The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Central Office and Development Focal Point System organized a four-day workshop on Gender and Development (GAD) last May 7 to 10, 2019 at the Villa Lorenza Resort, Pililla, Rizal. The workshop aims to heighten the participants’ knowledge on gender awareness, gender laws, rules, and regulations, especially the newly-hired employees. Fifty-five (55) MGB personnel participated in the workshop on Gender Sensitivity and Gender Mainstreaming led by resource speaker Ms. Maria Daryl Leyesa, a GAD consultant/specialist hired by MGB.

In day one (1) of the workshop, Ms. Leyesa offered in-depth discussions on sex and gender, gender and diversity, as well as gender role socialization. Day two (2) was spent reviewing the gender division on labor, manifestations of gender bias through history, gender mandates and gender statistics. On day three (3), Ms. Leyesa explained the know-hows on gender mainstreaming and appreciation of its tools, while day four (4) ended after Ms. Leyesa gave a synthesis on the overall learnings over the previous days and a preparation of an action plan. All the topics were discussed not simply as lectures, as they were accompanied by small group discussions, games, and seatworks that enabled the participants to engage zealously, build team effort in the process, and encourage them to be GAD advocates to their loved ones.

The immediate next step after the said workshop would be for the MGB Gad Focal Point System to supervise other trainings like the Enhanced Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework to capacitate the participants to mainstreamed gender and development into the policies, plans and programs of MGB.

By: Mineral Economics, Information and Publication Division

Group work in progress.

Group presentation.


Group brainstorming.


Group photo of the participants.