OGP Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting Breakout Session
February 7, 2025 | 9:00 - 10:30 AM
Grand Hyatt Manila
Distinguished leaders and members of the government and civil society from Asia-Pacific and beyond;
Fellow advocates and champions of open governance and the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda:
Good morning! Magandang umaga po.
Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
First, allow me to express my gratitude to the UN Women for co-organizing this breakout session with the Department of Budget and Management at this very opportune time: the OGP Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting hosted for the first time by the Philippines.
We are honored to be joined by local and international experts, each bringing valuable experience in governance, research, international cooperation, and community engagement. Thank you for heeding the call to share your best practices and unique perspectives as we address the challenges hindering the advancement of the WPS Agenda.
While 13 countries in our region have adopted National Action Plans on WPS, UN Women reports that there are still critical gaps between the commitments and the actual implementation of WPS initiatives, threatening to undermine our progress toward a peaceful and gender-responsive region.
We are also at a pivotal moment where conflict extends beyond war and manifests in our daily lives in the form of non-traditional security issues such as climate change, cybersecurity, and violent extremism. These challenges are less visible, but they pose significant threats to peace and security, with women disproportionately bearing the impact.
But while we acknowledge the gravity of these challenges, we must not let them distract and stop us from achieving our targets. After all, our region has already made great strides toward building an open, inclusive, and peaceful society.
According to the most recent Global Gender Gap Report, Eastern Asia and the Pacific ranks fourth globally, with an overall gender parity score of 69.2 percent. New Zealand holds the fourth spot, followed by OGP member countries such as Australia, which ranks 24th, and the Philippines, which ranks 25th.
We are also proud that in the report's educational subindex, which captures the gap between women's and men's current access to education, four OGP Asia-Pacific member countries rank first with a perfect score of 100 percent! These are Maldives, Mongolia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. This is a testament to our commitment to ensuring that open governance translates into open opportunities for all, leaving no one behind.
In the Philippines, we introduced “The Women’s Budget,” or the Gender and Development (GAD) Budget, as early as 1995, mandating all departments and agencies up to the Local Government Units to allocate a minimum of five (5) percent of their annual budgets for gender programs. This was further institutionalized through landmark laws and frameworks such as the Magna Carta of Women and the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Plan.
Beyond the GAD budget, we are also championing the WPS Agenda through programs that uplift the living conditions of women, including economic empowerment, education, and climate crisis protection.
We are also implementing programs that strengthen peacebuilding initiatives, reconstruction, and development in conflict-affected areas, especially in BARMM, such as the Normalization Program and the PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn (PAMANA) Program.
And we don’t stop there. Aside from funding and implementing these initiatives, we are creating spaces where the WPS Agenda is discussed and prioritized.
In fact, we recently hosted the first-ever ministerial-level, International Conference on the WPS Agenda in October 2024. As the first female Muslim Budget Minister of our country, I am especially grateful for these opportunities to bring to light the transformative power of providing spaces for women in decision-making tables and high-level discussions.
This brings us to where we are today, the OGP Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting—engaging in meaningful discourse and identifying actionable steps to harness open governance in advancing women's participation in peace and security processes.
May this session empower all of us to lead the charge for the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda within our communities and across borders. Together, let us translate our shared vision of a gender-responsive, peaceful, and open Asia-Pacific region into a reality. Insha Allah.
Thank you very much.
Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.
END
References:
https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2024/
https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/focus-areas/peace-and-security/national-action-plans
