DFA GAD Secretariat, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific conduct Webinar Series on the Collection and Analysis of Data on Violence against Women Overseas Filipino Workers

PASAY CITY 13 October 2020 – As part of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) efforts to strengthen gender mainstreaming and address issues on violence and abuses against women, the DFA Gender and Development (GAD) Secretariat, in partnership with UN Women-Asia Pacific and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, conducted a webinar series on the Collection and Analysis of Data on Violence against Women (VAW) Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) on 22, 24 September and 06, 08 October 2020 via the Zoom platform.

Violence against women migrant workers is not captured by traditional data sources, hence, there is a striking scarcity of data capturing the exploitation, abuse and violence faced by women overseas Filipino workers, in particular those in low skilled sectors. In this regard, the webinar series is an initiative to engage Foreign Service Post personnel in countries of destination to better understand the collection and analysis of data on violence and abuses against women OFWs, using the ASEAN Regional Guidelines on Violence against Women and Girls Data Collection and Use. 

Nearly 140 DFA personnel from Foreign Service Posts, Consular Offices, and offices in the Home Office attended the webinar.

DFA Undersecretary for Administration and Chairperson of the GAD Focal Point System (GFPS) Executive Committee J. Eduardo Malaya conveying his warm welcome to the participants of the webinar series

DFA Undersecretary for Administration and Chairperson of the GAD Focal Point System (GFPS) Executive Committee J. Eduardo Malaya, in his welcome remarks, noted that as lead agency tasked to look after the welfare of migrant Filipinos, the DFA “must duly comprehend 'this' [Violence Against Women] phenomenon in order to be able to address the challenge in a way that is efficient and gender-responsive.”

In the four sessions conducted, the participants gained better understanding on the importance of proper collection of VAW data in order to craft policies that can better respond to the needs of victim-survivors. Participants further learned the value of strengthening VAW administrative data collection and analysis so as to improve FSPs response to such issues.

The webinar series also included sharing of experiences and good practices from select DFA personnel at FSPs.

DFA Human Resources Management Office (HRMO) Assistant Secretary and Head of the GAD Secretariat Antonio A. Morales expressing his gratitude to the organizers and DFA personnel for actively sharing their insights and experiences

In his closing remarks, HRMO Assistant Secretary and Head of the GAD Secretariat Antonio A. Morales remarked that “proper collection of VAW data in the administrative systems must be observed in order to minimize the risks of stepping-out-of-bounds in the privacy and information sharing of the sensitive data collected.”

The webinar series, a first of its kind, is also part of HRMO’s initiative to ensure that DFA personnel display the required competencies in properly handling cases of victims of VAW, exploitation, and human trafficking. END