Two batches of week-long gender and development (GAD) trainings on the Collection and Use of Sex-Disaggregated Data (SDD) and Gender Statistics for its technical staff and national research networks were conducted on October 3-7 and October 17-21, 2022.
The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) again spearheaded this second phase of the GAD training series for 2022 to promote gender-responsive research and development (R&D) in AANR.
The first phase, focused on Basic Gender Analysis (GA) and Use of GA Tools for R&D Management and Implementation, was designed for PCAARRD staff and researchers from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao on July 4-6, July 20-22, August 1-3, and August 8-10, 2022, respectively.
In his opening message, Dr. Ernesto Brown, Director of the Socio-Economics Research Division (SERD) of DOST-PCAARRD, said that the collection and use of SDD pave the way for a more inclusive development in the AANR through the integration of GAD in its R&D. Dr. Brown concluded with a reminder that “the collection of SDD is not only limited to the comparison of female- and male-headed households but also understanding the role of both women and men, and how it may change in the context of new policies, markets, and technologies.”
GAD experts and members of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) National GAD Resource Pool, Ms. Monette S. Santos, Dr. Blesshe L. Querijero, and Dr. Milagros A. Rimando, served as resource persons for this training. Ms. Santos is a retired Senior Science Specialist of Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB); Dr. Querijero is a former DOST-wide GAD Mainstreaming Coordinator from 2007 to 2013 and an Associate Professor III of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB); while Dr. Rimando is a retired Director IV of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Baguio City.
On Day 1, Ms. Santos reviewed the basic gender issues and oriented the participants on SDD and gender statistics. Dr. Querijero, on Day 2, extensively discussed gender indicators and other gender analysis tools for SDD analysis such as the GAME Tools and the Gender Analysis Matrix (GAM).
On Days 3 and 4, Dr. Rimando expounded the relevance of statistics and indicators, issues from various sources, and the methods of assessing the quality of data and sources to be used in R&D projects. She also tapped on strategies for the production, analysis, interpretation, presentation, and dissemination of SDD. During the last day, the participants presented enhanced project proposals integrated with SDD as their workshop outputs.
To officially conclude the training series, Ms. Meliza Abeleda, SERD Assistant Director, emphasized in her closing remarks that GAD integration matters in directing the impacts of PCAARRD’s projects to those who need it the most. She also invited everyone to continuously contribute to the initiative of achieving gender equality through providing opportunities for socio-economic empowerment.
This training is part of the capacity building activities of the DOST-PCAARRD funded and implemented project, “Enhancement of Gender and Development (GAD) Integration Towards a More Inclusive R&D in AANR.” The project is implemented under the Gender and Development and Special Projects Unit (GADSPU) of SERD.