‘I see a silver lining in our goal of having GAD initiatives’: President Yepes

Despite the scare of the COVID-19 pandemic, Southern Leyte State University (SLSU) President Dr. Prose Ivy G. Yepes stated in her message about seeing a ‘silver lining' in relation to the University’s goal of having Gender and Development (GAD) initiatives being mainstreamed throughout SLSU.

In her message during the Webinar on Gender Mainstreaming: Accomplishing Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGDG) Tool Checklist held on April 19-20, 2021, Dr. Yepes admitted that it has been challenging for the University to comply with its statutory regulations with the non-recognition of GAD Plan and Budget submissions of Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Philippine Commission on Women (PCW).

The two-day activity was conducted mainly to guide the University in accomplishing the needed documents for the HGDG checklist. Specifically, this helps SLSU to understand the procedure in accomplishing the forms used for gender mainstreaming and the documents needed as Means of Verifications and to be able to apply gender analysis and GAD tools.

Likewise, the webinar aims to assess projects and proposals to create gender-responsive and gender-sensitive projects and proposals, and achieve gender equality and empower women.

The HGDG was developed to provide a common instrument in integrating gender perspectives in development programs and projects among government agencies, donor organizations, and other stakeholders. With aims to ensure development plans are not only aware of or sensitive to gender issues faced by women and men, girls and boys, but also address key, relevant gender-related issues or concerns.

As part of its effort to mainstream gender and be a gender-responsive and gender-sensitive institution, SLSU integrates the GAD perspective in the development planning process and various stages of the project cycle and addresses the issues of inadequate sex-disaggregated data and statistics for development planning and programming. This is in line with the University’s to empower its constituents and discourage discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.

As espoused by PCW, GAD mainstreaming is a major global strategy for ensuring that the government pursues gender equality in all aspects of the development process to achieve a vision of a gender-responsive society where women and men equally contribute to and benefit from development.

All government agencies, including state colleges and universities including SLSU, are mandated to utilize at least 5% of its total budget in putting into place effective mechanisms and measures for gender mainstreaming throughout the institution’s programs, projects, and activities.