Section 3 - Educating and Partnering for CEDAW

These mechanisms have created strategic opportunities and challenges for
gender equality advocates. In 2002, seven years after the UN reform began,
UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and UN Development Programme
(UNDP) undertook a global scan of gender expertise in the UN system. UNIFEM
commissioned a review of gender theme groups.
From 2002 to 2004, the UNIFEM East and South East Regional Office supported
the “Assessment, Strategy Setting and Monitoring and Evaluation of the Gender
Dimensions of UNDP and UN Country Team Programming in the Philippines,
2002-2004.” A gender consultant, Ermelita Valdeavilla, who just finished her stint
as Executive Director of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women
(NCRFW) was contracted to undertake capacity assessment on gender among
the UNDP programme staff and counterparts.
A Gender and Development (GAD) Training Needs Assessment was conducted
to assess the gender dimensions of UNCT development programming in the
Philippines. With a total of 27 out of the expected 60 individual respondents from
six UN agencies – International Labor Organization (ILO), Joint UN Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UN Information Center (UNIC), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
UNDP, UN Population Fund (UNFPA), it was found out that only half were able to
link gender issues with their respective programs and projects.
Prior to 2004, there was a smaller UNDAF Gender Working Group (GWG). It
commissioned the Women and Gender Institute (WAGI) of Miriam College to
research and publish the first country gender assessment report, “To Produce
and to Care: How do Women and Men Fare in Securing Well Being and Human
Freedoms” in 2002. The findings of the report were carried over to the 2004
Common Country Gender Assessment. It flagged gender inequities to be
among the key development challenges in the various areas of development
cooperation.
In response to these gender issues, a Philippine Gender Strategy Framework
was developed by the GWG and was approved by the UNCT in May 2004.
Among the recommendations implemented was expanding and consolidating
the GWG into the UN-Gender Mainstreaming Committee. Thereafter, the UN-
GMC was composed of gender focal points from the following UN agencies
and programmes: ILO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNDP, UNIFEM CEDAW South East
Asia Program (SEAP) in the Philippines, UNFPA, UN Resident Coordinator Office
(UNRC), World Bank (WB), and the World Health Organization (WHO). UNICEF
was named lead convenor. When the UNICEF Country Representative ended his
tour of duty in 2007, a rotation of the convenor post was agreed upon. The UNRC
designated the ILO Sub-Regional Director, Linda Wirth, as Chairperson of the
UN-GMC.
Each UN agency designates a permanent representative and alternate to the GMC.
The Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) provided active coordination. The UN-
GMC has been the most active among the UNDAF theme groups, meeting every
six weeks to provide update and progress of individual and joint gender initiatives,
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