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By Johanna M. Sampan, Reporter
Plan International—a humanitarian,
child-centered development organization launches its Child-Centered
Community Development (CCCD) project. The program espouses
capability building, empowerment and sustainability of the Filipino
family.
Child-centered programs, participatory
processes, groups and organizations, advocacy, partnership and
networking are some of the concepts Plan uses to help various
communities. Recently, in Pintuyan, Leyte, Plan conducted seminars
and trainings to improve the way parents raise their children.
Trained by Plan, four Pintuyan farmers took the
task of educating their neighborhood on the topic of gender
sensitivity. Dioscoro Mercado Jr., 51, Naphtali Espinosa, 44, Oscar
Manlunas, 54 and Francisco Espinosa, 60, facilitated the seminar
Gender Sensitivity Program (GSP).
The objective of the training is to teach basic
values crucial to the nurturing of the family. It aims to develop a
more intimate manner for parents to raise their children.
Attended mostly by men, the GSP seminar started
February last year and was already taught to 30 barangays in
Southern Leyte with an attendance roster now numbering to a
thousand.
“We can see that the training is effective
because of the notable decline of crimes and incidents of domestic
violence in the participating barangays. Some of the participants
share that the lessons changed the attitude of their partners
especially the husbands,” Mercado shares.
Mercado added that among the simple yet vital
topics that were discussed in the seminars is the maintenance of
open communication in the homes. “We’ve learned to be more open
with our wives thus bringing us closer to each other. This resulted
in a peaceful atmosphere in the home,” relates fellow facilitator
Manulas.
The seminar also has a notable positive effect
on the women participants who now display more confidence and better
self-esteem.
On the issue of sharing the load of doing
chores, Espinosa has a wise parting shot, “We realized that by
helping our wives in doing household chores, we not only helped them
physically but emotionally as well.”
For details, visit www.plan-international.org.
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