GENDER IN ADVOCACY AND DEVELOPMENT

What about it?

Gender Mainstreaming or Gender and Development (GAD) mainstreaming is the main strategy for ensuring that the government pursues gender equality in all aspects of the development process to achieve the vision of a gender-responsive society where women and men equally contribute to and benefit from development. It is a set of processes and strategies aimed at recognizing and addressing gender issues in legislation, policies, programs and projects and institutional mechanisms of the government on a sustained basis. Gender mainstreaming does not replace government policies on gender inequality. Gender equality and womens issues are complementary strategies.

How GAD developed over the years

The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) was established on January 7, 1975 through Presidential Decree No. 633, as an advisory body to the President and the Cabinet on policies and programs for the advancement of women. It is mandated to review, evaluate, and recommend measures, including priorities to ensure the full integration of women for economic, social and cultural development at national, regional and international levels, and to ensure further equality between women and men.

In the first decade of its operations, the NCRFW concerned itself with the following major programs: * Organizing women into a nationwide movement called "Balikatan sa Kaunlaran" (shoulder-toshoulder in development). This organization is now registered as an independent women's organization; Conducting policy studies and lobbying for the issuance of executive and legislative measures concerning women; Establishing a clearinghouse and information center on women; and Monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

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With the change of government in 1986, the new NCRFW officials reviewed its mandate and decided to focus agency activities on mainstreaming women's concerns in policy making, planning and programming of all government agencies. Women's concerns were positioned at the heart of the government agenda with the integration of the gender equality principle in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It was during this period, that the first Philippine Development Plan for Women (PDPW), 1989-1992 was adopted through Executive Order No.

348. Also enacted shortly was the "Women in Nation-Building Act" (RA 7192), which promotes the integration of women as full and equal partners of men in development and nation-building. Government officials and staff were sensitized and provided with skills to make gender and development (GAD) concerns a way of life in the government. This campaign was supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under Phase I of its Institutional Strengthening Project. Committed to build upon and sustain the gains of the previous administrations, the NCRFW continued to push for stronger policies and programs on gender mainstreaming through institutional strengthening and capacity building of government agencies. As a result, the period 1992 to 1998 gave birth to the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGD)1995-2025, a 30-year perspective plan that outlines the policies, strategies, programs and projects that the government must adopt to enable women to participate in and benefit from national development. Under Executive order 273, the PPGD was adopted as the country's main vehicle for implementing the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PFA) adopted at the 1995 UN 4th World Conference on Women. Another milestone achievement was the passage of the legislation on the GAD Budget. The GAD Budget provision mandated all government agencies and instrumentalities including local government units (LGUs) to allocate a minimum of five percent (5%) of their total appropriations for GAD programs and project. This policy has since been incorporated annually in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), though revisions have been made to ensure effective implementation of the GAD budget policy. To meet growing demands on its services, the NCRFW was reorganized following the issuances of Executive Order Nos. 208 and 268. The directives strengthened the NCRFW as the coordinating body on policies affecting women, by further defining its powers, functions and organizational structure. Through the continuing support of the CIDA, the NCRFW also implemented Phase II of the Institutional Strengthening Project aimed at capacitating government agencies on gender mainstreaming, and at the same time, building NCRFW's internal capability to manage the over-all gender mainstreaming efforts in the bureaucracy. Since 1998, the government's focus on poverty alleviation brought forth the importance of empowering women to ensure that the mainstreaming efforts of the government are contributing to the improvement of the lives of women especially at the countryside. The NCRFW, thus, intensified its advocacy for the development of programs and projects that would not only benefit the women, but also, enable them to participate in the decision-making processes. From 2001, the NCRFW supported the administrations poverty alleviation agenda, by sustaining the gains of the past in making the bureaucracy work for women under the thrusts of advancing and protecting women's human rights, promoting women's economic empowerment and promoting genderresponsive governance.

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On August 14, 2009, the NCRFW was renamed Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) with the enactment of Republic Act 9710, otherwise known as the Magna Carta of Women (MCW). The MCW expanded PCWs mandate as the primary policy-making and coordinating body on women and gender equality concerns. As the oversight body on womens concerns, the PCW shall act as catalyst for gender mainstreaming, authority on womens concerns, and lead advocate of womens empowerment, gender equity, and gender equality in the country. The PCW recently launched the MCW Implementing Rules and Regulations on July 8, 2010, to its partners and stakeholders. It is currently revising its structure and staffing pattern to effectively and efficiently undertake and accomplish its functions as mandated by the MCW. International Mandates: National Mandates: The United Nations Convention on the Section 14, Article II of the 1987 Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Philippine Constitution which states that against Women (UN-CEDAW) which the State recognizes the role of women promotes equality in all fields, affirmative in nation building and shal ensure the action for women and protection of fundamental equality before the law of women from violence. women and men Beijing Platform for Action (PFA) of the Republic Act 7192 or the Women in Fourth World Conference on Women Development and Nation Building Act (FWCF) which calls for actions on 12 areas which promotes the integration of of concern affecting women; women as full and equal partners of men Commitments made in such meetings as in development and nation building the UN Conference on Women, Section 28 of the General Appropriations International Conference on Population Act (GAA) from 1995 to 2000 directing and Development, the World Summit for government entities to formulate a GAD Social Development and the Habitat plan, the cost of which shall not be less Conference than five percent of their yearly budget, otherwise known as the GAD budget Executive Order 273 directing all government agencies and local levels to institutionalize (GAD) efforts in government by incorporating GAD concerns in their planning, programming and budgeting processes Local Budget Memorandum 28 which directs local government units to mobilize resources to mainstream and implement gender and development programs using the 5% development fund (Women, 2001)

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How important is GAD?

Gender equality and the empowerment of women have been recognized to be vital to the achievement of MDGs as it cuts across all the eight MDGs. Effective mainstreaming of gender equality and empowerment of women can lead to further strengthened national capacities to pursue economic and human development.

Case Studies from Various Countries (Programme, 2008)

EUROPE The European region highlights the policy context in which gender mainstreaming or womenspecic targeted interventions are implemented. Many innovative country initiatives exist under the umbrella of the European Union. The region has collectively expressed a commitment to gender mainstreaming through a wide range of instruments, through declarations, charters, treaties, and pacts, with roadmaps and strategies for their implementation. hey are backed by monitoring and evaluations mechanisms. The region has integrated initiatives on gender-based violence and gender-aware planning, taking into account both women and mens needs in spatial planning, intra-city transport, housing and public services. Europe as a region is unique in that there are regional structures that can signicantly inuence the national level through mechanisms of accountability. RWANDA Rwanda, on the other hand, is a country that has addressed structural gender inequalities in a post-crisis context. Rwandas President, Paul Kagame, was recognised through the Africa Gender Award 2007 for his commitment to gender equality. Today, women hold public oce in government and business. The country has the highest number of women in the legislature women took 56 percent of the seats in the elections held in 2008-setting a new world record for female representation in Parliament. Gender mainstreaming in local government is viewed in the context of overall, nation-wide gender mainstreaming initiatives. SOUTH AFRICA South Africa emerged from the apartheid era with new leaders who were committed to justice for all people to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights. One of the key mechanisms used to ensure justice for all is a new constitution. It has been widely recognised as one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, especially its Bill of Rights. It lays special emphasis on establishing a society where gender equality is paramount. The Commission on Gender Equality, a State institution, is one step towards ensuring that gender issues remain in the forefront of political decision making. The Commission is charged with protecting and ensuring gender equality in the formulation of laws, policies and practices.

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GAD Status (Abad, 2011)

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Low compliance and low utilization of already low budgetary allocations for GAD. Validity and quality of programs and projects that GAD budgets were allocated Low standards in recording, attribution, and reporting Management and operational problems

In 2009, the NEDA reported that about 35% of the 18 donor agencies total ODA portfolio support projects were gender-responsive and gender-sensitive, with 10% going to projects with promising GAD prospects. (JDTCC, 2010) In the paper titled: Engendering a gender-responsive budget: A look at the GAD Budget policy, by Herminia R. Caringal she stated: More than half (55%) of the portfolio was classified as GAD invisible, with no gender issues or concerns identified in the project design, Ms. Caringal made the same observation in 449 foreign-funded projects worth $9.6 billion in the implementation stage. About 53% of the ODA went to projects that had nothing to do with gender concerns, she said. As expected, the sector with the largest share of gender-responsive and gendersensitive projects at their implementation stage is the social reform and development sector while industry and services had the highest share of gender-invisible projects, clearly indicating that the gender perspective is often left out in the implementation, The paper mentioned that the trend in GAD budgetary allocation has been erratic from 1995. Not even once did the GAD allocation reach one percent of the total budget of the national government, Ms. Caringal said. The unpredictability of the budget levels indicates that while the GAD budget policy has been implemented for more than a decade now, it has not been fully institutionalized in the agencies respective annual budgets, she noted. In its 2008 country gender assessment report, the Asian Development Bank noted that allocation for GAD programs and projects are usually the first to be slashed whenever there is a budget cut a phenomenon it attributed to a common misconception that gender issues are irrelevant to national development. Ms. Caringal said that every year, all government agencies are required to submit a GAD plan and budget to the NCRFW and DBM, and although submission have generally increased through the years, compliance to the said requirement remains low. From 1995 to 2010, only around 28% or 106 of the 380 government agencies submitted their plans, while the Senate of the Philippines and the Commission on Appointments, among others have yet to formulate and submit their GAD plans this year, she said citing NCRFW data.

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Challenges along with Recommendations for GAD(Programme, 2008)

Political will and the policy environment: Political will is vital. Policies alone do not achieve desired outcomes. Real political will must be backed up by implementation strategies, action plans, capacity building, dedicated resources, as well as monitoring and accountability mechanisms. Gender Mainstreaming There is confusion around gender issues being about women. This is understandable given that attempts towards gender equality often entail addressing a womans status in society. It should be re-emphasized, however, that gender mainstreaming involves recognizing the entire population in development intervention. Programmatic Approach It is important to address gender mainstreaming - that is focusing on the needs of women, men, boys and girls, in the design and implementation of development initiatives. It has to be backed by monitoring and accountability systems. Involving women and men in participatory planning, implementation and evaluation is critical. Gender-disaggregated data and indicators are also necessary. Capacity building of all key personnel as well as sensitisation of politicians is also necessary. Advocacy and awareness creation These are on-going processes in settings where gender equality is accepted in principal. Gender mainstreaming initiatives have worked well where diverse stakeholders have advocated for various related issues. Networking, campaigns as well as competitions and awards emerge as some of the more common tools used for advocacy and knowledge sharing. International organisations play a key role in supporting these activities. Strong Local Authorities: As the level of government closest to the people, local authorities need the requisite autonomy, resources and capacities. Eective decentralisation policies have helped local authorities to be innovative in promoting gender equality and social inclusiveness. Networking through national, regional and international, associations of local authorities has advanced gender mainstreaming through knowledge sharing and peer pressure. International support: Gender equality is as much a political concern as it is a development management issue. As such, it needs support from many quarters. International and regional organisations continue to play a key role in setting of norms, principles and standards. Many of the best practices described have been motivated and facilitated by international and regional conventions, 7|Page

declarations of action plans and road maps. In addition, international organisations are needed to support advocacy tools as campaigns, networking, awards and recognition systems. his type of support is needed by civil society organisations as well as local authorities.

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Bibliography
Abad, D. S. (2011, March 11). Gender & Development Budgeting and the Aquino Social Contract. Philippines. JDTCC. (2010, April 16). Gender equality fight loses steam. Retrieved from BusinessWorld Research: http://www.bworldonline.com/Research/populareconomics.php?id=0152 Programme, U. N. (2008). GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES BEST PRACTICES . Nairobi GPO, KENYA . Women, N. C. (2001). The Rationale Behind Gender Mainstreaming. Manila, Philippines.

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