SP Approves 2023 Provincial Gender and Development Code

By: Nicolas Evan G. Fuentes
The Gender and Development (GAD) Code of the Province of Aklan was approved on third and final reading by the 19th Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan during its 26th Regular Session on January 23, 2023.

SP Committee on Women and Family Welfare Chairperson, Hon. Blessie D. Jizmundo, expressed her appreciation for the approval of the Aklan GAD Code as this will serve as a guide for the LGU’s implementation of programs and activities geared towards achieving gender equality in the province.

“The passage of a comprehensive ordinance such as GAD Code supports our local government’s efforts to promote, protect, and uphold women’s human rights in order to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment in Aklan,” Jizmundo said.

GAD is a development perspective that recognizes the equal contribution of women and men in all aspects of development. It involves a process of identifying interventions which address unequal gender relations and transform them into opportunities which equitably or equally benefit both women and men.

PG Aklan GAD Focal Person, Engr. Lorna T. Cawaling, described the GAD Code as a document that provides a set of guidelines and policies that spell out the provincial government’s vision of promoting, protecting and fulfilling women’s rights and equalizing the gender relations of its women and men constituents.

“The Aklan GAD Code specifies the programs and activities aimed towards achieving women empowerment and gender equality in the Province of Aklan. It also serves as a guide for the effective implementation of GAD programs,” Cawaling explained.

Engr. Cawaling also mentioned that the Aklan Gender and Development Commission is working on a bound version of the Aklan GAD Code which will be transmitted to the seventeen (17) component municipalities of the Province of Aklan to serve as a guide for them to revise their own respective local GAD Codes.