Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA, through the PFDA – Gender and Development Focal Point System (PFDA-GFPS), hosted a training workshop on Sex-Disaggregated Data/Gender Analysis and Orientation on the Committee on Decorum and Investigation (CODI) on November 18 to 21, 2024, at the Agricultural Training Institute, Diliman, Quezon City. 

The workshop was aimed at driving institutional transparency and is aligned with the PFDA's commitment to fostering a culture of transparency and accountability and generating accurate gender-differentiated data to improve service delivery and policy implementation.

PFDA-GFPS Technical Working Group (TWG) Overall Head and Operations Services Department (OSD) Officer-in-Charge Mr. Mc Christian Julius A. Macaranas II said that this training workshop is the PFDA’s steppingstone to progress its Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework (GMEF) and Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGDG) scores.

“Malaking factor ang SDD at Gender Statistics sa GAD activities, pati na rin sa overall activities ng PFDA dahil lahat tayo ay parte ng statistics… Mainam na ma-familiarize at ma-appreciate natin ang SDD at CODI, at isama ang mga ito sa ating mga programa,” Mr. Macaranas said. 

Ms. Josephine Gabriel-Banaag, a Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) National GAD Resource Pool (NGRP) Certified Member, was the resource speaker for the training workshop. 

On the first day, Ms. Banaag highlighted the importance of Sex-Disaggregated Data (SDD) and Gender Statistics (as linked to Gender Analysis) in policy and program formations. Afterward, Ms. Banaag guided the participants in designing forms to collect SDD/Gender Statistics.

Subsequently, the participants gained a deeper understanding of various laws in the Philippines aimed at addressing gender-based harassment, including the Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 (R.A. 7877) and the Safe Spaces Act (R.A. 11313).

Lastly, Ms. Banaag emphasized the importance of a Committee on Decorum and Investigation (CODI) within an organization and discussed the application of gender sensitivity in handling sexual harassment reports.

A total of 39 participants, 27 female (69.23%) and 12 male (30.77%), from the PFDA Central Office and Regional Fish Ports (RFP) actively participated in the training workshop. 

(Mark Angelo N. Perez and Paul Vincent R. del Rosario – Public Information Division)