COTABATO CITY — Kicking off the 3-day learning and capacity-building activity on Gender and Development (GAD), the BARMM Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy (MENRE) held a Gender Sensitivity Training on September 27 to impart fundamental GAD theories to the agency’s key officials.

Sustaining a Ministry that’s free of gender discrimination and bias is a matter that the MENRE takes seriously, as stated by Administrative and Finance Services (AFS) Director Al-Sharif M. Tamburani, sharing that the Ministry has taken actions to ensure that it will be and remain a gender-fair organization.

Director Tamburani emphasized that both men and women shall have equal opportunities and access to basic needs, which the Ministry strongly supports and advances.

Zarah Kathleen T. Alih-Jul, a Gender and Peacebuilding Consultant working in the BARMM government, shared the knowledge she has equipped herself with from various capacity development activities she attended, participated in, and led. For the MENRE, she once again spearheaded the discussions on sex and gender, gender biases, gender equality and equity, gender mainstreaming, and gender-fair language.

Moreover, advocating for the said GAD subjects, Chief Administrative Officer Rowaida D. Lalang underscored that “Incorporating the value of gender equality and equity in our daily lives will help us understand our roles better and build better relationships.”

“Beginning from the four corners of our homes to our respective offices and to friendships and relationships that we continue to build, the point of view, experiences, needs, and goals of one gender are just as important as those of the other,” she reminded the participants.

For the next two days, members of the MENRE’s GAD Focal Point System-Technical Working Group, headed by Bai Ladja Fersis S. Musali, will then dwell on Gender and Development Planning and Budgeting. This will ascertain that the Ministry will be able to address gender issues and concerns, if any, to further enhance and foster gender mainstreaming, women empowerment, and gender equality and equity in the organization.