In spite of the difficulty in determining participants to undergo GADLaum: GADVocacy Training-Workshop for Student-Leaders, the SSC was still able to push through the said training and drilled into the minds of now-called GADvocates on the importance of Gender and Development (GAD) to make MSU-GenSan as a safer space for all MSUans, held at RSRC, March 6.
"Somehow it's hard to find participants na talagang willing, siguro they have doubts to the project or the seminar tsaka mahirap i-persuade talaga ang iba but eventually nalampasan naman kasi I always emphasized hindi lang sa amin SSC ang makakabenefit to trained these student-leaders to be GADvocates but also to the departments, the grassroots level to help and hear the students complaints and other things about gender and development," Supreme Student Council (SSC) GAD Chairperson Elaine Borja stated.
She further stressed that the workshop is one of the long term projects of SSC to promote safe space policy within the campus and teach students how to handle gender-based violence cases.
"I've already proposed this project because we wanted to touch not only through information dissemination, through social media causes but also to train students to help the constituents na makakausap at kumbaga may interaction ba. For me kasi, its not enough na we are loud sa social media, to share and to post something, iba talaga pag we can have a physical conversation to other students," Hon. Borja explained.
In addition, she emphasized the presence of a Committee on Decorum and Investigation (CODI) which gave her an idea to boost the awareness of MSUans regarding the essence of GAD.
Hon. Borja was delighted to see the difference between then and now, as they already received cases regarding the inequality that happened on campus, which she thought more students would approach through the GADLaum seminar.
"The more people will be heard, the more it breaks the stigma to step up in the generational stereotypes and that's how we wanted sa Committee on Gender and Development and the SSC, not only secluded for women but also for men and our friends from LGBTQIA++," she uttered.
Handling Gender-Based Sexual Harassment Cases
The student-leaders were exposed to learning how to handle cases related to gender-based sexual harassment, in which the lecture was led by the Guidance Counselor of MSU-GenSan, Hania-Persia F. Usman.
She started her session by introducing three clients who were sexually harassed and had different coping mechanisms.
The guidance counselor emphasized that to deal with these problems, an individual should let go of stereotyping and stigma against mental health and share techniques to hear the victims' stories to aid in finding solutions to their problems.
"Para same wavelength sa usapan, we do the summarizing, paraphrasing para tama ang interpretation o ang narinig. You really have to confirm if tama ang pagkakuha mo ng story niya," she highlighted.
She also reiterated many times to become an active listener because understanding is the goal of listening.
Championing GAD thru Leadership
"Challenge yourself to reach your goals. Your bias should be leaning to what is right and just," Atty. Hanna Tunisia F. Usman imposed to participants as a challenge for being a leader to further nurture GAD in the university.
Atty. Usman was able to instill in the minds of young leaders the concept of leadership as she discussed the second topic entitled "Basic Leadership Training for GAD Champions."
She noted in her lecture that a leader should not feel the burden alone, especially in the conversation of GAD since beliefs and attitudes are present and members of the leader should stay together as a team.
Meanwhile, she called out those GADvocates who are rude because it does not make sense if their attitude is not aligned with what being an advocate means.
In her final message, Atty. Usman stressed the importance of communication in the world of leadership.
More or less 50 student-leaders turned GADvocates were present in the said workshop, expecting to be the catalyst for championing Gender and Development especially at the department levels to create a safer and more inclusive space for all MSUans.
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