WEM-RIC shares its experience in empowering rural women and girls at the United Nations

Junaflor S. Cerilles Sef Alba Carandang Nida Sangca-on

New York City, March 2018 - The Women Empowerment Movement-Rural Improvement Club
(WEM-RIC) of Zamboanga del Sur had the honour of being part of the Philippine Delegation to the
62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations Headquarters in New
York this March 2018. With the theme "Empowering Rural Women and Girls", this year's session
draws attention to the rights and activism of rural women, who make up over a quarter of the world
population, and are being left behind in almost every measure of development.
Aside from attending the General Assembly sessions where Country Statements were delivered, and
High-Level Interactive Discussions where important topics such as financial inclusion and economic
empowerment of women were tackled, the three WEM-RIC delegates also participated in one of the
side events hosted by the Philippine Delegation. Entitled "Agree to Agri: Unearthing the Power of
Rural Women, the side event highlighted the real situation of rural women in developing countries,
specifically the Philippines and Zimbabwe. It presented both government and non-government
efforts and interventions in promoting rural women empowerment at the grassroots level, specifically
the good practices and experiences of rural women in their journey towards empowerment, and in
their efforts to ensure food security, economic growth and cultural preservation of their communities.
Mayor Junaflor "Sweet" Cerilles shared the WEM-RIC story, focusing on the organisation's journey
in building the confidence, capacities and livelihood opportunities for its members in the last five
years with the support of partners such as local government units and national government agencies,
as well as financial assistance from the US Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues through the
US Embassy, Manila. She also shared her personal empowerment as a businesswoman, a community
leader, and now a mayor and how this has enabled her to do more for communities across the
province.
Nida Sang-caon, tribal leader and Chairperson of the Pekpungunan Lebun Subanen Women’s
Organization, shared how her organization transformed their tribe's beadwork craft into a
community-based enterprise, which has also helped to preserve the Subanen culture and pass this
down to the next generation. She also explained that she wanted to change the wrong perception that
Subanen women are ignorant and uneducated. Thus, at the age of 38 she was not ashamed to go back
to school, even if she was the oldest in the class. She did this so that she could be an example, and
prove that what others can do, Subanen women can also achieve.
WEM-RIC Adviser and Development Consultant Sef Carandang provided a status brief on
agriculture and rural women in the Philippines, drawing from a Country Gender Assessment on the
agricultural and rural sector of the Philippines that she recently conducted for the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and also served as Moderator for the hour-long session.
#UNCSW62 #TimeIsNow #LeaveNoOneBehind #WomenMakeChange #UNWomen