Manila – The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) organized a technical learning session on the formulation of its Gender and Development (GAD) Agenda pursuant to Memorandum Circular No. 2018-04 issued by the Philippine Commission on Women on June 27, at the ILS Office, Intramuros, Manila.

The session was held to equip its GAD Committee members on the step-by-step process of formulating the Institute’s six-year GAD Agenda. Atty. Judie Rose Tugado-Dimayuga of the Philippine Commission on Women’s (PCW) National Gender and Development Resource Pool served as a subject matter expert. Atty. Tugado-Dimayuga discussed gender-responsive governance through a comprehensive discussion on GAD mandates and helped the ILS GAD Committee identify the gaps and address these by using the right tools for establishing its GAD Agenda.

In her Opening Remarks, OIC-Executive Director III Jeanette T. Damo expressed her appreciation to Atty. Tugado-Dimayuga for delivering the capacity-building session for the Institute’s GAD Committee. Ms. Damo also expressed her full support in further advancing gender empowerment within the agency.

“We in ILS will work together for us to establish our very own GAD Agenda. We believe this will truly help us steer our gender mainstreaming efforts and ensure the gender responsiveness of our agency. We hope our notable efforts on GAD will qualify us for and be recognized soon in the GADtimpala Awards or the Gender and Development Transformation & Institutionalization through Mainstreaming of Programs, Agenda, Linkages & Advocacies by PCW,” Executive Director Damo emphasized.

The GAD Agenda serves as a strategic framework in gender mainstreaming for government agencies to identify and formulate its projects, activities, and programs, toward addressing its priority gender issues. It shall be the basis for the annual formulation and submission of the government agencies’ GAD Plan and Budget. The ILS GAD Committee will spearhead the crafting of the Institute’s GAD Agenda for FY 2024 to 2029.