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 BAGOBO TAGABAWA IN BINATON COMPLETES SIX-MONTH ‘INCLUDEV’ TRAINING 

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/09/the-bagobo-tagabawa-in-binaton-completes-six-month-includev-training/

FIELD OPERATIONS TEAM DEEPENS RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARTNERS THROUGH FARM VISITS

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/08/field-operations-team-deepens-relationships-with-partners-through-farm-visits/

OUR JOURNEY WITH EDSAL, A MERANAW PEACEBUILDING PARTNER, CONTINUES THROUGH SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/08/our-journey-with-edsal-a-meranaw-peacebuilding-partner-continues-through-social-enterprise/

PEACE JOURNALIST BREWS DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN MANDAYA TRIBE AND PBCI-CFP TEAM

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/07/peace-journalist-brews-development-partnership-between-mandaya-tribe-and-pbci-cfp-team/

FOUNDING LEADERS AND MEMBERS OF KFA BANSALAN COMPLETE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURIAL TRAINING

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/07/founding-leaders-and-members-of-kfa-bansalan-completes-social-entrepreneurial-training/

COMMEMORATION, CELEBRATION, AND REFLECTION: A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY WITH THE BAGOBO TAGABAWA

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/06/commemoration-celebration-and-reflection-a-spiritual-journey-with-the-bagobo-tagabawa/

PEACE AND RECONCILIATION THROUGH INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/05/peace-and-reconciliation-through-inclusive-development-and-social-entrepreneurship/

BAGOBO TAGABAWA FARMERS LOOK AT ‘DEVELOPMENT’ THROUGH THEIR INDIGENOUS IDENTITY

The Binaton Bagobo Tagabawa Farmers Livelihood Association (BBTAFLA) in Barangay Binaton, Digos City committed themselves to look at long-term Inclusive Development Program based on their indigenous identity. This sense of ‘who they are’ would determine the production and marketing of their farm products—such as vegetables, coffee, flowers, and handcrafts. They will also share with outsiders their Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices through stories, arts, and native products. In coordination with the government, civil society, and business sectors, they will open their community as a learning center for Indigenous cultural understanding, peacebuilding, and reconciliatory initiatives.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/05/bagobo-tagabawa-farmers-look-at-development-through-their-indigenous-identity/

OBO MANOBO COMMUNITY DESCRIBES LEADERSHIP QUALITIES OF A DATU

Our Inclusive Development partnership with the Obo Manobo tribe, together with Energy Development Corporation (EDC), is on its second month of this year’s training. This month’s objectives are: (a) to listen from the elders of the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mt. Apo (MADADMA) on the characteristics and structures of the Obo Manobo indigenous leadership; (b) to identify the impact of Christianity in their culture, especially on leadership; (c) to discuss the three basic ways of post-harvest coffee processing; (d) and, to facilitate a hands-on experience on quality seedling propagation.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/04/obo-manobo-community-describes-leadership-qualities-of-a-datu/

TWO PAR COMMUNITIES TAKE LESSONS ON BECOMING ‘FARMERPRENEURS’ OF QUALITY COFFEE

Last 15-16 April 2021, the Binaton Bagobo Tagabawa Farmers Livelihood Association (BBTAFLA) in Binaton, Digos City gathered for their 3rd of six months Inclusive Development and Social Entrepreneurial Training. The following week, 20-21 April 2021, the Kapeyapaan Farmers Association (KFA) in Alegre, Bansalan went through their 4th month on similar training. Both communities focused on becoming farmer-entrepreneurs or ‘farmerpreneurs’ of quality coffee within the framework of peace and reconciliation principles.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/04/two-par-communities-take-lessons-on-becoming-farmerpreneurs-of-quality-coffee/

STRENGTHENING INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP WITH THE OBO MANOBO TRIBE AND EDC

Together with the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the PeaceBuilders Community Inc. and Coffee for Peace Inclusive Development (PBCI-CFP IncluDev) Team established a three-year program for the Obo Manobo in Kidapawan City. This year’s goal is to strengthen the coffee farming group in the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mt. Apo (MADADMA) community and develop their coffee farm management capacity.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/03/peace-and-coffee-inclusive-development-and-partnership-with-the-obo-manobo/

KFA TRAINING IN BANSALAN AND BINATON COMPLY WITH PUBLIC HEALTH SAFETY PROTOCOLS

With compliance to public health and safety protocols, Kapeyapaan Farmers Association (KFA) in Alegre, Bansalan started their 3rd month of training last 15-16 March 2021 and the KFA in Binaton, Digos City started their 2nd month last 18-19 March 2021.

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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/03/kapeyapaan-farmers-association-training-in-bansalan-and-digos-city/

OUR GLOBAL PEACE COMMUNITY

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