AUGUST 8, 2023/ COTABATO CITY-BARMM. A famous quote says “education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”.
With education in a form of community trainings, members of cooperatives and people’s organization (PO) who are composed of farmers, transitioning combatants, women, youth, indigenous people and others are learning together necessary knowledge and skills relevant for the organizing, operation and management of their groups.
Trainings conducted are in relevance to the project PROACTIVE: Programme on Assistance for Camp Transformation through Inclusion, Violent Prevention and Economic Empowerment.
These activities help in building the capacities of the project beneficiaries to become equipped to handle and manage their organizations and the sub-projects to be provided to them by the project.
- Sustainable agriculture
- Community-based Enterprise Planning Technique (CEPT)
- Basic marketing strategy
- Disaster risk and reduction management
- Operation and maintenance
- Organizational and Project Management
- Basic financial management
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Some similar trainings are also being conducted for the members of Local Social Formation (LSF) who are organized to respond into pressing concerns in the community related to peace and security.
“In participating training like this, we learn knowledge which cannot be taught or learned in school”, Lailanie M. Arsani of Panggao, Munai, Lanap del Norte- Camp Bilal, stated.
Abdulnasser G. Akmad of Camp Badre said that he joined the training for new learning or knowledge.
“I myself believe that there is no evil knowledge. It just depends how you will use that knowledge. If you use it for good or bad. In other way learning is also a way to be aware of such things”, he told.
Asraf Gunda Batuaan from Camp Bushra learned that “a secretary is different from an auditor”.
Simple knowledge like this is already relevant to awaken and enlighten the participants about project process for them to understand that development assistance comes with a shared responsibility towards sustainable benefits for all.
With the PROACTIVE, there are 24 cooperatives being provided with capacity development support and livelihood assistance based on the potential enterprise identified through CEPT.
Twenty-five People’s organizations are formed with various capacity building activities and to receive infrastructure sub-projects.
There are 24 LSFs who are organized and will be granted with an assistance to be used for a project that shall be responsive to an identified peace and security concerns in the community.
Organizing community organizations twinned with education and trainings have been very relevant for the groups to become independent and self-reliant knowing the process of organizational management, project implementation, operation and maintenance, which are all vital towards project sustainability.
The Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA Inc.) as the implementing agency, has been facilitating the said trainings for the cooperatives, POs and LSFs across the 16 barangays in the six major camps of the MILF namely Camp Abubakar, Maguindanao- Camp Badre, Camp Bilal, Camp Bushra, Camp Omar and Camp Rajamuda.
With the project’s approach, beneficiaries and other partners and stakeholders are united, discuss and work together the needed actions towards progress and peace. They feel the attention through the development assistance long been inadequate for the conflict-affected areas, like the PROACTIVE brings to them.
PROACTIVE as a project that supports to camps transformation and development is a collaborative programme of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP – Philippines) and the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA Inc.) under the European Union Framework for Assistance to Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Mindanao Peace and Development Programme - Peace and Development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MINPAD-PD BARMM).
