MIAGAO, ILOILO – Employees of the Municipal Local Government here revisited the laws and policies related to gender and development (GAD) in a one-day Gender Sensitivity Training at the JRBB Hall, November 27th.

The training, participated in by municipal officials and employees aims to open up communication between both sexes to bring mutual understanding and respect of each other’s roles in the Municipality.

Further it aims to: provide understanding of the basic concepts of gender relations and dynamics; orient the participants with governing laws and policies related to GAD; and provide a venue to re-examine ideas, beliefs, attitudes and opinions concerning gender relations.

“I am expecting that the employees will seriously give importance to this seminar. It is a must that government employees are aware of issues related to gender relations and have the knowledge on how to address this,” Mayor Macario N. Napulan, MD in his speech.

To bring out the purpose, experts were employed in the person of Dr. Mary Barby Badayos-Jover as resource speaker and Ms. Dana Lee Durana and Ms. Raquel Ningas as facilitators.

Dr. Jover talked on basic concepts and issued related to gender-sensitivity, introduced the salient features of the GAD policies that are relevant to the employees’ tasks and acquaint them with some of the GAD mainstreaming responsibilities expected of them.

“The training is also necessary for effective functioning of the LGU and to properly respond to the clients’ gender needs,” concluded Mayor Napulan. (ABMande)