The Advancing of Rights and Voices of Women in Political Spaces is an offshoot project from the Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau (WLB), a previous Voice influencing project that focused on strengthening the capacities of women facing exploitation and abuse, women in disaster situations, indigenous women, and young women in demanding the state’s obligation to address systemic discrimination against women, especially marginalised women. Two of the three people’s organisation they worked with partnered in this project to continue strengthening their capacities and claiming their political space in their respective local governments. Specifically, the project:

• Increases the knowledge of women and advocates in Samar and Zambales provinces on the topics of violence and discrimination by pushing for programmes and policies that will end these forms of abuse; at the same time, increase access to livelihood and reproductive health services.
• Expands the membership of both organisations in their respective areas to strengthen support for programmes and advocacy.
• Identifies additional champions from the community who will lead/support in advancing women’s issues, especially in relation to ending violence.
• Develops knowledge on accessing the Gender and Development budget of the local government unit and continue to strengthen inquiries and arguments in relation to its utilisation through continuous dialogue.

Advancing the rights and voices of women in political spaces 

Unhan Kababayen-an Tinabanan Organization (UKTO) and Kababaihang Samahan ng Maporac (KASAMA) were hosted by Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau (WLB) for this project. Working together they were able to identify at least 21 other potential gender champions from 17 other Barangays in the Samar project area.  Out of those identified, at least three potential gender champions are now actively participating in WLB’s other activities related to feminism, safe spaces, and the best interest of the girl child.  In dealing with Gender Based Violence one participant was able to utilize the knowledge she gained to finally leave her abusive husband and at least five community women were introduced to the process of an open dialogue with representatives from their local government, which – if sustained – can pave the way towards an increased participation of community women in Marabut.  A major achievement was that Despite the political challenges in Zambales, women’s groups continue to believe in the cause of the group while balancing the safety and security of individual members. 

In the Zambales Project area the intervention was able to provide training in building support group.  They conducted first training/consultation during COVID via online mentoring and conducted training on conflict management and fostering a safe environment as part of KASAMA’s preparation for their upcoming orientation seminars. A third training involved conducting 1 of 3 seminars introductory seminars aimed to get to know and introduce KASAMA to women as a gender-based violence support group in Cabangan 

In the Samar Project Area, the intervention conducted four (4) orientation-seminars, towards greater awareness of other community members about women’s human rights and laws and redress mechanisms in cases of VAW.  While the first four orientation-seminars focused on increasing awareness on women’s human rights and their related laws, particularly the redress mechanisms for VAW cases, the final orientation-seminar focused on emerging distinct issues of women in each target barangays and emphasizing the need for more gender champions in Marabut, and Samar. The final orientation-seminar sought to prepare the participants for the upcoming dialogue with local government officials.  Providing a safe environment is equally important and for other participants, the orientation-seminars served as their safe space for airing out their grievances with the existing access to justice mechanisms in their local community.  All in all, this series of orientation-seminars can be said to be a milestone in itself. Some of the participants – who are also members of women’s organisations in their barangays – have shared that this is their first time attending such training/orientation that is solely focused on women’s issues.  The project was also able to facilitate one dialogue between 5 community women and 6 local government agency representatives. At the end of the dialogue, the community women were able to obtain commitments and information from the invited local government representatives, such as being allowed to sit-in during village assemblies, village leaders to undergo training for improved gender sensitivity and technical knowledge, among others. 

Evidence of the satisfaction of the inytervention is captured in the  video testimonials where some of the community women expressed their views.  For most of them, this is their first time that they were able to talk face-to-face with these local government representatives to personally ask their queries. 

Mahalaga kong natutunan ang aral at mensahe ng pakikinig na may pag-unawa sa sinasabi ng nagsasalita at ang kahalagahan ng pagtatanong upang hindi lagging namamali sa akala. At dapat hindi pinuputol ang oras ng nagsasalita upang buo na makuha ang ibig nitong sabihin. Higit sa lahat, kung nagkamali, ay humingi ng sorry sa taong nagawaan ng pagkakamali. – (Important lessons I learned are listening with empathy to the person speaking and the value of asking questions to avoid assuming. It is also important to not cut someone speaking to be able to gather what they really mean. Most importantly, to ask for forgiveness from the people you have wronged.) 

Sa palagay ko narrating naman ang layunin sapagkat ang lahat ay nabigyan ng espasyo upang mapakinggan ang boses sa pagbibigay ng punto sa debate at diskusyon. Lahat din ay nagbigay ng mungkahing dapat na maging gabay ng grupo bilang Dos and DONTs sa gitna ng hindi pagkakasundo. Ito ay epektibong paraan upang ang bawat isa sa grupo ay maobligang gawin ito pagkat ito ay galing sa amin mismo. At upang ang hindi pagkakasundo tiyak na mauuwi sa ikabubuti ng aming Gawain at ng aming Samahan sa loob ng grupo tungo sa pagiging epektibong tagapagsanay sa pagsuri ng hamon.  

(I believe that we were able to reach our goal because everyone was given the space to be heard, to raise their points during debate and discussion. Everyone also gave recommendations on what should guide us (the Do’s and Don’ts) when we’re in disagreement. It was an effective way for us to oblige on the guidelines since we have set it ourselves. It was also to ensure that the disagreements will eventually lead to the good of the group and the accomplishment of our tasks. It can help us when navigating challenges.)     

– Janette, project participant from KASAMA on her assessment of one of the major project activities 

There is still a lot that needs to be covered.  At the end of the project, the CORE group admitted that as expected not all participants were able to change their traditional notions on gender-based violence.  The remaining initiatives involve:    

1. Organizing more orientation-seminars of longer duration targeting different kinds of participants. There should be one for men, for mixed participants (i.e. women and their partners), for single women, for those who have zero knowledge on VAW, for those who have not yet attended any kind of VAW training. 
2. Coordinating with the villages assemblies to conduct family development sessions. If possible, they will attend these assemblies. Incidental to this is finding out which village has allocated a budget for such an initiative. 
3. Coordinating with the Philippine National Police (PNP) in their information-dissemination activities to ensure that they follow-through with their commitments. Aside from PNP, the CORE, together with other women’s organizations in other barangays and their identified support groups, will also coordinate with the village – either through the VAW desk officer or the chairperson on Women’s and Family Affair in the barangay council. 
4. Explore other areas of partnership with WLB.