On July 23, 2026, Guimaras State University (GSU), through its Gender and Development (GAD) Program, welcomed the Learning Visit and Benchmarking Activity of the Local Government Unit of Ibajay, Aklan, in line with its Collaborative Learning Activity on Child-Minding Facility Operations.

Initiated by the Municipality of Ibajay’s Gender and Development Focal Point System (GFPS), the activity convened approximately 40 delegates from the local government unit for an immersion into institutional practices that foreground gender-responsive and child-centered spaces. The delegation visited selected institutions across Guimaras that have cultivated exemplary modalities in program implementation and service delivery, with the objective of gleaning operational insights and adaptable frameworks for their own locality.

A salient component of the benchmarking activity was the visit to the GSU Child-Minding Center—a facility conceived as an enabling space that recognizes caregiving as an indispensable dimension of institutional inclusivity. The Center embodies the University’s commitment to cultivating environments that are attentive to the intersecting needs of its stakeholders, particularly in advancing family-responsive and gender-sensitive initiatives within the academic milieu.

The delegates were formally welcomed by GAD Director Mrs. Frennie D. Zarate, who stressed the University’s continuing efforts to embed gender and development principles into its institutional ethos and service architecture.

The activity was graced by Mayor Engr. Jose Miguel M. Miraflores of the Municipality of Ibajay, Aklan, together with members of the Gender and Development Focal Point System, whose presence exhibited a commitment to cultivating more responsive and humane public institutions.