Selected programmes in support of women in agriculture, forestry and fisheries
Policy Planning and Research
· A Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development 1995-2025 is being prepared under the leadership of the NCRFW in coordination with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
· WlD/Gender and Development (GAD) focal points have been established in government line agencies by the NCRFW.
· Gender sensitivity training has been undertaken in various line agencies by the NCRFW.
· Many NGOs involved in funding and implementing projects have made efforts to sensitize decision makers, planners, designers and field implementors to gender issues and to establish monitoring systems that differentiate by gender, project beneficiaries and the distribution of project resources.
· A pilot Provincial Agricultural Extension Project, implemented by the Department of Agriculture to draft a community agricultural sector plan, involved a significant number of women and devised a number of strategies for including women, such as: identifying women's specific agricultural needs in the plan, specifying how women would be involved in or benefit from general agricultural activities, and, to a lesser extent, a separate women's plan.
· A number of NGOs are carrying out gender awareness programs for rural men and women.
· The Women in Rice Farming Systems Network is advocating scientists to orient their technologies towards women as well as men users.
Legal and Policy Reform
The Women in Nation Building Act of 1992 provides for the allocation of a substantial portion of ODA funds to support activities for women As of May 1993, it is estimated that 18% of ODA funds has been earmarked for projects that aimed to integrate women in their activities or had women's components.
Access to Agricultural Resources and Services
· Government and NGO credit schemes, based on the Grameen Bank experience in Bangladesh, have helped bring credit to landless people and have benefited women.
· GAD advocacy within the National Confederation of Cooperatives has resulted in a pilot project to enhance women's participation in cooperatives, including gender awareness building within the leadership of cooperatives.
· A number of projects or project components are directed to increasing women's access to agricultural resources and services.
