Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairperson Karlo Nograles urged delegates from various ASEAN Member States (AMS) to work together toward achieving gender equality and greater inclusivity in the region.

Nograles made the statement during his opening remarks at the event entitled “Strengthening the Institutional Building Blocks for Implementing the ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework: Support to the ASEAN Cooperation on Civil Service Matters (ACCSM)”, on March 28 and 29.

“May we all stand united toward ensuring an integrated, proactive, and gender responsive environment, as we start in our own respective organizations, moving outwards to the ASEAN Region,” Nograles said.

The two-day event was organized by the CSC through the Civil Service Institute (CSI) and sponsored by the ASEAN-USAID Partnership for Regional Optimization within the Political-Security and Socio-Cultural Communities (PROSPECT). Attendees included members of the ACCSM and the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) of nine AMS, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam, together with Timor-Leste.

The event is aimed at bringing together the knowledge, inputs, and experiences of participants toward producing an Enhanced Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit that is responsive to Gender and Development (GAD) and Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) concerns.

Nograles also said that, as prescribed in the ASEAN Socio-cultural Community Blueprint 2025, the AMS are committed to “develop regional strategies and enhance institutional capacity for gender mainstreaming in ASEAN policies, programmes and budgets across pillars and sectors;” as well as to “support ASEAN Member States’ initiatives in strengthening national gender and age-disaggregated databases and analyses, including poverty and equity, and establish a reliable regional database for key sectors to support ASEAN policies and programmes”.

“We can only be successful in fulfilling these commitments if we are dedicated and transparent to admit what’s lacking in our existing policies and systems, acknowledge what really needs to be done and to get rid of, and bravely move forward with concrete strategic plans that are inclusive, responsive, and fair,” he added.

Meanwhile from the ASEAN Secretariat, Jacel J. Paguio, Senior Officer of Poverty Eradication and Gender Division, and elicia Clarissa, Officer of Labour and Civil Service Division, discussed the gender mainstreaming initiatives being done at the regional level.

This was followed by an orientation on basic GAD concepts by Nharleen Santos-Millar, Chief GAD Specialist from the Philippine Commission on Women. Ms. Finaflor F. Taylan of the University of the Philippines-Open University elaborated on the concept of GEDSI, and the different bases or elements of diversity which should be considered in building a diverse workforce.

CSC Assistant Commissioner Victoria F. Esber gave an overview of the PRIME HRM, or Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management, where she emphasized the need to use a gender lens in the core HRM areas of Recruitment, Selection and Placement, Rewards and Recognition, Performance Management, and Learning and Development.