The Institute for Labor Studies’ Labor and Employment Officer III Arianne Ishreen C. Bucar of the Workers Welfare Research Division made it to the list of Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Governance Pitching Competition winners along with her team that will be granted 2500 USD  by the U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur to implement their gender-related project proposal.

Their project is titled "Gender Forward: Putting Gender in the Forefront of Budgets" and aims to engage the youth in gender-responsive budgeting through capacity building and open dialogue with local government leaders in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Gender Responsive Budgeting is aimed at ensuring that the collection of and allocation of public resources is carried out in ways that are effective and contribute to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Their project components include capacity building and open dialogue for youth and local government leaders on comprehensive gender responsive budgeting and knowledge-sharing on why gender responsive budgeting is important to responding to issues affecting young women such as unemployment violence and harassment, teenage pregnancy and mental distress.

Launched in 2013, the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) is U.S. government’s signature program to strengthen leadership development and networking in Southeast Asia.

Ms. Bucar is the current Chairperson of the Gender and Development Committee of the Institute, and co-authored the 2020 paper "Affirming the Right to Freedom from Violence and Harassment in the World Of Work: A Gap Analysis of the ILO Convention 190."

Download a copy of this study:  https://bit.ly/3rA6N4m