Integrated Program on Gender and Development

B. Gender Advocacy and Partnership Building

	Gender Advocacy and Partnership Building (GAPB): promotes gender equality and women's empowerment and gender responsive microfinance programs as well as partnership and cooperation with micro-finance institutions, women's groups, local government units, academe, churches and civil society. at various levels. It also examines issues and development initiatives for women.

	1. Assumptions
	Making institutions, such as, microfinance NGO's, LGU's, cooperatives, other NGO's and women's organizations recognize Gender and Development (GAD) as a vital policy approach for empowerment and integrated development. Providing the means for empowerment does not just simply entail making resources available to women, but more so, help them change and take charge of their lives from their own standpoint Civil society has to engage LGU's, government agencies, financial institutions and other service providers to be more accountable to communities and to respond to women's empowerment and poverty question.
	2. Over-all Objective
	To enhance the sustainable access of women to capital, social protection, market, information, technology and technical assistance by mainstreaming Gender and Development through training, research, public advocacy, organizing women in the informal sector and networking/partnership building.

	3. Specific Objectives
	To advocate and promote the formulation and implementation of pro-rural poor women economic/credit and investments policy at the local, mezo and national levels through engagements with LGUs and line agencies of government and other service providers and financial institutions in CALABARZON and on the national level. To enhance the partnership between WISE ACT and the Women's Rural Bank through the complementation of programs of the Micro Enterprise Development, Gender Advocacy and Partnership Building and the Social Protection.
	4. Program Components
	Development of Policy Agenda and Policy Advocacy - to influence policy-makers at the national, mezzo and local levels for effective delivery of services and programs to poor women and their families. Social Enterprise - to develop new enterprise model with a social mission (Women's Economic Empowerment, upliftment of family income and gender equality and equity) thru upscaling business enterprise of women in the informal sector, enhancement of skills and knowledge of women and their families in managing and marketing their enterprise and business, development of social protection scheme for women entrepreneurs to address the basic needs of women and their families such as: access to affordable, quality and accessible health services and essential medicine, education, water and food and generate employment for women and their families Partnership Building and Networking - together with other service providers, e.g., government, NGOs, cooperatives, people's organizations and banks, develop a gender responsive micro-finance program.
	In the advocacy for a gender responsive micro-finance program also known as the integrated approach to microfinance, the Women's Rural Bank is WISEACT's main partner in the CALABARZON. The program not only answers the need for capital but it aims at providing a long-term integrated support package, in which loans are combined with social mobilization, participation, training and education, so as to maximize the income, opportunities, and empowerment impacts? (McKee, 1989 in Sabharwal).

	The programmatic expression of that partnership is the DEVELOPMENT DEPOSIT MOBILIZATION PROGRAM. The development deposit is earmarked as fund source for a women's microfinance project under the management and operation of WRB. In turn, the interest income from the deposit is earmarked to fund women's skills and entrepreneurship training project under the management and operation of WISE ACT. Over the years, the two complementary projects will enable the rural women to liberate themselves and their families from a life of sheer deprivation ? economic, social and political. Continuing access to capital resource and capability building further enables the women to transform their microenterprises into small or medium enterprises. In the long term, these enterprises become a pillar of local economies.