DILG leads in the celebration of National Rural Women’s Day

Last October 15th, the country marked the National Rural Women’s Day and the Department of Interior and Local Government is one of the government agencies that took the lead in the celebration of this event in the country. Secretary Ronnie Puno of the department has called on all local government units and the local chief executives and officials to mark this said event, and he has underscored the need to remember this day by initiating simple yet well intended and important events and activities.

The celebration is done on a yearly basis and this is often celebrated every 15th of October. It is the intent of the celebration to effectively uplift and lift the profile of the rural women and also to make the government and the government more responsive to the needs of the rural women in agriculture and food production. It is also the intent of the celebration to promote different kinds of actions and initiatives that will help raise their profile. For this year’s celebration of the National Rural Women’s Day the theme that was adopted was the ‘Rural Women at the Heart of Innovation. The choice of this theme is significant in the current times. The choice of this theme clearly indicates that there is a compelling need to have a progress against hunger and poverty and it is a requirement as well that the development planners, leaders and policy makers to make that change and shift in their thinking when it comes to women, food security and of course development. The increasing cost of food items is now a crucial issue that needs to be addressed and this is one compelling reason why there is a growing number of hungry and impoverished people.

This issue thus takes center stage in this year’s celebration of the National Rural Women’s Day. To mark the celebration for this year, the office of Secretary Ronnie Puno issued DILG Memo Circular Number 2009-142. The memorandum that was issued by his office underscores the need to celebrate this important day of the year, and the memorandum also explains in detail why there is a need for more initiatives that will uplift the needs and profile of the rural women.