UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) sign a memorandum of understanding as partners for women empowerment, under the anti-poverty program, Angat Buhay on Tuesday morning (May 2 2017) at the Office of the Vice-President in Quezon City.

The OVP and UNFPA come together for the Babaenihan campaign to empower Filipinas, with the objective of reaching out to marginalized girls and women throughout the country.

The Babaenihan campaign focuses on raising awareness on potential challenges of Filipino girls, strengthening LGU involvement in empowering women, sharing good practices on reproductive health, and gender-based violence prevention and response.

This OVP-UNFPA partnership aims to achieve sustainable development goals by ensuring that all women's rights including reproductive health are protected, that they are able to find decent work, and that they are able to contribute to the sustainable economic growth of the country.

“We look forward to working with the Office of the Vice President to empower girls and women so that no one is left behind,” said UNFPA Country Representative Klaus Beck. “Empowering the 10 million Filipino girls aged 10-19 years old to realize their full potential, is critical to the Philippines’ social and economic development,” Beck said.

The Angat Buhay program of the OVP brings together partners from the public and private sectors and marginalized communities. Partnerships focus on issues concerning, education, universal healthcare, rural development, food security and nutrition, housing and resettlement, and women empowerment.