Calgary, 10 March 2023 – The Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Calgary and the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA) have agreed to expand their partnership.

The agreement was reached during the meeting between Consul General Zaldy Patron and the CIWA executives, led by its Chief Executive Officer Paula Calderon, on 7 March 2023 at the CIWA office.

CIWA was established as a non-profit organization in 1982 and currently has more than 50 programs and services for immigrant women and their families.

It is the only non-profit organization in Calgary that offers a Filipino Community Development Program (FDCP), which helps members of the Filipino community integrate into Canadian society.

CIWA’s specific activities under the FDCP include family reunification support, parenting workshops, youth engagement activities, one-on-one supportive counselling, in-home support, social events, and resource referrals.

Since 2018, the PCG has been participating in CIWA’s family reunification workshops where it conducts information session about its consular services for CIWA’s Filipino clients.

In 2019, the PCG also promoted CIWA’s Food Service Training to the Filipinos who would like to upgrade their skills and improve their chances of employment.

Going forward, the PCG and CIWA will jointly pursue other projects that will benefit the members of the Filipino community, especially the Filipino women and girls.

At the PCG’s recent Kapihan sa Konsulado held on 4 February 2023, CIWA was one of the five non-profit organizations that gave presentations about their programs and services for the Filipino community.

“We are excited to undertake more joint projects with CIWA for the good of our 89,000-strong Filipino community in Calgary,” said Consul General Patron.