaders.