Kababaihan, May SAY Ka! (National Women's Assembly 2025)

Paving the way for rural and Indigenous women to lead in forest governance

This International Day of Rural Women, we honor women in indigenous and local communities who keep forests standing through daily care, hard choices, and increasingly, their seats at decision-making tables.

From 2024: a gathering of courage

In December 2024, NTFP-EP Philippines convened the National IP Women’s Assembly in Antipolo and Daraitan, a space for the organization’s women partners from multiple landscapes to ground in rights, reproductive health, and shared organizing. Talks included gender, intersectionality, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). The last day took place at the Dumagat camp and gave space for reflection on ties to land and collective purpose. Indigenous women and women from local communities named challenges and barriers: early/child marriage, limited participation in formal and customary leadership, and violence. Through this, a path was paved into building stronger organizations and plans together. 

2025: turning voice into presence in governance

Fast forward to September 4–6, 2025 in Sta. Mesa, Manila, where “Kababaihan, May SAY Ka! 2025 – Tinig, Lakas, Gawa: Sama-samang Pagtindig ng Kababaihang Katutubo” focused on one thing: inclusion that counts in local governance. 20 women leaders across five landscapes gathered for three days of assessment, policy grounding, and concrete planning around representation in Local Special Bodies (LSBs) and People’s Councils.

The Assembly opened with reflections from the past: What shifted since 2024? Across Aklan, Negros, Palawan, Sierra Madre, Oriental Mindoro and Northern Mindanao, women reported more community organizing and livelihood work, but underscored gaps in women’s leadership seats, confidence to speak, and Local Government Unit (LGU) support, especially when decisions involving forests and ancestral domains were on the line.

A session with the Department of the Interior and Local Government – Bureau of Local Government Supervision (DILG-BLGS) walked through the latest memorandum circulars on Civil Society Organization (CSO) accreditation and LSB representation (MC 2021-054, 2025-022, 2025-060) and emphasized women’s mandated representation under the Magna Carta of Women. Resource persons were Ms. Bernice D. Tarnate (Local Government Operations Officer IV, DILG–BLGS) and Ms. Patricia Schene M. Trinidad (Project Development Officer II, DILG–BLGS; National Accreditation Focal Person, DILG Central Office). The participants immediately translated into practical questions about access, timing, and real influence in councils that decide on budgets, services, and land use. Testimonies from women already sitting in LSBs gave light to how advocacy opens doors, but tokenism and resource constraints still limit voices at crucial moments.

What rural/IPLC women surfaced and what they are asking for

By design, the Assembly consolidated participants’ on-the-ground experience into a shortlist of institutional recommendations to improve inclusion and accountability.

Priority concerns included:

• Late or day-of invitations to council meetings

• “Approve-only” budget sessions with no deliberation

• Political influence over CSO seats

• Lack of transport funds that practically exclude rural/IPLC women from attendance

Corresponding recommendations called for:

• 1–2 weeks’ advance notice

• Active roles (and voting where applicable) for CSO representatives

• Dedicated IP women’s representation

• Basic logistical support for community delegates

• Revitalizing People’s Councils beyond elections

The 2025 Assembly’s internal planning echoed these requests. Landscape groups named concrete next steps, including pursuing CSO accreditation, preparing documents and board resolutions ahead of calls, mentoring first-time women representatives, and aligning Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP) priorities with LGU planning schedules so that forest and livelihood needs reach the budget table.

Forests as foundations

Weaving governance work is the daily reality of forest care and pressure. Reforestation, honey and agroforestry livelihoods, threats from mining, dams, and plantation expansion; and the steady labor of women holding families and communities together were central.

Palawan teams linked LSB participation to school and health support in IP areas, Sierra Madre leaders connected inclusion debates to Kaliwa Dam resistance and ADSDPP updates; Visayas and Mindoro women flagged the need for financial literacy and program access for women’s groups to steward resources with autonomy and transparency. All are crucial to sustaining community-led forest management.

The quiet work behind the scenes

Throughout these assemblies and the months in between, NTFP-EP Philippines has taken a steady, back-of-house role: creating spaces where women can practice public voice safely, translating policy into plain language, pairing new leaders with mentors, and coordinating with LGUs so community evidence meets formal processes at the right time. It’s not about speaking for women but about nudging systems and opening doors, so that women’s autonomy, confidence, and inclusive leadership can take root and stand on their own.

On the third day, the Assembly also carved time for museum visits in Manila and Quezon City, honoring memory, culture, and the long arc of women’s stewardship of land and community. Seeing histories and living traditions in one place affirmed why inclusion in formal governance matters. Heritage is held in hands, spoken in stories, and sustained in forests.

By the end of the day, the group joined a gentle yoga and breathwork practice to ground, release tension, and return to the body.

Where we’re headed

The Assembly discussions closed with a shared visioning with “Puno ng Pangarap” (Tree of Dreams). It is a vision wall of roots, branches, and fruits, where inclusive governance was named. Fruits included accredited women’s groups, seats in LSBs, better coordination with CSO desks, and tangible support for forest-friendly livelihoods.

It’s a simple dream: when IPLC women are recognized as decision-makers in the formal spaces that shape their territories, forests win because the people who know them best finally get to help decide their own futures.

Partnership matters: a note of gratitude

Spotlighting and uplifting gender across NTFP-EP Philippines’ landscapes has been strengthened with support from the Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA), whose program emphasis on rights-based conservation aligns with this women-centered direction towards accountable, community-rooted governance. This journey is far from over, but the direction is clear. It is owned by the women themselves.

On this International Day of Rural Women, we honor the women who organize, testify, plant, negotiate, and nurture families, communities, and forests. May the “SAY” of women keep shaping what is fulfilled and seen in forest governance.