Now online: Declaration and Call for Action of the Philippines's National Summit on GAD in Co-ops

The 12-page “Declaration and Call for Action of the Philippines’s ‘National Summit on Gender and Development (GAD) in Co-ops’” is now available online at http://coopwomen.org/pdfs/full_declaration_final_gadsummit2014_ph1.pdf

The National Summit on GAD in Co-ops was held on March 25-26, 2014 in Subic Bay, Philippines, the first of kind to be held in the country. The event's theme was "Inspiring Change for Women and Men in Co-ops." Organizers were the Asian Women in Co-operative Development Forum (AWCF), a regional resource center andadvocacy body on GAD and co-op development, and Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), the Philippines’s lead government agency on co-op development. Renowned advocates of GAD and co-op development were resource speakers during the two-day conference. Guests also came from other Asian co-op organizations.

The Declaration and Call for Action of the National Summit was crafted by the gathering’s 568 delegates (34% male and 66% female) from 429 co-op organizations (primaries, unions, federations, co-op banks), local government units, CDA, and AWCF from all over the Philippines. The Declaration and Call for Action contains the delegates' concerns and recommendations/resolutions about gender equality, and their commitments in bringing about and strengthening GAD in co-ops, which results to economic and social benefits for co-ops.

The delegates drafted this National Summit document through their workshop at the event. In this document, the delegates likewise exhort other Philippine co-ops and all concerned government and private agencies to continue strongly working together for GAD mainstreaming in co-ops.

AWCF shares on GE in gender and youth congresses

AWCF Executive Director Ms Salome A. Ganibe was a resource speaker at the “Gender-Youth Congresses” of the MASS-SPECC Cooperative Development Center (MASS-SPECC), held May 1, 2014 in Madapo, Davao City, Philippines. She spoke on gender equality (GE) mainstreaming in co-ops. The other resource speaker was Mr. Perfecto Rom Jr. who is a democratized agriculture advocate.

MASS-SPECC is a federation of co-ops in the Mindanao region, PH. It is a leading force in the co-op movement as well as in GE advocacy. It established the Gender Equality Resource Center MASS-SPECC (GERC MASS-SPECC) in 2013, along with a number of gender-fair co-ops in Mindanao, to further institutionalize gender in its own organization as well as to assist other co-ops in their GE-related needs.

MASS-SPECC's Gender-Youth Congresses were attended by 114 participants (74 women and 30 men) from 37 co-ops in Mindanao.

On May 2-3, 2014, MASS-SPECC next held its “45th Co-op Leaders’ Congress” and “40th General Assembly” in Lanang, Davao City.

Ms Ganibe (right) at the gender and youth congresses of MASS-SPECC, May 1, 2014, Philippines.