24 November 2015 - The Philippine Embassy in Berne conducted a Gender and Development (GAD) Seminar entitled, “Mr. & Mrs. Stress: A Gender and Development Seminar on Stress Management – Understanding Stress and Gender” on November 21.

The seminar aimed to help participants better understand stress, what it is all about, and the root causes of stress as they differ between men and women based on their culturally constructed gender roles. 

In his welcome message, Philippine Ambassador to Switzerland Joselito Jimeno said, “This seminar is the third seminar conducted by the Embassy this year under the ambit of Gender and Development (GAD). We do these GAD-related activities as part of our mandate, for which 5 per cent of the budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs is allocated.”

“We hope that through this seminar, we could help you assess the causes of your stress and see what we can do to help you. Not all stress is bad for us. Stress can only be harmful to our system if we let it affect us negatively,” continued Ambassador Jimeno.

The seminar, which ran for two hours, kicked off with a self-examination to enable participants to know who they are and what they are when they are stressed. This was followed by games and other group activities to help them de-stress and allow them to share their stressors with their own groups.

To manage stress, participants were given tips such as managing their time wisely, learning how to say “no”, keeping a positive and realistic attitude, taking time to chill out, and spending time with people with positive outlook.  People who are experiencing chronic stress were encouraged to seek professional help.

The seminar, conducted by Ms. Elizabeth Joanne Tecson, Attaché and in-house guidance counselor of the Embassy, was the third GAD-related seminar organized by the Philippine Embassy this year. The first one, entitled “Seminar-Workshop on Intercultural Marriages: Bridging the Cultural Divide”, was held in Zὒrich in May. It was designed to help participants identify real and perceived differences in Philippine and Swiss cultures that create obstacles to understanding and communication between couples, and make couples in intercultural marriages aware of the cultural divide and present ways to bridge them. It was done in partnership with the Philippine Catholic Mission (PCM) - Switzerland.

The second, entitled “#ALDUB: Alamin, Liwanagin, Dangal, Unawain at Bantayan”, was held at the Embassy in October.  It aimed to educate the Filipino community on the basic concepts relating to GAD such as the difference between gender and sex, gender needs and the importance of gender mainstreaming.

GAD-related seminars are part of the outreach activities of the Embassy to strengthen its relationship with the Filipino community. END