Left photo: Project partners from the the local government of Quezon and the municipalities of Real, Infanta and Nakar (standing) flank GREAT Women Project national partners from the Philippine Commission on Women and the Department of Trade and Industry. Shown standing are Arnulfo Tena (Gen. Nakar), Conrado Vargas (LAC for GWP Quezon), Vangie Paril (Real), Linda Villaflor (Real, Quezon), Zenaida Sol (Infanta), Kareen Leynes (Gen. Nakar), Perla Ayuma (Gen. Nakar), Nonato Maza (Infanta), Linda Alina (Quezon Province) and Marianne Calzado (Real, Quezon). From left (seated), GREAT Women Project Manager Luvy Villanueva, PCW Deputy Director Tess Salud, Deputy Director Loren Umali, Executive Director Emmeline Verzosa, PCW Commissioner Isabelita Palanca, DTI Asst. Sec. Lourdes Baua, Overall Forum Facilitator Lucy Lazo and PCW Commissioner Maribeth Floralde graced the two-day Partners’ Forum of the GREAT Women Project last February 9-10 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila in Ortigas Center, Quezon City. 

Right photo: Ma. Clara Ignacio of the Technical Edudation and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Women’s Center presented gender mainstreaming in a TESDA training program in one of the Partner Forum’s parallel sessions.


The two-day Partners’ Forum of the GREAT Women Project last February 9-10 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila in Ortigas Center, Quezon City showcased the developments
in creating a national and local enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment (WEE) at the national and local levels.

The GREAT Women Project is a five-year (2007-2012) capacity development and governance project for women’s economic empowerment (WEE) supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The GREAT Women Project supports the development of an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment (WEE), particularly supporting women microentrepreneurs and women workers in enterprises. The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the national machinery for the advancement of women, is the lead implementing agency of the Gender-Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) Project. 

The two-day Partners’ Forum held parallel sessions for sharing of good practices. First-day parallel sessions centered on a sharing of good practices  to create the national and local enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment, and facilitating safeguard strategies for environmental and social risks. Second-day parallel sessions focused on sharing of resource partners on their programs and services related to enterprise development.

In the session presentations for the First Day, speakers were Mario Nillos of Iloilo Province (Gender Mainstreaming in Programs and Projects of Iloilo Provincial Government), Blesshe Querijero of DOST (Pursuing Gender Responsive Science and Technology), Quezon Province representative Ofelia Palayan (Creating the Local Enabling Environment: The Quezon Province Experience), TESDA Center Chief Ma. Clara Ignacio (Institutionalizing Gender in TVET), Armida Marquez of Infanta, Quezon (When WEE See Through the Lens), Efren Logrono of Buenavista, Bohol (Integrating WEE in the AIP and Allocating Funds Therefor), Nimfa Lloren of Jagna, Bohol (Orchestrating Change: Managing Multi-Stakeholder Partnership in Advancing Gender and Development), MNDC representative Reuel Oliver (One-stop Women Enterprise Development Desk), Barugo representative Alden Avestruz and Pauline Lawsin-Nayra (Barugo and Runggiyan Social Development Foundation: Working Together for WEE), Joy Doronila Palmada and Baltazar Gumana of Pavia, Iloilo (LGU-Cooperative Partnership with the Pavia Eco-Savers’ Bank).

In the session presentations for the First Day, speakers were Marcelina Alcantara of DTI  (Breaking Barriers: DTI), DOST Region V Director Tomas Brinas (DOST Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program), and Philhealth representative Gilda Salvacion Diaz (Integration and Promotion of WEE in the National Health Insurance Program), Ester Gamboa of Advocate for Philippine Fair Trade, Inc. (Made for Fair Trade Project), Feri Lumampao of Approtech Asia (Technology and Finance and the Entrepreneurial Poor), Ma. Rocelyn Bernabe of Philippine Business for Social Progress (Reducing Poverty Thru Enterprise Development), Jerry Pacturan of Philippine Development Assistance Program (Developing and Strengthening MSMEs’ Value-Chain and Industry Clusters for Poverty Reduction), Josephine Parilla of Pambansang Kalipunan ng Mga Manggagawang Impormal ng Pililpinas (Organizing, Advocacy and Enterprise Building: Issues of Informal Work, Social Protection, Poverty and Gender), Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip of Center for Agriculture and Rural Development-Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (Microfinance: The CARD-MRI Experience), Lalaine Joyas (Microfinance Council of the Philippines), and Mercedes Abad of Ahon Sa Hirap (Promoting Social Protection of Women: ASHI Experience, 2008), and Emelina Santos of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (Microfinance Innovations in Cooperatives).

Occupational Safety and Health Center representative Ray Jose Soriano presented Occupational Safety and Health for Women Workers in Small Enterprises and Informal Economy. DTI Assistant Secretary Lourdes Baua presented an overview of the Harmonized DTI Project on Gender Responsive Enterprise Development with Focus on Food and Marine Sector. Through the partnership with the GREAT Women Project, the DTI conducted a value chain analysis of priority products, mainstreamed GAD in enterprise development programs and is  customizing interventions for prioritized sectors.

The Partners’ Forum was capped by partner recommendations on improving synergy between LGU and NGA and NGO partners towards women’s economic empowerment and enabled the participants to have  increased awareness and understanding of the wide range of programs and services of the NGAs and the role of the private sector for WEE sustainability. Participants also learned how various informal sectors in their localities can be organized for WEE and reactivate local economic development efforts.

 The Philippine Commission on Women sponsored the GREAT Women Project Partners’ Forum on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) held on February 9-10 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila in Quezon City. The Partners’ Forum, themed Partnership and Synergy Towards A GREATer Philippines, was a venue for knowledge-sharing and partnership-building among key national government agencies, partner local government units and WEE-supportive non-government organizations.

The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) sponsored a two-day Partners’ Forum of the GREAT Women Project last February 9-10 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila in Ortigas Center, Quezon City. The Partners’ Forum themed Patnership and Synergy Towards A GREATer Philippines gathered 246 participants from 12 national government agencies, local government representatives from six partner provinces and two alliances, and more than a dozen non-government organizations who are collectively advancing women’s economic empowerment.

The GREAT Women Project is a five-year (2007-2012) capacity development and governance project for women’s economic empowerment (WEE) supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The GREAT Women Project supports the development of an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment (WEE), particularly supporting women microentrepreneurs and women workers in enterprises. The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the national machinery for the advancement of women, is the lead implementing agency of the Gender-Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) Project.  

The Partners’ Forum provided opportunity to share knowledge and emerging good practices on WEE at the national and local levels and forge partnerships with GREAT Women Project stakeholders.

In her welcome speech, Philippine Commission on Women Myrna Yao said that as the GREAT Women Project develops capacities for gender-responsive governance at the national and local levels, the “continuing challenge is to ensure that transformation in policies, programs and projects benefit women in local communities.”

GREAT Women Project Manager Luvy Villanueva emphasized that it makes “good economic sense” to support women microenterpreneurs, because more women microentrepreneurs lessen government expenditure on welfare support, sustained microenterprises generate income, revenue and jobs, and a growing microenterprise sector attracts more business to an area. CIDA Head of Aid Laurenne Garneau reaffirmed its commitment to support the GREAT Women Project, after noting that the GREAT Women Project has shown a diversity in emerging results and is on its way to sustainability. She mentioned that the Project is seeing “the beginning of many successful cases that can be shared to other LGUs on how paying particular attention to the needs and capabilities of women can be strategic entry points for more people-focused economic development.”

In her keynote address, Usec. Carissa “Merly” Cruz of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Regional Operations and Development Group stressed that local governments need to play a stronger role in business promotion and development, particularly in the creation of a good business environment, by harnessing local government and private sector partnerships, engaging local chief executives as active planners and managers in MSME development, and enhancing business competitiveness through gender mainstreaming.