Category: PAR COMMUNITIES

These are articles on specific activities and events of the Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) communities in some of the 81 provinces in our country where we have developed partnerships.

PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. or PAR Philippines has no administrative control over these organizations, communities, religious groups, or business corporations who have embraced PAR Principles and Practices. We simply cast the vision, provide training, and serve as consultants as each of them develop their respective sustainability as a part of a national network of PAR Communities.

THE SPIRIT OF MAGBABAYA WAS THERE DURING THE TALAANDIG DAY FESTIVITIES

“The Spirit of the Creator was there!” That was the constant existential feeling I had while participating at the Talaandig Day Celebration. It was held last 14 October 2022 in their ancestral territory at the foot of Mt. Kitanglad. That day of festivities was actually the final event of a whole week of rituals and celebrations. It was indeed a day when, from the perspective of our team at PBCI and CFP, we participated in activities that harmonizes us with the Creator, with our being, with others, and with the creation. Our team also accompanied the traditional leaders of the Bagobo Tagabawa Tribe to meet the traditional leaders of the Talaandig Tribe, praying and hoping that the two Indigenous communities become partners in inclusive development.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/10/the-spirit-of-magbabaya-was-there-during-the-talaandig-day-festivities/

PBCI-CFP FIELD PARTNERS INVITE VISITING CANADIAN MENNONITE LEADERS

Last 20-26 September 2022, Doug Klassen (Executive Director, Mennonite Church Canada), Jeanette Hanson (Director, Mennonite Church Canada Witness), and Norm Dyck (Mission Minister, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada) accompanied the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDevTeam) in our regularly scheduled field work. Our field trip included a meeting with a Philippine Army officer, with the Council of Elders of the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mount Apo (MADADMA), with the Obo Manobo coffee farmers in Kidapawan, with the founders of TriPeople Development & Services Foundation, and with the Council of Elders of the Unified Bagobo Tagabawa Tribe. They also met with our Manila-based BOT members.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/09/pbci-cfp-field-partners-invite-visiting-canadian-mennonite-leaders/

OBO MANOBO FARMERS PRESENT SAMPLE PRODUCT AT THE ‘PHILIPPINE COFFEE EXPO 2022’

The Obo Manobo Coffee Farmers sent their representatives at the Philippine Coffee Expo 2022 (PCE2022) to present their initial product. Datu Romeo Andot, Bai Gemma Andot, and Alvin Baroro were sent by the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mount Apo (MADADMA). They were accompanied by Rich Paul Calceta and Don Tormis of the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of Energy Development Corporation (CSR-EDC). Sihaya Ansibod, PBCI Field Operations Director assisted them. The Obo Manobo Coffee presented in this event was the product of a long-term program to develop key farmers who would be the local champions we refer to as ‘farmer entrepreneurs’ or farmerpreneurs. This is part of an on-going inclusive development initiative of MADADMA. We, at PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team, has been tasked to facilitate social preparation, community organization, and training in basic entrepreneurial skills.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/09/obo-manobo-farmers-present-sample-product-at-the-philippine-coffee-expo-2022/

TALAANDIG COMMUNITY FINISHES FIRST WORKSHOP ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

26 – 27 Aug 2022. The Talaandig Indigenous People’s community in Sungko, Lantapan, Bukidnon, finished the first of two social entrepreneurship workshops which was jointly facilitated by Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), led by Dr. Jinky Bornales, and the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team). With the cultural guidance and leadership of Datu Migketay “Vic” Saway, the seminar-workshop focused on generating Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) that can be used in their social enterprise ventures. The participants also identified the products that they want to develop as social enterprises.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/08/talaandig-community-finishes-first-workshop-on-social-entrepreneurship/

THE ROOTS OF OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE OBO MANOBO FARMERS AND WITH THE CSR-EDC GROW DEEP

28-30 June 2022. The Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team) conducted a series of small group consultations and workshop-seminars with our partners from the Ovu Menovu Indigenous People’s community and from the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Energy Development Corporation (CSR-EDC). These field activities are a part of a five-year Social Entrepreneurial Training Program among pre-qualified Ovu Menovu farmers.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/06/our-partnership-with-the-ovu-menovu-farmers-and-with-the-csr-edc-deepens-in-rootedness/

‘GREEN HABITS’ AND ‘KFA ALEGRE’ FORM A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ALLIANCE

Last 6th of May 2022, the Green Habits Agri-Trading (GHAT) made a partnership agreement with Kapeyapaan Farmers Association (KFA). They were accompanied by the IncluDev Team of the PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and of Coffee For Peace (CFP). The signing of agreement was held in Malipayon Peace Hub, the post-harvest facility of CFP in Barangay Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. They both aim to become an outstanding social enterprise in Barangay Alegre and even in the Greater Davao Area.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/05/green-habits-and-kfa-alegre-form-a-social-enterprise-alliance/

FRIENDS WORKING AMONG ZAMBALES AETAS ESTABLISH PARTNERSHIP WITH PBCI-CFP TEAM 

Last 25-28 April, leaders of a Zambales-based Fresh Hope Agape Center (FHAC) Inc. visited PeaceBuilders Community Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee For Peace (CFP) in Davao. The purpose of their visit was to get actual coffee farm exposure, to get post-harvest processing experience, and to go through Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) seminar. FHAC provides education and livelihood support to marginalized communities in Zambales. Their work is especially focused on Aeta Indigenous People’s community in Zambales.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/04/friends-working-among-zambales-aetas-establish-partnership-with-pbci-cfp-team/

KALINGA PEACE AND RECONCILIATION COMMUNITY CELEBRATES FIRST COFFEE HARVEST 

One of the key objectives of the Inclusive Development (IncluDev) team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) is to help strengthen peace and reconciliation values in every farming community where coffee is grown, among other produce. Here, we’ll focus on the journey of our partner from the Banao Indigenous community in the Province of Kalinga. Recently, they reported of their first harvest as an initial result of a long process of inclusive development endeavor.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/03/kalinga-peace-and-reconciliation-community-celebrates-first-coffee-harvest/

MANDAYA FARMERS TRAVELLED TO A&J FARM AND COFFEE FOR PEACE AS PART OF THEIR SIX-MONTH TRAINING 

As part of their two-day monthly training on “Inclusive Development & Farmerpreneurship,” (a 6-month training program), key farmers and community leaders of Mandaya Indigenous People from Pantuyan, Caraga, Davao Oriental had coffee production exposure trip to A and J Mahayahay Farm and to the CFP post-harvest processing facilities at the Malipayon Peace Hub in Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. I lead this activity in my capacity as Vice President for Community Partnership at Coffee for Peace(CFP). I’m being supported by Aldren Banal, Operations Manager at CFP, who happens to be my husband.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/02/mandaya-farmers-travelled-to-aj-farm-and-coffee-for-peace-as-part-of-their-six-month-training/

AMONG MANDAYA INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT STARTS WITH SPIRITUALITY

The Mandaya Community is the lead organization who defines, determines, and the final assessor of this inclusive development initiative. We spend at least 50% of our seminar time doing active, documented listening. The primary value we have been hearing is about their indigenous spirituality. From this spiritual base and lens, we get a better understanding of their concepts of liberation and their ideas of their right to self-determination. Then collaborative development happens in their own contexts—Mandaya worldview, Mandaya values system, Mandaya behavior patterns, and Mandaya customary laws.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/12/among-mandaya-indigenous-communities-inclusive-development-starts-with-spirituality/

THE ‘KAPEYAPAAN FARMERS ASSOCIATION’ IN BANSALAN MEETS FOR 2022 PLANS

The Board of Directors of the Kapeyapaan Farmers Association in Bansalan, Davao del Sur met last Wednesday, 01 December 2021. They outlined their objectives for the coming year 2022. They are as follows: to streamline farm to market operation; to complete the collection of members’ contribution towards the association fund of PhP2,000 each; to complete the registration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as a regional farmers association; and, to get members’ Good Agricultural Practices Certification from the Department of Agriculture.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/12/the-kapeyapaan-farmers-association-in-bansalan-meets-for-2022-plans/

COFFEE FOR PEACE OPENS A KIOSK AT THE ABREEZA MALL IN DAVAO CITY 

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/09/coffee-for-peace-opens-a-kiosk-at-the-abreeza-mall-in-davao-city/

OUR GLOBAL PEACE COMMUNITY

We are sent by Mennonite Church Canada Witness in partnership with our international community.