1. Organization

2.  Date of establishment and history of the organization:

The Coalition was convened in 2003 October 14-15, during the holding of the 1^st National Rural Women Congress in Tesda, Taguig, Metro Manila. There were 280 participants representing 50 provinces nationwide.  The first Rural Women Congress was convened by several peoples' organizations^[1] and non-government organizations^[2], with Philippine Peasant Institute as lead convener and Secretariat Coordinator for two years. 

On October 19-20, the 2^nd National Rural Women Congress was held in San Mateo, Rizal, with 151 participants from 50 provinces.  The Congress adopted the official name of Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK) or the National Rural Women Coalition.  The congress participants were also able to agree on the Basis of Unity, By-Laws and set of officers of the Coalition.

3. Legal status: date/year registration:

The National Rural Women Congress was registered in August 2005 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Registration No. CN200419265.

4. Organizational structure:

PKKK is primarily a Coalition of organizations and federations of associations of women peasant, fisherfolk, farm workers, and indigenous peoples; including rural women in the sectors of informal labor, elderly, youth, and persons with disabilities; and NGOs and individuals who work for the interest of the above sectors.

The PKKK is united along its stated vision, mission, and goals.  But as a coalition, it shall be flexible with its strategies and systems of operations at the local and national levels, as long as it shall not violate its Basis of Unity and By-Laws, as well as its Code of Ethics.^[3] The specific character of the Coalition may also vary by province, especially since the provinces have different levels of capacities and membership chracteristics.

The organizational structure consists of the General Assembly, Provincial Coalitions, National Council of Leaders, Executive Committee, Line Committees, Issue Clusters, and the Secretariat.

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body, which sets the over-all goals, objectives and programs of the Coalition.  The National Assembly is the only body that can ratify, amend, and repeal the Basis of Unity and By-Laws of PKKK.  The General Assembly is convened every two years, and is attended by representatives of the national and regional organizations, non-government organizations, and provincial chapters. 

The Provincial Coalitions shall provide the direction and priority issues and programs for each province.  There is a general understanding that national campaigns shall be carried out by the provincial bodies.  The provincial coalitions will be composed by representatives from at least 3 municipalities in the province, with also at least 3 organizational representatives per municipality.  Fifty (50) provinces were represented during the PKKK Second Congress.

The National Council of Leaders is the second highest decision-making body in the Coalition.  The National Council sets the policies and internal rules and regulations in absence of the General Assembly. The National Council also determines the general program of action and sets up the working or line committees necessary for implementing PKKK plans. The Council also agrees on who shall be the official spokespersons of the Coalition.  The Council members shall meet at least twice a year.  Its present composition is as follows:

Council Leaders

• All-Women Peoples' Organizations
  
  Lakambini (Florita Caya), Daluyong (Rebecca Miranda), KaBaPa (Trinidad Domingo), Budyong-PLKP (Teresita Timog), Sarilaya (Tita Castro-Obligardo)
  
  
• Mixed Peoples' Organizations with Women Components
  
  PKSK (Lily Alanguilan), KKM (Iza Gonzales), Makabayan Pilipinas (Grace Laguitan), Pakisama (Luisita Esmao), Unorka (Vangie Mendoza), NOFARBO/KOMASA-KA (Rosa Presno)
  
  
• Regional Representatives

Alternative members are: Rose Asok for Region 7; Erlinda Riopay for Region 6;  Esther Villarin for the Mindanao women settlers

• NGO Rep: Daryl Leyesa (PPI)
  
  
• Cluster Heads

The Executive Committee oversees the implementation of the Vision, Mission, Goals and program of action set by the General Assembly and by the National Council of Leaders. The Executive Committee meets quarterly and provides the necessary guidance to the PKKK Secretariat and necessary support to the issue clusters, line committees and provincial coalitions. Its present composition is as follows:

Executive Committee

The Issue Clusters, as reflected in the list of Council members, are grouped according to the priorities of the rural women agenda.  Each cluster has its own set of plans that cover the conduct of gender analysis of the issue, educational discussions, advocacy work and campaigns.

The Line Committees are on Education and Training, Research, Membership, Finance, Advocacy and Campaigns. Like the issue clusters, Council members and other NGO PKKK members shall head these committees.  Each committee shall implement the activities corresponding to the requirements of the PKKK's operational plan.

The Secretariat employs a full-time National Coordinator and a part-time bookkeeper.  The General Secretary oversees the PKKK Secretariat and coordinate the specific activities of the various issue clusters and the committees.  The PKKK Secretariat shall also enjoy the support of the Centro Saka, Inc. (CSI), particularly providing staff support from its Rural Women Center, also office space and other logistical needs.

5. Overall context of the work of the organization

For the past ten years, there has been no marked improvement in the lives of millions of rural women; This despite the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPA) that was launched during the 4^th World Conference of Women in 1995.  The observation of the rural women's plight seems to have remained the same: "The plight of women living in rural and remote areas deserves special attention given the stagnation of development in such areas." (BPA Chapter II, par.22)  This experience of stagnation in rural development went hand in hand with the increasing liberalization of trade in the agriculture and food sector.  In 1994, just when there was a wide stakeholder commitment to promoting gender equality in all sectors as espoused by the BPA, there was likewise a strong commitment expressed by government to speeding-up globalization through the WTO-Uruguay Round of Talks.  The commitment to the Agreement on Agriculture in particular, has exacerbated neglect of the country's rural women.

As a result, unemployment and underemployment among rural women, especially the young women, worsened.  Only about 4.9 million, of the 11.5 million rural women who were of working age in 2002, were gainfully employed. But even those who are employed do not necessarily enjoy equal opportunities and benefits, as about half of those working in agriculture are doing unpaid work.  Meanwhile, agri-fishery related programs and support services still benefit mostly men; women compose only around 25.5% of the beneficiaries of the Department of Agriculture's programs.  This situation illustrates the failure of government to fulfil rural women's rights as enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The rural women situation is reflective of how much they have been left behind in ARRDD policy processes.  It is within this context that the PKKK sector aims to establish itself as a strong force in rural development, able to influence developoment policies and outcomes.

6. Overall program of the organization

6.1. VISION

The Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK) envisions a society that is free from discrimination and violence; enjoys economic and social equality; does not discriminate according to race, age, beliefs and gender; benefits from sustainable development that fulfills the human rights and wellness of everyone; recognizes the value of productive and reproductive work.

Based on the 2003 Rural Women Congress Declaration, the PKKK envisions the fulfillment of the eight (8) major agenda by 2013:

(1) Fulfillment of Rural Women's Property Rights in Agrarian Reform

(2) Fulfillment of Rural Women's Property Rights in Ancestral Domains

(3) Fulfillment of Rural Women's Property Rights to Coastal Resources

(4) Access to Safe and Adequate Food, Potable Water, and Basic Services

(5) Access to Sustainable and Women-Friendly Agriculture and Fishery Support Services

(6) Representation and Participation in the Implementation of Gender and Development (GAD) Programs and Local Sectoral Representation (LSR)

(7) Fulfillment of Reproductive Rights and Protection from all forms of Violence and other oppressive gender relations

(8) Fulfillment of Rural Women's Peace Agenda, especially in Mindanao.

MISSION

In pursuit of its vision, PKKK is committed to the following contributions:

(1)  Advance the rural women's movement as an integral part of our struggle towards genuine rural development, specifically by strengthening PKKK's membership at all levels, i.e. barangay, municipal, provincial, national.

(2)  Advocate rural women's property rights, access and control over land and water resources, access to coastal resources, access to basic services and other economic resources, right to exercise decision-making and governance over these resources.

(3)  Strengthen PKKK's capacity to build support for the 8-point agenda and to engage different groups, organizations and government agencies that work on the rural women concerns, toward the implementation of agrarian reform and rural development, as well as the development concerns of the fisheries and indigenous peoples' sectors. 

(4)  Facilitate development of PKKK members through awareness-raising, skills enhancement, and capability-building particularly on how to build and sustain the local economy, as well as how to advance rural women's economic, socio-cultural and political empowerment agenda.

(5)  Broaden the SPIRIT of commitment, sharing and creativity among the PKKK members in tapping/mobilizing social and financial resources.

(6)  Provide analysis on the issues related to the rural women's agenda; ensure agenda-related educational discussions, training, and reading materials for the PKKK members and for policy makers, from barangay to national levels.

6.2. 2006-2007 GOALS

PKKK aims to establish itself as a National Coalition that has the capacity to:

1.  Overcome policy obstacles hindering rural women's development;

2.  Advocate for relevant policies and programs related to rural women's development and as stipulated in the 2003 Rural Women Congress Declaration;

3.  Serve as mechanism for monitoring and assessing peoples' development vis-à-vis government's implementation of its commitment to international instruments such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Convention on the Elimination of all forms Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and Beijing Platform of Action (BPFA);

4.  Strengthen mechanism and initiatives that can facilitate rural women's effort in implementing gender mainstreaming in the broad mass movements and struggles under agrarian reform, fisheries reform, and sustainable rural development.

6.3. Over-all Strategies

PKKK'S strategic programs shall be:

1.  Organizational Strengthening – At the onset, PKKK shall establish mechanisms of coordination at the national, regional and provincial levels.  The mechanisms shall be supported by systematic documentation of members' profile, needs and capacities. The aim is to ensure that the Coalition will work in a democratic, flexible, efficient and effective manner that will all contribute to the achievement of the Rural Women Agenda.  To maintain unity and harmony amidst the network's diversity in political and organizational orientation, PKKK shall observe a Code of Ethics. 

2.  Advocacy and Campaigns – The advocacy and campaign work of PKKK shall primarily raise the Rural Women Agenda in mainstream ARRDD community and the over-all women's movement.  The over-all thrust of the Coalition is to contribute to the Building of Sustainable Local Economies as key to achieving national food self-sufficiency and sustainable women's empowerment.

The coalition shall develop its benchmarks for monitoring advocacy gains, mainly on issues concerning property rights, access to and control over economic resources, access to gender-friendly support services and basic services, access to adequate food and potable water, representation and participation in governance. The advocacy work shall be complemented by research activities.

For this year, the PKKK shall gear its advocacy work on asserting rural women's rights especially in the midst of massive liberalization in agriculture and fisheries.  The measure of how liberalization in agriculture and fisheries^[4] affect rural women's plight will include looking at the degree of deprivation of rural women's rights, as cited in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 

PKKK will take active role in monitoring government's compliance to CEDAW, especially since 2006 celebrates the 30^th anniversary of this instrument.  Article 14 of CEDAW lists down the rural women's rights that government should be fulfilling.  The Coalition shall monitor and build its own database and case studies that will support the assertion that government's negligence of rural women's rights has been structural and historical.

3.  Publication and media work – The Coalition shall publish two (2) newsletters for the year.  The newsletters shall provide the network with both in-depth analyses of the agenda and pertinent issues; likewise, provide updates on what the Coalition is doing in the different regions.  The Coalition shall engage the media when the need arises.

4.  Capability-building – PKKK recognizes that given the breadth of the network, level of capabilities are as varied as the orientation and needs of the member-organizations.  This program component aims to provide opportunities among members of the Coalition to have a leveled off orientation on asserting the rural women agenda and placing them in respective organizational VMGs.  Specific skills training shall also be undertaken in relation with the organization's advocacy work, both at the local and national.

5.  Economic Linkaging and Solidarity Work – The end result of the Coalition's advocacy work should lead to rural women's actual accessing of projects, from livelihood projects to human development programs.  The engagement with different government agencies, in the form of Memorandum of Agreement/Understanding, should provide development opportunities for the PKKK network especially at the local levels.