ARMM Crafts Regional Gender and Development Code

25 August 2009
ARMM Crafts Regional Gender and Development Code
Cotabato City - The Technical Working Group (TWG) of the Regional Sub-Committee on Gender and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (RSCGAD-ARMM) has recently conducted a writeshop on the formulation of a regional Gender and Development (GAD) Code in the ARMM held in Davao City.
The writeshop was aimed to provide knowledge and understanding of the situation of women in the region and learn some techniques on policy development, legislative research and writing as guide in the formulation and crafting of the GAD Code.
RSCGAD intends to craft a substantive regional GAD code that will address the pressing GAD issues and concerns such as violence against women and children, reproductive health, marginalization and exploitation of women, misconceptions on and abuse of polygyny and divorce, issues on early/forced marriages, low level of literacy rate among women, exercise of political rights among women, women’s economic rights, children’s rights and other gender biases.
Regional Planning and Development Office (RPDO-ARMM) Executive Director Diamadel Dumagay encouraged the members of the RSCGAD-TWG during the opening program of the three-day writeshop to be conscious and be realistic in considering the condition confronting women and children in the region.
The ARMM GAD Code is one of the identified priority bills of the present 6th Regional Assembly of the ARMM, added Dumagay.
As sub-committee of the Regional Social Development Committee (RSDC) of the Regional Economic and Development Planning Board (REDPB), the highest policy-making body of the Autonomous Regional Government, the RSCGAD was established in 2007 to intensify the regional government’s efforts in mainstreaming Gender and Development (GAD) in the region.
The said writeshop was initiated by the RSCGAD in partnership with RPDO-ARMM, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (bpi-armm)