by GERC Inc.

CLICK here for the "Vigan City 5th National GAD Summit Declaration and Call for Action (Vigan City DCFA)" (full version)

For the abridged version of the Vigan City DCFA, click here

(Note: The full version of the Vigan City DCFA contains the examples of actions that co-ops can do for GAD mainstreaming and for climate change.)



The “5th National Summit on Gender and Development (GAD) in Cooperatives” was held on March 4-6, 2024, Vigan Convention Center, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. The Summit’s theme was “Accelerating Gender Equality for Real and Lasting Change in Philippine Co-ops” #GEinPHcoops

The Summit had 386 delegates (259 female and 127 male) from 106 primary co-ops, unions, and federations; co-op banks; co-op development councils; local government units; national government agencies; and non-government organizations. The Gender Equality Resource Center (GERC) Inc., in partnership with Nueva Segovia Consortium of Cooperatives (NSCC), convened the Summit. GERC Inc. is a resource center and advocacy body, organized in 2013 by its precursor organization the Asian Women in Cooperative Development Forum (AWCF), that aims at promoting the advocacy and practice of gender equality in co-ops to achieve and support co-op development and growth. The NSCC, a co-op federation based in Vigan City, aims at empowering co-ops and is implementing projects that help eradicate poverty through extending financial assistance, and conducting training community development activities. 

Summit objectives
The 5th National GAD Summit’s objectives were:
1. To share information on how co-ops are mainstreaming GAD in people, policies, programs/projects/activities, and enabling mechanisms; and to highlight the impact of GAD in co-ops
2. To identify how to sustain and expand GAD mainstreaming in co-ops to further strengthen actions in addressing particularly socioeconomic, climate change, and digital technology challenges
3. To issue a call for action to all co-ops, legislators, government agencies, and civil society to help accelerate immediately—NOW—gender equality and GAD efforts for real and lasting change in Philippine co-ops and to contribute to attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Previous National GAD Summits
The National GAD Summits had been held every two years pre-pandemic. The first Summit was in March 2014, Subic Bay, PH, carrying the theme "Inspiring Women and Men in Co-ops." AWCF and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) were the Summit co-organizers. The second Summit was in March 2016, Baguio City, PH, dealing on the theme “Transformative, Sustainable Growth for Women and Men, and Co-operatives.” The GERC Inc. and CDA were the Summit co-organizers, in partnership with AWCF. The third Summit was in April 2018, Cebu City, PH, and the Summit delegates tackled the theme "Philippine Co-ops Stepping up United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) through GAD Mainstreaming" #1phcoop1actionforSDG2030. This Summit was organized by GERC Inc., in partnership with We Effect, Cebu Provincial Government, and CDA-Region 7; and Summit co-organizers were various Cebu-based co-ops. The fourth Summit was livestreamed in September 2021, with the theme “Co-ops Flexing Resiliency in the New Normal through GAD” #coopgadflex. GERC Inc. organized the Summit, in partnership with We Effect, that had online delegates from all over the Philippines as well as online delegates and resource speakers also from different countries.

Summit proceedings
With the 5th National GAD Summit delegates already marked present on March 4, 2024 in vibrant Vigan City, north of the Philippines, the event opened early morning of March 5, 2024 with a Holy Mass in the venue, presided over by Msgr. Cosmenio Rosimo Jr. The Summit opening ceremony’s emcees were Ms. Holly Pearl Velasco-Bataller (of Abra Diocesan Teachers and Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative [ADTEMPCO]) and Mr. Christian Villar (of PLDT Multi-Purpose Cooperative [PECCI]). During the invocation, the song “The Prayer” was rendered by Ms. Belen Bandao (of Tam-an Banaue Multi-Purpose Cooperative [Tam-an BMPC]) and Mr. Kenn Tenebroso (of Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative [Lamac MPC]). The messages from NSCC Chairperson Mr. Fidel Gines and GERC Inc. Chairperson Dr. Emma Nieva were followed by greetings from Mayor Jose Singson Jr. of Vigan City; Governor Jerry Singson of Ilocos Sur, represented by Provincial Board Member Ms. Mildred Elaydo of Ilocos Sur; Undersecretary Joseph Encabo, CDA chairperson, who spoke through a recorded video; Representative Felimon Espares, House of Representatives, COOP-NATCCO Partylist (CNPL), whose message to the Summit delegates was read by Mr. Alexander Raquepo, CNPL president. The song “Isang Lahi” by Mr. Ralph Rapanot (of NSCC Multi-Purpose Cooperative) preceded the introduction by NSCC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Divina Quemi of the Summit’s guest speaker Mayor Germelina Singson-Goulart of the Municipality of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur.






The Summit’s afternoon session were moderated by Ms. Salome Ganibe (of GERC Inc.) and Mr. Florentino Lorenza (of CDA Region 1). For the solidarity message, the moderators introduced Ms. Chitose Arai, chairperson of the Committee on Women of the International Cooperative Alliance-Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP). Ms. Arai highlighted in her message that that for the past 25 years, the Committee on Women of ICA-AP has been providing recommendations to create gender-sensitive laws and policies for cooperatives that will foster leadership development and enhance the capacity of women in cooperatives and, furthermore, also support cooperatives’ capacity-building in climate change actions and with additional calls for stronger efforts to respond to challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged conflict, climate change and natural disasters, and the deteriorating environment that are all jeopardizing lives, dignity, and livelihoods of women and girls in cooperatives.

The recorded video message of Japan-based Ms. Arai was followed by also a recorded video message about “Building a Better World through Sustainable and Inclusive Cooperatives: The SOCODEVI Experience” from Ms. Andrée-Anne Côté-St-Laurent, policy and advocacy advisor of the  Society for International Development (SOCODEVI). Based in Quebec, Canada, the SOCODEVI describes itself as a cooperative and mutualistic network that aims at contributing to the improvement of the living conditions of disadvantaged families in developing countries. SOCODEVI supports the creation and strengthening of prosperous and sustainable enterprises. The next sharing was on “Programs and Strategies on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in the Philippines,” presented by Ms. Maria Kristine Josefina Balmes, Deputy Executive Director for Operations of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW).

To expound on the Summit’s theme, the event’s sessions were divided into two topics: Topic 1 discussed on March 5 was “GAD in Various Co-op Advocacies (Climate Change, Digital Technology, and Enterprise Development),” in response to cooperators who may be asking “what now?” in a bid to identify how they can create and/or sustain and expand their gender-related actions amid the ever-increasing challenges in today’s world. The increasing climate change, digital technology, and socioeconomic challenges are interrelated with one another in the global and local levels, with gender equality among the cross-cutting issues in all these challenges. The interrelatedness of climate change, digital technology, and socioeconomic challenges also means that when not properly addressed altogether, these challenges have long-term ill effects even on co-ops that are people-based organizations. To quote the report “Government Responses to COVID-19: Lessons on gender equality for a world in turmoil” by the agency UN Women, there is “the need to ensure that crisis response and strategies for recovery and future preparedness are gender-responsive is more urgent than ever.”

Meanwhile, Topic 2 tackled on March 6 was “Accelerating GAD Mainstreaming Gains and Initiatives in Co-ops Throughout the Years.” As GAD advocates and trainers try to raise the gender awareness of co-op leaders, staff, and members, they usually face a myriad of questions and challenges to the validity of their efforts. Among the questions that GAD advocates and trainers likely get are “what does it mean to be gender-sensitive?”; “what actions can we do for GAD?”; “what benefits can we get from mainstreaming GAD?”; “how much will our co-op spend for GAD?” Therefore, in Topic 2, the Summit gathered some long-time gender-fair co-ops and a co-op federation to explain to the Summit delegates—amid the delegates’ own GAD mainstreaming efforts—their practices and experiences, and the tangible positive results, so far, of their GAD mainstreaming.


Topic 1 discussion and resource speakers on March 5
For climate change: Mr. Francis Joseph Dela Cruz, partnerships and advocacy adviser of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC). For digital technology: Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). For enterprise development: Ms. Catherine Tiongson-Intalan, program and development cooperation specialist of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA). Ms. Naomi Estabillo, chief of CDA’s Human Resources Development Division who also comes from the CDA Focal Point System, next gave important updates on GAD developments in the CDA and Philippine cooperatives. 

The flow of serious discussions, including in the open forum that followed the presentations, was made lighter with song numbers from talented cooperators Mr. Kenn Tenebroso of Lamac MPC of Cebu and Mr. Ralph Rapanot of NSCC Multi-Purpose Cooperative (NSCC MPC) of Ilocos Sur. In the evening, the delegates had some relaxation and fun in the Governor’s Night that was held in the same venue, courtesy of the Provincial Government of Ilocos Sur, hosted by NSCC. Ilocos Sur Governor Singson also visited this solidarity night.



Topic 2 discussions and resource speakers on March 6
The moderators in the morning session of March 6 were Mr. Clifford Gregorio and Dr. Emma Nieva (both of GERC Inc.). They introduced the morning’s resource speakers from four primary co-ops and a co-op federation. The five resource speakers took along the Summit delegates in the GAD journey of their respective organizations. Taking over the venue’s stage, the five resource speakers shared their organizations’ best practices and learnings that grew from facing the challenges to their efforts to accelerate GAD mainstreaming in their institutions throughout the years. They discussed their simplest to more complex GAD strategies that can also be done by any co-op that desires to make its members’ lives even better through GAD—by embarking on or enhancing its already ongoing GAD activities.

The cooperatives that presented and their speakers were: Tagum Cooperative (TC), Davao del Norte, with Ms. Monica Salido, member of the Board of Directors (BOD) and chairperson of the GAD Committee; Lamac MPC, Cebu, with Ms. Tenebroso, Admin Assistant and GAD Focal Person; St. Martin of Tours Credit and Development Cooperative (SMTCDC), Bulacan, with Dr. Irma Cruz, chairperson of the BOD and of the GAD Committee; Sta. Cruz Savings and Development Cooperative (SACDECO), Ilocos Sur, with Ms. Eva Garnace-Borja, chief executive officer; and MASS-SPECC Cooperative Development Center (MASS-SPECC), Mindanao, with Ms. Carmel Rowena Neri-Dytingco, Strategic Communication Officer and External GAD Focal Person. 

At the end of their presentations and just before the open forum, the GERC Inc. gave each organization-presenter a recognition award for being among the country’s “GAD mainstreaming champions.” The award comes after GERC Inc. had witnessed for itself throughout the years—including during the time of GERC Inc.’s precursor organization, which is the AWCF—the five organizations’ outstanding GAD work. The award cited TC, Lamac MPC, SMTCDC, SACDECO, and MASS-SPECC for their excellent and passionate GAD efforts throughout the years that can inspire even more cooperators to take on and even strengthen their own transformative and transformational GAD journey. And this is the GAD journey that can greatly help co-ops and their members of all genders and ages achieve and enjoy the benefits of socioeconomic development. The session’s moderators also mentioned that these five co-op organizations were among the co-ops that were usually visited by other cooperators during their “lakbay-aral (study-visits)” to learn more from and for benchmarking in the co-op movement. It is to be noted that GERC Inc. had not informed beforehand the said organizations that they were to receive such an award during the 5th National GAD Summit.

The morning session closed with a song from Ms. Bandao of Tam-an BMPC.

The afternoon session had moderators Mr. Alexander Raquepo (of GERC Inc.) and Ms. Velasco-Bataller of ADTEMPCO. The moderators introduced Ms. Emmeline Verzosa, a former executive director of the PCW. The Summit organizers earlier asked Ms. Verzosa to tune in to all the Summit resource speakers and to give her reactions and comments in the event’s last day to further help the delegates digest what they have seen and heard, and process further their key takeaways that can, hopefully, help them sustain and expand their organizations’ gender-related actions. 

Approving the ‘Summit Declaration and Call for Action’
As with previously held National GAD Summit in Cooperatives events, the main and important points of the Summit proceedings and interactions were crafted to become the “Vigan City National GAD Summit 2024 Declaration and Call for Action (Vigan City DCFA).” The moderators emphasized that the Vigan City DCFA is for the delegates to bring back home to implement or, at least, guide their GAD-related actions. As the delegates gave their approval to the document after they deliberated on the contents, as led by the moderators, they were asked to sign the “Commitment Wall to the Call for Action” that was placed inside the event venue. The signing by the delegates of the commitment wall symbolized their approval and their commitment to activate the wordings/content of the Vigan City DCFA.
Click here for the full version of the Vigan City DCFA

For the abridged version of the Vigan City DCFA, click here

(Note: The full version of the Vigan City DCFA contains the examples of actions that co-ops can do for GAD mainstreaming and for climate change.)


Closing the 2024 National GAD Summit
In his closing remarks, Mr. Raquepo, vice chairperson of GERC Inc., expressed the gratitude of GERC Inc. to the support to the Summit by the delegates and resource speakers; government officials and government agencies (national, provincial, local); NSCC as the partner-organization in the Summit event; to the emcees, moderators, performers, ushers, technical team, singers, voice-over/commentators (Mr. Villar of PECCI and Mr. Ernesto Lucky Blanco of ADTEMPCO), and other role players; raffle donors; venue staff; and the safety/security personnel.

Happy GAD journey in cooperatives to all