Gender Mainstreaming in Local Governance: Focus on the Cities in Northern Mindanao (2004-2010)

Abstract

The integration of gender and development (GAD) issues in the Philippine legislative agenda was given impetus by ofacial pronouncements both international and domestic. It is enshrined in the United Nation's Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimmation Against Women (CEDAW) and the Millennium Development Goals MDG). Consequently, Philippine legislations, budgetary guidelines, and programs were crafted to concretize these GAD policy thrusts. With the passage of the Philippine Local Government Code (LGC) in 1991, local government units (LGUs) were placed at the forefront of mainstreaming GAD policy in the local development agenda.  While the national government has already provided the legal mandate for the mainstreaming of GAD concerns in local governance, it remains a problem area. Indeed, having a policy is one thing; its implementation another. Aiming to bridge implementation gaps through empirically based advocacy work, this study evaluates gender mainstreaming in the eight (8) cities in Northern Mindanao. The evaluation is anchored on primary data on budgetary allocations and local legislations which are content analyzed as to their gender specificity. The data is validated through Key Informant Interviews (KID, Executive Surveys, and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) among the local chief executives, city councilors and department heads as research respondents. The research findings reveal that policy implementation is indeed a problem area that can derail the good intentions of a pranounced policy.