In response to Republic Act No. 9710 (Magna Carta of Women [MCW] of 2009) and the Philippine Commission on Women’s Memorandum Circular No. 2016-03, which mandates government offices to adopt gender equality and promote women’s rights, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) conducted a training on Enhanced Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework (GMEF) last April 2 - 6 at the Microtel, UP Technohub in Quezon City.
The GMEF tool was originally developed in 2001 by the then National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) to help government agencies plan, monitor, track and assess the progress of Gender and Development (GAD) initiatives, and provided a holistic view of the gender mainstreaming process.
In 2014, the GMEF was advanced by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and now has a new descriptor matrix with validated and improved gender indicators and scoring guidelines. It was successfully pre-tested by the Civil Service Commission, National Anti-poverty Commission, Department of National Defense, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The five-day training was facilitated by Ms. Lorenza A. Umali, a freelance GAD consultant / specialist. Among the topics discussed were the features of the enhanced GMEF tool, levels of gender mainstreaming, GAD mainstreaming entry points, GMEF descriptor matrix and the GMEF organizational assessment questionnaire.
During the training, the participants, composed of representatives from the MGB Central and Regional Offices, were equipped with proper skills on how to measure the progress, and identify areas for improvement, in implementing gender and development programs in their respective organizations. They were also able to come up with GAD activities for 2018 using the enhanced GMEF.
According to the PCW’s website, gender mainstreaming is defined as “the strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies, programs and projects in all social, political, civil, and economic spheres so that women and men benefit equally. It is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs in all areas and at all levels.”
By: Mineral Economics, Information and Publications Division
Ms. Lorenza A. Umali discussing the enhanced GMEF to participants
Participants during a group activity