We have started a six-month program composed of Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) Training Series, farmers association enhancement, mentorship on social entrepreneurship, and quality coffee technical training. This program is being done by the invitation of the Mandaya Community Association, Inc. (MCAI), through the Tri-Peoples Development and Services Foundation (TDSF), in partnership with PeaceBuilders Community Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee For Peace (CFP), to develop a sustainable PAR-framed coffee production and to coach champion Mandaya farmers in Pantuyan and Pichon communities.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/11/inclusive-development-program-among-two-mandaya-indigenous-communities-begins/
During the final day of the National Indigenous Peoples’ Month, which is celebrated every October, the tribal council of the Bagobo Tagabawa invited us to attend their final ceremonies. We were told that, among several events of the day, “there will be a ceremony to officially include us as members of the tribe.” They actually surprised us by conferring honorary leadership titles along with our ritual membership into the tribal community. For this sacred embrace, we express our deep gratitude to the Indigenous Political Structure, the clans, and the families of the Bagobo Tagabawa people. By the Creator’s grace and mercy, we commit to fulfill the duties and responsibilities implied in this honor.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/10/the-tribal-council-of-the-bagobo-tagabawa-conferred-honorary-titles-to-our-team/
We are now documenting and processing all the facts and data from our field interaction last July with the Mandaya people in Caraga, Davao Oriental. The Indigenous People’s leadership there officially invited us — PeaceBuilders Community and CoffeeForPeace — through the initiative of the TriPeoples Development and Services Foundation. We are reminded once again that people have wisdom based on, and learned from, their varied experiences and contexts. We ought to listen to them. We ought to recognize their voices. We ought to stop treating them with condescending, or looking-down, attitude.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/10/listen-recognize-and-respect-the-knowledge-and-wisdom-of-the-indigenous-peoples/
I heard that the Ayala Corporation is supporting social enterprises by offering free space in their chain of malls throughout the country. Last 19 April 2021, I got a call from one of their representatives inquiring if I was interested in opening a 26-square-meter shop at the Ayala Abreeza Mall in Davao City as part of their Alagang Ayala Land Program. My first reaction was to pray. Then I established my objectives in light of the vision and mission of Coffee for Peace. I presented the plan to our community and to the management team of CFP. Our team recruited new interns and prepared them for this opportunity. Last 16 September 2021, we opened the Coffee for Peace Kiosk at Abreeza.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/09/coffee-for-peace-opens-a-kiosk-at-the-abreeza-mall-in-davao-city/
16-17 September 2021. After the six-month Inclusive Development Training, the Bagobo Tagabawa community in Barangay Binaton, Digos City begins a long-term partnership with the PBCI-CFP Tribe. This partnership involves community-based, culturally contextualized Social Enterprise Development framed in Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) principles and practices. Because 80% of the participants in this program are women, we are giving greater emphasis on indigenous women’s leadership development. We are sharing the aspiration of the Bagobo Tagabawa Indigenous People to realize and enjoy their right to self-determination and to protect their ancestral domain.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/09/the-bagobo-tagabawa-in-binaton-completes-six-month-includev-training/
Sihaya Ansibod, PBCI Director of Field Operations, developed the Farm Visitation Program to get first-hand and up-to-date information on the state of our farming partners’ lives, wellness, farming successes, farming challenges, and aspirations. We’re passionate about holistic and inclusive development. We’re very careful not to impose coffee farming if it’s not appropriate in a given social, cultural, or geographical context. We, at PBCI-CFP Tribe, believe that this Farm Visitation Program, an aspect of our on-going Participatory Action Research (PAR) around Mt. Apo, would help us to be true to our philosophy of development — from the ground up.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/08/field-operations-team-deepens-relationships-with-partners-through-farm-visits/
Our relationship with Edsal Edres started when our peacebuilding network visited our Meranaw partners during the Marawi Crisis. We got involved in peacebuilding activities together, including: fact-finding mission at the very heart of the war zone; Christian-Muslim inter-faith dialogue on peace; joint peacebuilding strategic planning among leaders of civil society organizations; lobbying at the Congress and Senate of the Philippines; and, livelihood initiatives among families affected by war. We are now focused on Inclusive Development and Social Entrepreneurship as an approach to help the war affected families to rise-up from the ravages of armed conflict.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/08/our-journey-with-edsal-a-meranaw-peacebuilding-partner-continues-through-social-enterprise/
28-30 July 2021. It’s energizing to reconnect with Rolivel Oliveros Elusfa and his team. He was my colleague in civilian ceasefire monitoring from 2006 to 2012 as part of a peacebuilding network. A few months ago, he contacted me and shared his passion to do peacebuilding and development among the Mandaya Indigenous communities. Now, we’re exploring a wider and deeper view of peacebuilding—where building peace is understood as encompassing a holistic and inclusive process of transformation: spiritual-ethical transformation, psycho-social transformation, socio-political transformation, and economic-ecological transformation.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/07/peace-journalist-brews-development-partnership-between-mandaya-tribe-and-pbci-cfp-team/
Sixteen members of Kapeyapaan Farmers’ Association (KFA) in the Municipality of Bansalan, Province of Davao del Sur have completed their six-month training in Social Entrepreneurship. This course is framed in a system of values called Peace and Reconciliation Principles and Practices. Among the 16 vegetable and coffee farmers who have graduated from the course, 6 were elected as founding officers. This initiative is part of a long term Inclusive Development partnership program between the PeaceBuilders Community, Coffee for Peace, and KFA Bansalan.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/07/founding-leaders-and-members-of-kfa-bansalan-completes-social-entrepreneurial-training/
Friday, 25 June 2021. We rejoice with the Bagobo Tagabawa Tribe for the completion of their cultural village and peace memorial complex. This was originally envisioned by Bai Jerlina Owok, the local chieftain at Barangay Binaton in Digos City, Davao del Sur. They started building their local village to make their community more visible and to tell their story beyond their tribal community. Because of their initiative, various sectors—government, business, civil society, and media—responded and helped concretize their vision. While celebrating with the tribe about these developments, we also reflect on issues regarding encroachment of certain powerful forces into the ancestral domain of the Bagobo Tagabawa.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/06/commemoration-celebration-and-reflection-a-spiritual-journey-with-the-bagobo-tagabawa/
The Kapeyapaan Farmers Association (KFA) founding leaders in Barangay Alegre are on their 5th month of training. The participants had their coffee cupping and tasting last 16-17 of June 2021 to wrap up their Coffee Quality training. They also had strategic planning for building their association.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/06/kfa-founding-leaders-experience-basic-coffee-cupping-and-tasting/
Like eagles with renewed wings in our 60s, we feel re-energized as we were signing up for a new three-year term as church-based peacebuilding workers. We did a content analysis of our current work as partners in this ministry, as married couple, and as fellow professionals in our respective fields. The dominant terms that floated were Peace and Reconciliation, Inclusive Development, and Social Entrepreneurship. Once more, we’re able to define and to clarify the basic concepts and activities involved in our Covenant of Service (2021-2024) with Mennonite Church Canada Witness. We are grateful for this blessing and are excited to be entrusted with an exciting set of field responsibilities.
Continue reading
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/05/peace-and-reconciliation-through-inclusive-development-and-social-entrepreneurship/
