II. WELCOME REMARKS HON. KAREN S. GOMEZ-DUMPIT Focal Commissioner for Women, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) The message of the Commissioner resonated the battle cry of the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Observatory: “Let’s make data work for women” and proceeded to provide an overview of components, updates and prospects of the Observatory Project. The GBV Observatory Project, spearheaded by the Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights Center (GEWHRC), specifically seeks to review the roles of the state actors in addressing gender-based violence. Some key updates on the various project components were indicated:       The development of the GBV framework and mapping of GBV legal referral mechanisms in pilot areas have already been finalized. The call for research papers on GBV was initially done during the Purple Action Day on March 4. The Regional Gender-Based Violence mapping and strengthening of legal referral mechanisms to address gender based-violence are a continuation of the initial mapping and aimed to capacitate the officers and staff of the sixteen regional offices of the Commission in responding to the gaps and challenges at the community level. There are available tools for the capacity enhancement of regional offices in monitoring that can be used in generating recommendations and in enhancing functionality of this referral mechanism as an office and in the responsiveness of local inter-agency mechanism to violence against women. The gathering of regional GBV data particularly highlighting issues faced by the most marginalized and the most excluded sector with special focus on intersectionality and an analysis of women’s lived experience of GBV. The Observatory will function as a data laboratory which will stem heavily from information on the ground, analysis and the efficacy of laws in terms of the justice system. A take away from the Observatory is the vital role as the Gender Ombud to bring those who are left behind and to reach those most who are excluded. Guided by the Human Rights-based Approach (HRBA), the GBV framework draws out women’s lived experiences in each referral mechanism. 6