The Philippine Embassy in Berne conducted a seminar on Gender and Development (GAD) entitled, “#ALDUB: Alamin, Liwanagin, Dangal, Unawain at Bantayan” on Saturday, 03 October 2015.

The seminar 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. 

The seminar stressed that gender and development programs and activities need not specifically target women. It explained that such programs are primarily aimed at addressing society’s unequal structures to help achieve a balance or equity in outcomes for women and men, taking into consideration the difference in their needs, interests and preferences. 

Case studies were presented and discussed to stress the importance of gender training and mainstreaming, and to sensitize the participants on their rights and entitlements, and what to do when they or anyone they know encounter difficult situations.

The Embassy also used the occasion to dialogue with the participants, and encouraged them to share information and suggest topics of relevance to them. During the dialogue, most of the participants pointed to the need for more seminars on topics such as cultural sensitivity and cultural integration; anger management and diffusing/managing conflicts at home, particularly of inter-racial marriages; and health-related issues, including access to health insurance providers especially for irregular migrants. Other topics proposed include local services available to migrants at the community and cantonal levels; and orientation on laws of destination countries of Filipino migrants such as Swiss laws relating to the rights of Filipinos in Switzerland.

The seminar elicited positive comments from the participants. The latter suggested that the Embassy conduct similar dialogues in the future apart from its consular outreach activities.

For its part, the Embassy welcomed the reaction from the participants and underscored the need for increased participation from members of the Filipino community in such seminars. It stressed the need for Filipinos to be more pro-active in guarding their rights and entitlements to reduce the number of Filipinos getting into difficult situations, particularly those who are finding it difficult to adjust to an intercultural marriage.

The Embassy also invited the participants, especially those who belong to organizations, to inform the Embassy of their projects and activities that can fall under the GAD program so the Embassy can partner with them. END