Section 3 - Educating and Partnering for CEDAW
Section 3 - Educating and Partnering for CEDAW
Section 3 - Educating and Partnering for CEDAW
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Most of the people who let their consciousness be rocked that night were students<br />
<strong>and</strong> those affiliated with NGOs. A post-concert CD was released by UPCWS <strong>and</strong><br />
circulated among women’s groups.<br />
WFS goes <strong>CEDAW</strong><br />
For WFS to get on board with <strong>CEDAW</strong>, they <strong>for</strong>med a group, which led up to<br />
consultation <strong>and</strong> planning sessions <strong>for</strong> “The Four-Year Communications Plan” with<br />
the regions. Dubbed the WFS <strong>CEDAW</strong> Team, they attended a two-day Orientation<br />
<strong>and</strong> Planning meeting in Manila around October 2005. Speakers were then<br />
Executive Directors Gigi Francisco of Women <strong>and</strong> Gender Institute (WAGI) <strong>and</strong><br />
Zeny Borlongan of the Women’s Legal Bureau (WLB). They introduced <strong>CEDAW</strong><br />
to an audience of WFS writers based in Bicol, the Visayas <strong>and</strong> Mindanao. This<br />
session produced action plans with specific dates <strong>and</strong> budgets <strong>for</strong> the regional<br />
consultation <strong>and</strong> media <strong>for</strong>um in four regions <strong>and</strong> initial core messages.<br />
Regional consultations <strong>and</strong> media <strong>for</strong>ums took place in Davao, Cebu <strong>and</strong> Naga<br />
City in December 2005. The programme was designed to make the participants<br />
aware of women’s rights issues or discrimination prevalent in their region as a<br />
gateway to <strong>CEDAW</strong>. WFS also took the opportunity to consult local participants<br />
from media, local government <strong>and</strong> civil society on the <strong>CEDAW</strong> national core<br />
message. This was followed by a training <strong>for</strong> local media on “How to tell a <strong>CEDAW</strong><br />
story”, with story planning workshops <strong>for</strong> both print <strong>and</strong> broadcast.<br />
The Four-Year Communications Plan<br />
2005 marked the first year of preparation <strong>and</strong> planning <strong>for</strong> “The Four-Year<br />
Communications Plan.” Along with media training <strong>and</strong> NGO orientation, this<br />
rekindled the MediaLinks bonds in an ef<strong>for</strong>t to build the <strong>CEDAW</strong> network. Regional<br />
slogans from Manila, Baguio, Bicol, Cebu <strong>and</strong> Mindanao were also imperative in<br />
placing <strong>CEDAW</strong> in proper context.<br />
By the second year (2006), the multimedia component was implemented.<br />
In<strong>for</strong>mation was spread through print features <strong>and</strong> discussions on radio <strong>and</strong> tv as<br />
a way of making the public aware of the rights of women, <strong>and</strong> that <strong>CEDAW</strong> is out<br />
there to protect these rights.<br />
Year three of the Plan called <strong>for</strong> contests <strong>for</strong> slogans <strong>and</strong> poster-making <strong>for</strong><br />
<strong>CEDAW</strong> to penetrate high schools <strong>and</strong> colleges, in both public <strong>and</strong> private schools<br />
to target the youth. WFS in Naga, however, got ahead of the plan by holding a<br />
radio plug contest among media students in a university in 2006, <strong>and</strong> the winning<br />
entries were used <strong>for</strong> radio exposures (see Radio days).<br />
Year four was supposed to launch the <strong>CEDAW</strong> report card, a monitoring scheme<br />
<strong>for</strong> students to “grade” their local government on <strong>CEDAW</strong> implementation. This,<br />
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