Justice and Healing Project Holds Stakeholders Meeting, Last Barangay Forum in Manila

July 29, 2012 - PRLog -- The Justice and Healing Project conducted a stakeholders forum and the last of its 15 barangay forums last June 14 and June 26, 2012, respectively.

The Stakeholders’ Meeting gathered representatives from the Project Team as well as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Commission on Women, and the European Commission, to discuss experiences from past barangay forums, sustainability of anti-VAW advocacy, and the commitments of duty-bearers.

The barangay forum, on the other hand, convened officials and women’s advocates from Brgys. 169 and 172 in Malibay, Pasay City, with the help of the Soroptomists International.

After Olive Tripon of Women’s Feature Service introduced the Project and the implementers, Lilibeth Santos and Anamabel Garcia of the Women’s Crisis Center (WCC) presented on the insights of service providers from their experiences in handling cases of gender-based violence.

Meanwhile Atty. Claire Luczon and Women’s Legal Education, Advocacy and Defense Foundation, Inc. (WomenLEAD) discussed on the various laws on violence against women. Finally, Meg Yarcia of Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) led the workshop which saw the barangay officials presenting what they are currently doing, and promise to do, in addressing cases of violence against women.

Through the forum, the Project Team hoped to engage various groups – the police, barangay officials, and women’s rights advocates in a discussion to address violence against women (VAW) and the long journey in seeking justice and healing.

Supported by the European Union through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), The Justice and Healing project seeks to strengthen the components of the justice system to deliver rights-based and gender-sensitive services using the Justice and Healing perspective with respect to the VAW cases.

The project is implemented by WFS, WCC, WomenLEAD, and ASSIST.

ASSIST is an international non-profit organization focused on capacity-building. It seeks to promote sustainable practices to address social problems in the developing world, with focus on Asia and Africa. It takes pride in its process-oriented approach to capacity building towards social improvement and sustainable transformation. Its goal is to empower its target groups to make them resilient to the social, economic, and environmental challenges.

It is presently based in Makati City, but also has operations in India and Vietnam and manages projects in over 10 countries. Through its Partner to Progress philosophy, it has successfully implemented such projects in collaboration with the European Union, United Nation Environment Program (UNEP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), USAID, International Finance Corporation (IFC), GIZ, and DEG/ KFW amongst other organizations. #