| Fizah HAB |
A DIALOGUE entitled ‘Cross Movement Network on Dialogue on Social Protection for Women and Girls among Civil Society’, was organised by the Brunei Council on Social Welfare (MKM) yesterday at the StarLodge, Jerudong.
It aimed at creating a space for civil society to discuss and deliberate current social protection gaps and challenges for the most vulnerable and marginalised women and girls and how the civil society can help address them at the national level.
Around 40 participants from different charity and welfare non-governmental organisations, including Women’s Business Council, Council of Women of Brunei Darussalam, WeCare and Youth Against Slavery (YAS) Brunei joined the dialogue and shared their insights on the nature of their work in relation to complementing existing social protection programmes of the government.
The dialogue began with welcoming remarks from MKM President Haji Md Yusof bin Haji Halim, followed by an introduction and overview of the social protection initiative by MKM Vice President 3 Nur Judy binti Abdullah and a ‘Trust Circle Dialogue’ by the participants.
The dialogue also centred on identifying strategic initiatives in raising awareness on social protection as well as basic economic and social rights for women and girls, creating advocacies that will help combat the dependency syndrome on some social protection programmes and welfare assistance as well as ways to promote gender-sensitive social protection schemes to ensure inclusivity of women.
The MKM event was supported with funding from Weaving Women’s Voice in Southeast Asia (WEAVE), a network of women organisations, national networks and advocates from The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Brunei.
