Tebtebba Foundation joined the national workshop BAYInihan sa Klima: Upskilling on Gender Equality, Diversity and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) in Climate and Disaster Resiliency (CDR) held in Manila from March 24–26.
The activity brought together representatives from local government agencies, national women’s networks, women‑led groups and advocates for a lively exchange of ideas. Organized by the University of the Philippines Center for Women’s Studies Foundation (UP CWSFI), in partnership with the UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies (UP CWGS) and BAYI, the workshop aimed to build skills in GEDSI by sharing tools, community practices and ways to include climate risk assessment in adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Sessions highlighted the need to make climate and disaster programs inclusive and fair. Participants used Gender Equality, Diversity and Social Inclusion concepts to study climate impacts, explored collaboration between government and community resource persons and stressed that strategies must be community‑driven. The workshop also encouraged integrating GEDSI into Climate Change Risk Assessments (CCRAs), ensuring risks are understood from different perspectives such as gender, age, disability and ethnicity. Safe spaces and survivor‑centered approaches were also discussed, especially in addressing gender‑based violence and exploitation during disasters.
The program concluded with the creation of a local GEDSI Resource Pool, ensuring that climate adaptation and mitigation efforts in Northern Mindanao and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) remain inclusive, equitable and guided by transformative leadership.
This activity is part of the Governance for Climate and Disaster Resilience (Gov‑CDR) project, a 6‑year initiative from March 2024 to March 2030. Funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Alinea International, the project works with local government units and communities in the Philippines to strengthen their capacity to assess risks, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters and the impacts of climate change.