THE Philippine National Police Directorate for Police-Community Relations (PNP-DPCR) headed by Major General Edgar Alan Okubo has launched a community-based E-Learning on Gender Sensitivity and Child Protection amid its continuing effort to train PNP personnel on how to properly deal with the matter.

In coordination with the Stairway Foundation, Inc., the PNP-DPCR says the asynchronous approach provides learning experience to police personnel that is flexible to their schedule.

The course is specifically designed for PNP personnel in order for them to develop a deeper understanding of the various child protection concerns that the community might face offline and online.

It also aims to empower Police-Community Relations personnel across the country to have the knowledge and tools to participate more in the protection of the children they work with.

Okubo said the E-Learning participants are expected to have increased capacity to effectively conduct Child Online Protection Advocacy in the community and most importantly, to have increased capacity as training supervisors for Gender Awareness and Development and Child Online Protection-related training.

Based in Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Stairway Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit, non-government child care organization established in 1990 by Lars C. Jorgensen and Monica D. Ray as an alternative program for the most marginalized and street children.

The group provides high-quality education and training on child rights, child sexual abuse prevention and cyber safety.

For the past 34 years, it has developed interactive and engaging courses to instill knowledge and empower professionals, adults and young people alike.

Okubo said they have tapped the support of Stairway Foundation owing to its track record in providing accessible online and offline courses to anyone who can and wants to protect children from harm.

The foundation is known for having Filipino experts who provide high-quality child protection training through tutorials, animated short films, quizzes and additional resources to lead their students to more learning and awareness on the worldwide problem.

As part of the PNP and Philippine Commission on Women Partnership Agreement in 2021-2022, the DPCR has been focused on providing continuous GAD and child protection seminars and other activities in the country.

The program is part of the PNP’s great responsibility to ensure that in the enforcement of laws, it must demonstrate sensitivity, awareness, respect and genuine concerns to the needs and welfare of everyone most especially the needs of certain individuals and sectors such as women and children who are more vulnerable to crime, abuse and neglect.

The PNP, headed by General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr., has also recognized the invaluable contribution of women to society, in particular citing its female officer’s corps.

Gen. Acorda has time and again emphasized the importance of gender-responsive policing in achieving sustainable development goals.

He also recognized the PNP’s women officers and personnel for their significant contributions to the organization’s success.

The top cop has also maintained that achieving gender equality is not a task for women alone but requires the involvement of everyone in the society, thus the need for the PNP and all its partner-agencies and other stakeholders to promote the program which champions the rights and welfare of women and children.

Of the total 229,623 personnel of the PNP, 21.51 percent or 49,400 are women, while the PNP Officer Corps is 17.87 percent female with 2,820 women assigned to leadership positions in different levels of the organization.