Yaring Pinay (Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian Government)

The Yaring Pinay Program, implemented by Edukasyon.ph in collaboration with Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian Government, promotes women's and men’s participation in Non-traditional Technical and Vocational Education and Employment (Tech-Voc) by actively breaking down gender stereotypes. The program operated through three main pillars: research, learning campaign, and capacity-building.

The communications campaign has been executed in three phases: "Talk Voc" (raising awareness on stereotypes), "Raise Her Voc" (celebrating women tech-voc learners), and "Walk the Voc" (equipping youth with actionable steps). The campaign saw substantial numbers, including over 35 million in reach and 4 million in engagement. The campaign prominently features real-life success stories and interviews with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), TVET schools, and companies' trainees, graduates, and staff.

For the capacity-building part of the program, Gender Communication Toolkits were developed and launched, and capacity-building activities were held for TESDA, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools, and employers, training participants from 35 schools and 13 companies in six sessions. The toolkits were launched in March 2021 with participation from different TVET stakeholders in the Philippines. 

The program is supported by a robust Monitoring & Evaluation framework, which includes conducting key informant interviews and Focus Group Discussions to capture changes in perceptions and norms among youth and program stakeholders.

Ultimately, the project showed the high interest of Filipino women who wish to undergo tech-voc training but are discouraged from doing so simply because of gender stereotypes. This calls for a two-pronged approach where the community (TESDA, tech-voc schools, students, influencers) must be aligned with the industry (tech-voc employers) in making sure that tech-voc welcomes everyone equally.