Originally published in Gender-Responsive Governance at Work: LGU Experiences in Using the GAD Budget. Written by Vilma A. Horca, Executive Director, Center for Partnership Initiatives for Development, Inc., and Overall Pro-GAD Program Coordinator of Capoocan, Leyte.

The Program on Gender and Development of Capoocan (Pro-GAD Capoocan) showcases the effective partnership of the LGU and NGOs in bringing to the forefront of development efforts the distinct needs of women as women and in relation to men. This partnership is responsible for the innovative approach of integrating gender and development in the participatory governance framework.

Overview

The Program on Gender and Development of Capoocan (Pro-GAD Capoocan) highlights a participatory and gender-responsive approach to governance. It shows how local governance responds to the various gender issues and concerns identified and validated by both women and men in the 21 barangays of Capoocan. It focuses on the conscious effort of involving the women in the whole development process by opening various avenues for women's participation in decision-making. More importantly, it shows how the bottom-up approach further strengthens the barangay-bayan linkage, making more effective the services of a municipal program as it cascades down to the communities.

GAD budgeting has been both consultative and participatory in process, institutionalized in all barangays since 2001. The judicious utilization of the GAD budget has led to significant rise in the awareness of both women and men on the issue of gender equality; in extending assistance to women's organizations as they implement the socio-economic projects they themselves had planned; in providing better access to basic social services, particularly on reproductive health; in creating mechanisms for the immediate response to VAW incidences; and in drafting policies as expressions of institutional support and assurance of sustainability. Capoocan has received citations for the work done by Pro-GAD, among them the High Achievement Award by the UN Habitat in Japan.

Pro-GAD Capoocan showcases the effective partnership of the LGU and NGOs such as the Center for Partnership Initiatives for Development, Inc. (CPID), a Capoocan-based nongovernment organization, in bringing to the forefront of development efforts the distinct needs of women as women and in relation to men. This partnership is responsible for the innovative approach of integrating gender and development in the participatory governance framework.

The beginnings of the Pro-GAD Capoocan Program

The gender issues in Capoocan were first articulated in 2000, when the Capoocan LGU and the Institute for Democratic Participation in Governance (IDPG) conducted a Participatory Rural Appraisal for Barangay Development Planning (PRA-BDP). To be able to gain a better understanding of these issues, the Center for Partnership Initiatives for Development, Inc. conducted a follow-up study using more gender-specific tools. This study found, among others, that lack of economic opportunities and skills have forced women to migrate to other places, mostly in cities, and seek work as house helpers or even as prostitutes. Many of the women who have opted to stay in the town are, if they are married, economically dependent on their husbands who in turn could not sufficiently provide for the whole family.

Violence against women and children (VAWC) was another grim issue that the study identified. Wives were particularly vulnerable to physical abuse/battery because of their economic dependence on their husbands. Aggravating these women's condition was their multiple-burden: Capoocanon women were taking on household chores and child rearing as their sole responsibilities even as they were also participating in the production sphere and in volunteer community work.

It was also found that in general, the women had low awareness of their reproductive rights and held a lot of misconceptions about contraceptive methods. Further, the women had low level of participation in decision-making; as such, when formulating development decisions, women's specific needs took the backseat in favor of infrastructure projects. The few women leaders included in the Municipal Special Bodies had one observable deficiency: their lack of necessary skills in articulating women's issues.

A review of the LGU programs revealed that the LGU had specific gender-related activities under the regular programs of the Rural Health Unit and the Municipal Social Welfare Office; however, these activities were focused on VAW and did not encompass other gender concerns.

In late 2001, the CPID initiated consultations with Mayor Porciuncula and key persons in the LGU to present the findings and recommendations of their study. The CPID presented broad strokes on possible intervention strategies that would later constitute the Program on Gender and Development of Capoocan (Pro-GAD Capoocan). These strategies include community organizing, education and training, reproductive health services, women's special concern-VAW, advocacy and networking, and GAD institutional development.

On November 15, 2001, Mayor Porciuncula issued EO# 2001-01, the Declaration of Pro-GAD Capoocan as GAD Program of the Municipality. This provided the framework for GAD interventions in the municipality, along with other policy initiatives, namely, R.A. 7192, DBM Local Budget Memorandum No. 32 and DILG Memorandum Circular No. 99-146.

Translating the GAD plan into action: the key players and mechanisms

Pro-GAD Capoocan is propelled by the following players and mechanisms now in place in the community:

• The Pro-GAD Organizational Structure – the planning, implementation, and monitoring of the program are carried out through the collaborative efforts of the following:

  • Municipal GAD Focal Team - the policy-making body of Pro-GAD Capoocan, composed of the Municipal Mayor as Chairperson; SB Committee Chairperson on Women as Vice-Chairperson; and the Municipal Planning Development Officer, Local Government Officer, Municipal Engineer, Agriculture Officer, Population Outreach Worker, Budget Officer, Municipal Treasurer, Local Civil Registrar, Social Welfare Development Officer and Municipal Health Officer; PNP Women's Desk Officer, PNP Chief, CPID Executive Director, Chairperson of Local Council of Women, BHW Federation President, and representative of Young Rural Women as Members. The GAD and CPID staff serve as the MGFT secretariat.

  • The Over-all Program Coordinator - oversees the Pro-GAD Capoocan; supervises the GAD staff; designs training modules and capability-building programs; facilitates program planning and assessments; and handles networking and advocacy.3 Closely working with the Coordinator are the Administrative and Technical Support Staff.

  • Pro-GAD Field Teams – there are three teams under the Pro-GAD; each is composed of two GAD staff and one CPID staff. The teams are assigned to seven barangays each, where they serve as the frontliners of the program, to ensure that gender advocacy and services are brought even to the remotest areas of the municipality.

    Presently, there are eight GAD Staff (six females and two males) tasked to perform the following: community organizing; training and various consciousness-raising activities; facilitating implementation of socio-economic projects; assisting VAW victims; and providing technical support in the implementation of the Barangay GAD Plans.

  • Barangay GAD Focal Persons (BGFPs) – the BGFPs are tasked to ensure the implementation of barangay plans, facilitate the reporting of VAW incidences, acts as counterpart of the GAD staff in the barangay, and facilitate the implementation of Pro-GAD in the communities. There are 23 BGFPs at present.

• Other Pro-GAD mechanisms - these include the following:

  • Bantay Panimalay - this is the Quick Response Team that takes immediate action on VAW cases. It is composed of the PNP Women's Desk Officer, Municipal Social Welfare Officer, Municipal Physician, GAD Staff, and CPID Staff. The team provides services and assistance to VAW victims, and responds to reported and unreported VAW cases.

  • Committee on Decorum and Investigation (CODI) - protects municipal employees from sexual harassment in the workplace. It is composed of the Mayor, MPDO, MSWDO, Municipal Engineer, Disbursement Officer, MBO, and the HRMO as head of the Secretariat.

  • GAD Resource Center (GRC) – the venue for Pro-GAD meetings, planning sessions, consultations and counseling of VAW victims. The GAD staff holds office at the GRC.

Key strategies for implementation of the GAD program

The program seeks to enhance women's participation in decision-making through initiatives in development planning and budgeting.

When the Pro-GAD program started its full implementation, compliance with the mandate of allocating 5% GAD budget from the total annual budget of the LGU was also implemented, as per EO 2001-01, effective CY 2002. This significantly increased the 2002 GAD budget, as compared to the Php 80,000.00 GAD allocation in 2001. Aside from this GAD budget, there are also funds in the regular programs of the LGU that are allocated for its other GAD related activities.

At the barangay level, compliance with the 5% GAD budget policy started in 1999. However, due to lack of knowledge on its proper utilization, sizeable portions were being unspent and thus reverted to the General Fund at the end of each year. With the Pro-GAD Capoocan in place, barangays were encouraged to continue their compliance with the mandate, formalized through a Letter of Instruction from the Mayor issued February 14, 2002 instructing the barangays to implement GAD activities, provide counterpart funds, and complement Pro-GAD Capoocan initiatives. (Please refer to Annex A for the overall GAD Budget).

As part of the budget preparations during the months of July to October, five teams – called the Participatory Barangay Development Planning Teams, which are composed of selected LGU heads of office, GAD staff, and CPID staff – are deployed to the barangays to facilitate the planning and budgeting sessions. The teams ensure that the all the members of Barangay Development Councils (BDC), rather than just one or two officials, formulate the barangay development plan (BDP). In addition to the BDC members, representatives from other sectors in the community participate – fisherfolks, farmers, women's organizations, community volunteers, health and day care workers, tanod, lupon, youth, etc. Of the 52 PO representatives to the BDCs, 29 are women.

Two separate plans are formulated in the planning and budgeting sessions: 1) the Annual Investment Plan which is based on the three-year BDP and funded by the 20% Barangay Development Fund, and 2) the GAD Plan funded from the 5% GAD budget allocation. Prior to the planning exercise, a refresher orientation on participatory governance and gendersensitiveness is conducted. Participatory Rural Appraisal tools are distributed to identify and validate community concerns, including those that are gender-related. Both plans are presented to the barangay assembly before finalization. Majority of the participants in these assemblies are women. The whole activity is made possible through the counterparting scheme - the barangay shoulders the food and accommodations of the BDP Teams; the municipal LGU deploys its employees as facilitators, takes charge of the necessary supplies and materials; and the CPID designs the program flow and deploys its staff as facilitators.

A Letter of Instruction dated March 10, 2003 from the Mayor to the Municipal Budget Officer details a stringent screening process of the barangay annual budget to ensure that they include the 5% GAD budget in the final budget documents. It also ensures that the accompanying GAD Plans have been counterchecked by the GAD staff to be the actual results of a participatory planning process. Only then can the budget officer endorse their budget for approval of the Sangguniang Bayan.

Barangay plans are consolidated at the municipal level for the Municipal GAD Planning and Budgeting. Municipal GAD planning is participated in by the regular members of the Municipal GAD Focal Team (MGFT) and representatives of federated women's organizations. The Municipal GAD planning consolidates the issues and concerns that the barangay GAD budget is unable to address. The planning is anchored on the strategies of the Pro-GAD Capoocan mentioned earlier (e.g. community organizing/ gender data banking, education and training, etc.).

A five-year Municipal Strategic GAD Plan was recently formulated by the MGFT with the technical assistance of NEDA. To be finalized and adopted through legislative policy, this document would guide and provide the overall direction for Pro-GAD Capoocan in the next 5 years.

Monitoring of the GAD plans and expenditures is done on a monthly basis through staff reporting (oral and written), MGFT meetings, conduct of assessments, and actual fieldwork monitoring. Activities not carried out within the specified period are discussed during field team and the MGFT meetings. Those determined to be still feasible and necessary despite the time lapse are carried over to the next month's plan.

Key activities of the GAD program

The operationalization of the GAD plan entails the implementation of several activities, which include the following:

• Community organizing. The formation and strengthening of women's organizations at the barangay and municipal level is important to maximize women's participation in development planning and budgeting. There are now women's organizations in all the 21 barangays and at the municipal level. The municipal women's organizations include the Barangay Health, Day Care, Family Planning Officers, and Nutrition Scholars. The municipal and barangay women officials formed the Association of Women Legislators. A Local Council of Women, an inter-PO/NGO body, was also organized in cooperation with the National Council of Women of the Philippines (NCWP). Organizing encompasses other existing people's organizations (fisherfolks, farmers, senior citizens, and youth) to reach more people, especially the men, to widen the support for gender advocacy.

  To increase women's participation in decision-making for good governance, the BDCs are being reactivated under the participatory governance project of the LGU and CPID. Here, women leaders assume an active role in the BDP formulation through the Participatory Rural Appraisal approach (PRA-BDP) and in the Annual Investment Planning. Women's participation is maximized in the formulation of GAD Plans, especially in pushing for project activities which promote gender equality.

• Education and training. Gender-related consciousness-raising activities and skills enhancement training are being conducted at different levels for different participants, e.g. POs, barangay officials, youth, etc. All municipal employees and the 21 barangays have been reached by GST and VAW orientation, which focus on such topics as anti-sexual harassment in the workplace, reproductive health and sexual rights, women economic empowerment, and basic legislation for barangay women legislators.

  Livelihood skills training, including financial management and bookkeeping, have been conducted for organizations and cooperatives. Women and men have been trained on cut flowers and plant propagation, abaca weaving and twining, candle and bag making, and food preservation and processing.

  There are now 21 day care centers, 11 of which have their own permanent structures. A total of 22 day care classes are being held each day, with total of 325 enrollees -173 girls and 152 boys.

• Socio-economic and livelihood development. Five women's organizations with 125 members availed of livelihood assistance through the GAD Fund. Their projects include nito handicraft weaving, romblon bag making, rice distribution, cut flower/vegetable production, and variety store operation. The organizations are given product development and skills enhancement training. Marketing assistance is provided through product placement and participation in trade fairs, particularly the DTI-sponsored annual Bahandi Trade Fair held in Metro Manila. Funds for livelihood projects are accessed from the regular programs of the LGU under the offices of the Municipal Agriculture and Municipal Social Welfare.

• Health, nutrition, and family planning. In addition to regular health services such as free consultation and medicine, special focus is given to the provision of reproductive health services. Free papsmear and family planning services (orientation sessions, distribution of contraceptives, ligation, vasectomy, etc.) are offered in cooperation with Marie Stopes, a nongovernment organization.

  Compulsory training and refresher courses for all 22 hilots in the municipality are conducted annually to address childbirth related infections and maternal mortality. Iron supplement and tetanus toxoid are provided to pregnant and lactating women. Milk feeding for young children was also offered to a total of 88 malnourished children (52 girls and 36 boys) for six months.

  A team of medical personnel administers free circumcision for young boys every summer.This program provides a safer alternative to the traditional palpag method of circumcision, thereby reducing the number of infections and excessive blood loss among boy-children who undergo the procedure. From 2001 to 2004, 620 boys availed of this program.

• Women's special concern: responding to VAW. VAW cases in the municipality range from verbal abuse to rape. Under the Pro-GAD Program, VAW victims are provided counseling, temporary shelter, and legal and financial assistance. The Bantay Panimalay responds to both reported and unreported VAW cases. [[ ]] A Women's Danger Zone Map, which identifies areas unsafe for women especially at night,is disseminated throughout the town. The map was used as the basis for the street-lighting project in the municipality. Moreover, law enforcers are required to patrol the areas identified as danger zones.

  The anti-VAW campaign is a top priority of the GAD program. The campaign is conducted throughout the year, and highlighted during the commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism for the Elimination of Violence against Women held on November 25 – December 10. during this event, VAW orientations, public film showing, anti-VAW torch parade, stage play presentations, and radio guesting by ProGAD team members are conducted. Giant anti-VAW billboards have been placed in strategic spots along the national highway. Capoocan also participates in the Purple Rose Campaign, an international campaign against sex trafficking held every 14th of February, during which the LGU employees wear a purple rose instead of the traditional Valentine symbols. (Please refer to Annex B on VAW reported cases)

• Advocacy and networking. The Pro-GAD Capoocan policy advocacy is a participatory process. Women legislators, and women and youth organizations collectively formulate legislative and executive agenda that influence barangay and municipal policies.

  In On November 25 to 8 December 2002, a Barangay Women Legislators Conference Series was conducted. The 80 conference participants drafted legislative/executive policy recommendations. These were later presented to the Mayor and the Sangguniang Bayan in a public ceremony that culminated in a GAD commitment signing held on December 10 to cap the 16 Days of Activism for the Elimination of Violence against Women. (Annex C enumerates the concrete gender policies issued resulting from active women's lobby.)

  The people's lobby led to the approval of the three-month delayed 2002 Municipal Annual Budget. This budget contained the first GAD budget allocation mandated by the 5 % GAD budget policy. On 9 April 2002, more than a hundred women advocates, men supporters, and media personnel trooped to the Sangguniang Bayan session to demand for the approval of the budget. After almost four hours of negotiation, it was approved. Consequently, the succeeding annual budgets were promptly approved.

  In the thick of the 2004 election campaigns, representatives of women's organizations, barangay women officials women officials and barangay GAD Focal persons formulated a Women's Agenda and presented to these to the candidates a few days before the May 10 elections. The agenda included concerns on health, economy, environment, social services, women's participation, and sustainability of the GAD program. The Women's Agenda was later incorporated into the People's Agenda that was presented during the People's Day and Inaugural Oath-taking of the newly-elected municipal officials. The Pro-GAD advocacy efforts of the LGU and CPID are disseminated through press releases, radio guestings, film showing, stage play presentations, and the publication of gender-related articles in the Lantawan, the LGU newsletter. A video-documentary of the two-year Pro-GAD Capoocan entitled And GAD Re-invented the Women of Capoocan was produced featuring local talents.

  Pro-GAD also supports relevant national policy advocacy, such as HB 4110, AWIR/VAWC, through signature campaigns and fora. Networking is strengthened at the local and national levels with various government agencies (NCRFW and NEDA) and non-government organizations (NCWP, UKP, GABRIELA, Marie Stopes, IDPG, ELF, and Runggiyan).

Accomplishments and impact

In March 2004, Capoocan participated in the search for the Most Gender Responsive LGUs in Asia-Pacific conducted by the UN Habitat in Fukuoka, Japan. The town did not make it to the top three but because the organizers were impressed by what the Pro-GAD has done, a special award was created for and conferred on Capoocan – the High Achievement Award. For her exemplary leadership in GAD, the National Council of Women of the Philippines honored Mayor Porciuncula as the Most Outstanding Woman for Good Governance. During the recent observance of Women's Day by the Regional Development Council of Region 8, the Mayor was invited as a Guest of Honor to share Capoocan's experience in gender mainstreaming. These citations attest that Capoocan Pro-GAD is moving in the right direction and its results are appreciated by people from outside.

Within Capoocan, the program has led to the following outcomes:

• Increased participation of women in local planning and decision making. Opening more venues for women's participation has raised their confidence in articulating gender issues and concerns. Women's involvement in development planning facilitated the shift from the formerly infrastructure-focused barangay plans to plans that promote gender equality and give priority to health, nutrition, livelihood, and support infrastructure for women's practical needs.

• Increased access to reproductive health services. The compulsory training program for the hilot/komadrona and the provision of hilots kits have lessened child birth risks. According to Virginia Quilay, President of BHW Federation, "Mother's lives and their new-born have been saved by Pro-GAD, unlike before when we, poor women have no choice but to risk and gamble our lives in the hands of untrained hilot/komadrona."

• Increased reporting of VAW cases. The intensive anti-VAW campaign has encouraged women victims to report their ordeal and has deterred the men from harming their wives. It also decreased by 98 % the number of habitual VAW perpetrators. As one-woman bus passenger was overheard, "This town protects its women. Just look at those billboards."

• Improved gender relations among women and men who have attended gender consciousnessraising activities. Women now know about and demand for their rights; men respond positively and contribute not just in household work but also in child-rearing responsibilities.

• Presence of a pool of trainers and trained advocates on GAD. Capoocan now boasts of its pool of gender trainers and advocates who make possible gender consciousness-raising down to the remotest barangays. Despite the challenges of translating gender concepts into the local dialect, these trainers and advocates have displayed innovativeness and creativity in coming up with pop-ed materials that they use to put across the message of gender equality to the women and men in the 21 barangays.

Lessons and Insights

From its experiences in the conceptualization and implementation of the Pro-GAD program, Capoocan would like to share the following lessons and insights with GAD stakeholders

• Participatory approach increases program ownership by the constituents. The popularity and wide support that Pro-GAD enjoys are attributable to the participatory approach adopted throughout the program cycle. The LGU's constituents appreciate the key decision-makers' openness in letting the women and men decide their own development course (thereby breaking the notion that "those who are in power decide"). The involvement of women and men in decision-making has increased their sense of ownership of the gender program. However, it is necessary that the program doubles its effort in reaching out to the LGU officials who are still averse to the participatory approach to governance and who still stand by their belief that the elected officials can not be dictated upon by the people.

• Political will is important. Mayor Marietta H. Porciuncula's commitment to the Pro-GAD Program is the most facilitative factor in its success. She has remained firm and determined about instituting the Pro-GAD as the LGU's core program.

• Investing in training and partnership with an NGO enhances success. The sustained and focused implementation and, subsequently, the significant results gained within the two-year period that the program has been implemented are largely due to the program's investing in people who are the direct GAD implementers. As partner and co-implementor, the CPID infuses community development insights that are not usual in the LGU routine of program implementation. Networking and linkaging with other NGOs and other agencies provide the program with the needed technical support and complementation. Early on, the respective roles of the LGU and the NGO were clarified but despite this, misconceptions about NGOs as rivals/competitors of the LGUs persist.

• Focus must be at the community level. Instead of concentrating on the municipal centers, the Pro-GAD Program brought down gender consciousness-raising activities to the barangays. In line with this, the Program has to address such challenges as ensuring the security of the GAD staff, providing them with social protection, and improving their community integration/organizing work.

• Focus on gender mainstreaming must be adopted as a strategy right at the start of the program. Resistance to Pro-GAD persists despite the LGU personnel's exposure to gender trainings and the Mayor's firm support of the GAD Program. It appears, however, that if the Program gave early and priority attention to translating the Pro-GAD objectives into the various departments' respective programs and helping the concerned personnel to better understand their responsibilities in gender mainstreaming, a number of problems and misgivings about GAD could have been resolved and clarified.

ACRONYMS

Figure 1: The Overall GAD Budget Allocation of Capoocan, Leyte