16 June 2015 - The Department of Foreign Affairs’ Regional Consular Office in Puerto Princesa City (RCO Puerto Princesa) successfully held its “Glad for GAD” Seminar Workshop for its personnel and their spouses from June 06 to 07 at the Sunrise Mansion Resort in Barangay Binduyan, Puerto Princesa.
The training module was specially formulated for RCO Puerto Princesa as a result of their first organization-focused Gender and Development (GAD) Orientation Seminar conducted on November 30 wherein the employees expressed their concern about how their performance and disposition at work are affected by their spouses’ lack of understanding of GAD concepts. In response to this concern, the topics and activities in the “GLAD for GAD” seminar workshop were specially designed for this RCO’s employees and their spouses to help them gain a deeper understanding of gender roles at home and at work in order to strengthen family relationships which in turn, will result to improved productivity, higher morale and more harmonious relations in the workplace.
The seminar workshop also included a situation report on cases of violence against women and children (VAWC) in Palawan to create awareness among the RCO staff and their families about the increasing number of cases of incest and other forms of family violence happening around them.
The participants were taught how to spot human trafficking and VAWC victims and get them rescued through various social support mechanisms. This is an essential management effort in consonance with the Department’s Vision, Mission and Objectives for families of RCO Puerto Princesa personnel to work as team advocates against human trafficking and VAWC by keeping a child-safe community.
The training program was formulated and conducted by the Palawan Prime Movers Cooperative (PPMCI), a non-governmental organization (NGO) composed of reputable academicians providing trainings on Gender and Development. The resources persons were PPMC Chairperson and former Executive Vice President of the Palawan State University (PSU) Dr. Erlinda Ganapin, Member of the Executive Committee of the Philippine Commission for Culture and the Arts (PCCA) and former Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities of PSU Dr. Erlinda San Juan, and Researcher and Trainor and former Dean of the PSU College of Education Prof. Marissa S. Pontillas.
According to Dr. Ganapin, this was the first time for PPMCI to conduct a GAD training that included spouses of employees. Dr. Ganapin expressed her thanks and appreciation for the concepts and initiatives of RCO Puerto Princesa that inspired and challenged them to create the “Glad for GAD” training module. She said that her team will be using this module in their upcoming GAD seminar-workshops for other government agencies and organizations in Palawan. END