Zonta clubs identify top 5 priority needs to fast track women empowerment

CEBU CITY -- Zonta District 17 Area 3 Zonta clubs singled out top five priority needs culled from the three simultaneous workshops tackling topics on education, entrepreneurship and equitable access to promote women empowerment and entrepreneurship, during the Zonta District 17 Area 3 Meeting on January 26-28 at the Nustar Resort in Cebu with 165 delegates in attendance from the Zonta clubs in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

These top five needs that have to be prioritized include Training, Instilling Values and Motivation, Funding, Marketing, and Opportunities. The workshops also suggested solutions to match these needs which include projects such as Handy Women Training; Seminars; Collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST); Trade fairs/bazaars and support from Social Media/industrial organizations.

Area 3 Director Zn. Ma. Teresa Chan, in her welcome message explained that the Area Meeting aims to foster camaraderie and fellowship among Area 3 members of the clubs and enhance their skills and respective capabilities to help serve communities.

“That’s why we have workshops so we can listen to insights of people. We listen to speakers who can give us new perspectives. We can look for other beneficiaries, improve what we are doing now and maybe even look for other types of projects,” Chan said.

The workshops were conducted in the afternoon on January 27 after the opening ceremony in the morning of the same day that featured the Parade of Clubs, the Entry of Colors, and dance numbers.

The workshop on Education focused on the top needs of Literacy and Numeracy; Health and Nutrition of Mother and Child; Learning Loss and Remedial Tutorial. Suggested projects for education include Zonta-Department of Education Partnership; Responsible Parenthood, Adopt-a-School project in the locality of the clubs; and conduct of assessment, design program, and training of tutors.

To achieve Equitable Access, there’s a need to prioritize the improvement of women’s economic empowerment and capacity building on laws protecting and promoting rights, workshop inputs said. This can be done through livelihood training based on gender analysis of identified needs and evaluation of impact on women leaders as well as leadership training for grassroots women.

At the end of two-year implementation for Equitable Access projects, Zonta Club Area 3 aims to address the concern of poverty among women by undertaking several projects that include livelihood based on identified needs of target stakeholders; capacity building of grassroots women leaders; increased awareness of women’s human rights; and education through continuing literacy programs.

Zonta also has to undertake participative consultation, conducting gender analysis in designing Programs, Projects, and Activities (PPAs). The implementation of the project also requires the crafting of monitoring and evaluation systems to determine the positive impacts of these projects for empowering women.

District 17 Governor Zn. Ophelia Bautista commended Zn. Chan and Zn. Petite Garcia, chairman of the Area 3 Meeting Organizing Committee for the success of the activity and thanked the various clubs for the overwhelming attendance of the meeting.

Bautista also stressed the need for Zontians to empower themselves to empower women. “The more we understand Zonta, the more we get enabled, the more we want to engage. Let us engage to empower women through education, through entrepreneurship, and equitable access,” she added.

Notable speakers in the meeting

Atty. Myrish Cadapan-Antonio, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Philippine Living Heritage Initiative, in her keynote address talked about the meeting’s theme “"Women + Education + Entrepreneurship + Equitable Access EmpowerHer."

“Education is the cornerstone of progress. Entrepreneurship is the catalyst that turns knowledge into action. Equitable access acts as the bridge,” Antonio highlighted the pivotal role of education in the efforts to empower women.

Atty. Cadapan-Antonio served as Deputy Legal Counsel, Faculty of Law, and Director of the Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development at Silliman University in the Philippines for over a decade before she and her family moved to the United States.

She also serves on the boards of the Harvard Club of the Philippines Global, Save One Life (Interim President; an international non-profit serving children with bleeding disorders worldwide), and Khan Academy Philippines.

Zn. Dr. Vivien Seno briefed delegates on the three simultaneous workshops that discussed Education, Entrepreneurship, and Equitable Access. The workshop speakers were Atty. Joan Largo, Vice President for Administration of the University of San Carlos for education; Laurie Boquiren, Marketing and R&D Director, Castilex Industrial Corp. and CEO/Founder Jamaica Markets Corp. for Entrepreneurship and Atty. Mylen Gonzales-Esquivel, Executive Director at Child Justice League Inc. for Equitable Access.

Motivational Speaker Mader Perci Cendaňa, former Commissioner of the Philippine National Youth Commission, discussed the topic “Celebrating Differences...Towards a more Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Zonta.”  He cited the need to embrace diversity but should be combined with inclusion so there would be equity in the end.

Cendaňa holds the distinction of being the first openly gay Chairperson of the UP Diliman University Student Council and is currently a consultant of the Quezon City GAD Council and QC Pride Council. He is also the immediate past president of Babaylanes Inc., an NGO working on building capacities of young LGBTs.

The meeting ended with a fun-filled evening during the Fellowship Dinner and a Mass and Memorial Service was also offered as tribute to the Zontians who had passed away.

Zonta District 17 Area 3 Zonta clubs in attendance include Zonta Club of Cebu I, Zonta Club of Cebu II, Zonta Club Davao I, Zonta Club Davao II, Zonta Club Metro Iloilo, Zonta Club Bacolod, Zonta Club Iloilo, Zonta Club Cagayan de Oro, Zonta Club Cagayan II, Zonta Club Zamboanga, Zonta Club Tacloban, and Zonta Club General Santos. (Photos: RMA News/Robby Alugar)