ILOILO-The municipalities of Mina and New Lucena here are recipients DSWD’s Comprehensive Integration Against Gender Violence (CIAGV) program.
The CIAGV, which will be funded with P150,000 each per town, envisions for community women and girls to have reduced vulnerabilities to Gender Based Violence through increased access to quality response and reintegration services and participation in preventive actions. The two towns had their first training on CIAGV implementation recently in Iloilo City.
Gender Based Violence is a term used interchangeably with violence against women.
“While there have been efforts to prevent violence among women, the CIAGV provides a holistic approach in preventing such cases. The CIAGV ensures that everyone is involved,” said Nobelyn Macabagal, Project Officer of DSWD Social Technology Bureau (SOCTECH).
The CIAGV was pilot tested in CARAGA region years back with DSWD as lead implementer in partnership with Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). After this, Western Visayas was selected as the next target.
“Region 6 was selected as a replication area because it is one of the regions with the highest reported number of cases of violence against women per Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) data. While this could be interpreted in two ways, either it has high cases or high awareness among the people, the number of cases was considered in the selection of the area for replication,” said Macabagal.
Susan Mogato, Social Welfare Officer IV and focal person on SOCTECH, said that the two municipalities signified intent to replicate the project.
“These LGUs saw the need in their communities because they have cases of violence against women and they also have the facilities. Mina has its Balay Paglaum and New Lucena has its center for women and children,” said Mogato.
According to Mogato, the presence of the facilities in the two towns could be a potent factor as first areas of implementation of CIAGV since “availability of centers is very important to provide temporary shelters where victims could stay, counseling can happen and other interventions can be conducted.”
The CIAGV specifically aims to improve the conditions of women and girls through improved prevention, assistance and reintegration of survivors of Violence against Women and Children (VAWC) cases; and provide support to the prevention of violence.
Its components include Community-based gender awareness training, para-legal training, training on VAWC case-handling for barangay officials and advocacy campaign.
For her part , SPO1 Marites Saloveres of New Lucena, said, “I am glad to know that there are other agencies who are also part in the fight against violence among women and children.”
In the same way, Mary Ann Baldevia, Municipal Local Government Operations Officer (MLGOO), said “We are lucky that our town was chosen as a replication area. This is an opportunity for us to be in service. It is not only in New Lucena that these cases happen but we are lucky to have this program because this means that we will be able to respond effectively.”
Baldevia said that her first priority is strengthening the LCAT-VAWC (Local Council against Trafficking and VAWC).
Also present during the activity were Darlene Dancel, Lilibeth Gallego, Helen Suzara and Josephine Arang, all of DSWD SOCTECH Central Office; Agnes Germo, Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer of New Lucena; and Perla Parreno, Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer of Mina./dswd6