As part of its on-going efforts towards inclusiveness, relevance and to focus on the unserved and underserved, the Philippine Community eCenter Program is piloting the implementation of the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) for telecenters in the Philippines. This pilot study is being funded by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and is being implemented in partnership with the Molave Development Foundation, Inc. (MDFI) from November 2008 to February 2009.

GEM is an innovative approach that evaluates the effectiveness and responsiveness of ICT-based initiatives, using gender-sensitive tools and approaches. The methodology is currently being piloted specifically for CeCs in two municipalities: Bato, Leyte and Binalonan, Pangasinan.

In these two communities, the CeC manager, together with CeC staff and identified local government officials, students and other volunteers, have been trained by MDFI to be data collectors, encoders and mentors, as well as to participate in the evaluation process. They will be responsible for collecting quantitative data using survey questionnaires that will be used to gather information on issues related to demographics, CeC and ICT awareness and utilization, and gender. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews are used to distil qualitative information that will be used to complement the data. All these processes will follow GEM’s seven steps in evaluating the gender-sensitivity and responsiveness of the CeCs. 

The Philippine Community eCenter (CeC) Program will receive funding  from the country's eGovernment Fund to support the implementation of the 2008-2010 strategic roadmap.  

The roadmap , which was launched in April last year after a series of consultation workshops, outlines the direction for the growth and sustainability of CeCs and embodies the overall vision of bridging the digital divide by increasing access to ICT-enabled services and relevant content via the establishment of a CeC in every municipality by 2010.  The CeC roadmap was developed in partnership with telecentre.org .    

The roadmap implementation project, which was proposed by the National Computer Center - Field Operations Office (NCC-FOO), seeks to realize said vision. NCC-FOO is the Commission on Information and Communications Technology's CeC Program Management Office.

The project, which will run for a period of three years, comprises four major components all geared towards making CeCs self-sustaining, relevant and potent instruments for empowering the less developed communities of the country.

The project components consist of: 1) the establishment of new CeCs; 2) the transformation of existing school laboratories and Internet cafes into CeCs; 3) capability building; and 4) content development.