The Embassy of Canada in the Philippines recently awarded the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) to nine projects across the Philippines.
This year’s fund focuses on “increasing the participation of women and girls in governance and promoting gender equality (which are) strategic priorities for Canada in the Philippines,” according to Canada’s Ambassador to the Philippines John Holmes in a news release.
The projects receiving support from CFLI are:
Bahay Tuluyan Foundation will train law enforcement officers, social workers, community representatives and barangay officials on children’s rights and rights-based approaches to protecting marginalized children in Manila. The Foundation is a children’s rights organization that delivers social services and programs in Manila, Laguna and Quezon
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific will train local government officials in areas prone to incidents of trafficking such as Siargao in Surigao del Norte and develop a national strategy to coordinate local governments in better implementing anti-trafficking law.
The Foundation for the Advancement of Clinical Epidemiology will develop an app on Facebook Messenger that provides information on reproductive health services and practices to Filipino youth with the goal of reducing incidents of early and unintended pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases.
G-Watch aims to enhance the Sangguniang Kabataan or local youth councils as an accountability mechanism by closely monitoring local anti-poverty programs in three cities across the Philippines to ensure that programs respond to the communities’ needs and are free from corruption.
The Institute of Politics and Governance will promote safe public spaces in Antipolo City by promoting a public awareness campaign and training local government officials and community-based organizations to prevent sexual harassment.
National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) will enhance the capabilities of lawyers, law students and human rights defenders to respond to human rights violations by focusing on existing legal mechanisms and providing a best practices forum. In recent news, NUPL lawyer Benjamin Ramos was gunned down in Negros Occidental by unidentified gunmen. The human rights lawyer was assisting the "Mabinay 6", six youth activists arrested in Negros Oriental in March.
Pambansang Kongreso ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan(PKKK)will advocate for gender-sensitive preparedness and response mechanisms in disaster areas and conflict situations across the Philippines. The PKKK is a rights-based center for women in rural areas with programs in training, marketing and product development designed to empower women’s rights activists and entrepreneurs.
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan’s (SLB)project aims to promote inclusive and participatory governance in the forthcoming Philippine general elections in 2019. It will organize candidates’ forums and develop political and civic education at the grassroots level. The SLB is a non-partisan, Church-based, Jesuit-led organization with the mission of upholding and promoting social justice through good governance advocacy and disaster risk reduction and management programs.
The University of the Philippines Center for Women’s and Gender Studies Foundation will establish a network of aspiring women, political leaders, empower them through a mentoring program and train rights-based and gender-responsive approaches to democratic governance. The Center was established in 1988 with a commitment to social justice, national development, women’s empowerment and recognizing the role of women in nation-building.
The CFLI is a competitive grants program that provides direct financial support to community groups and local non-profit organizations for projects that promote inclusive governance, democracy, capacity-building and other socio-economic development issues.
Managing Editor
Rachel Ramos-Reid started writing for magazines and newspapers when she was still a junior at the University of the Philippines’ Communication degree program majoring in Journalism. She continued to write in a public relations/corporate communications capacity in various private and government offices until moving out of the country in 1997 to work as Programme Officer for the arts and culture branch of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO-SPAFA) in Bangkok, Thailand. At the end of her term, Rachel found herself immigrating to Canada in the year 2000 and again searching for new beginnings. Currently she is the Executive Assistant to the North Island College’s Board of Governors in a part-time capacity.
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