Every year, thousand families in the poorest of the poor communities in the Bangsamoro receive free beef through the Qurbani Program where hundreds of cattle are sacrificed in observance of the Eid’l Adha (feast of sacrifice), an annual event of the Muslim Ummah worldwide.

Since 2014, the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) through the support of humanitarian foundations from Turkey facilitate Qurban Program to share blessings to the poor, an act encouraged among Muslim as part of worship.

“We facilitate the implementation of the Qurban Program in gratitude and assistance of our Turkey brothers who donated these cows for distribution to the poor families”, BDA executive director Mohammad S. Yacob stated.

In the welcome meeting for the Turkey visitors, BDA disclosed that programs such the Qurban is very useful for the communities and it helps in making them feel the essence of the peace process.

Rhadzni Taalim, head of BDA program operations division mentioned about the recently signed Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to the visitors and discussed briefly how development programs helps keep the faith of the communities over the peace process.

Over the years, the BDA as development arm of the MILF implement similar projects that helps address huge development gaps in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao where thousands of families and individuals are benefiting.

This year, the Qurbani Program with over 200 hundreds of cows is made possible with the support of Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), Turkiye Dyanet Vakfi (TDV), Deniz Fereri and Sadaqatasi, all humanitarian organizations from Turkey.

The program is being implemented from August 21-23, 2018 in selected communities in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte.