Today, the Business for Peace Foundation announced the ‘2020 Oslo Business for Peace Award’ winners. Joji Pantoja, President & CEO of Coffee for Peace, is one of the three winners of this prestigious award. The official citation says: “She has dedicated her career to building peace in conflict zones and improving the lives of marginalised groups through economic stability.” Coffee for Peace is a social enterprise and a twin-organization of PeaceBuilders Community.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/09/our-ina-joji-pantoja-is-one-of-the-three-honourees-of-the-2020-oslo-business-for-peace-award/
Along with the millions of rural peasants and urban poor suffering from the system that oppresses them, I express my lamentations and my anger with the killing of Randall Echanis and Zara Alvarez. These are two of the many justice and peace activists slain in the past few years. I cry justice for them all. As a faith-based peace-and-justice field worker committed to active nonviolence, I will continue to help lead our community to fulfill our calling and to do our tasks in the midst of these challenges.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/08/im-lamenting-and-im-angry-about-the-recent-killings-of-peacebuilding-and-human-rights-activists/
We’re happy to announce that Coffee for Peace Cafe, our social enterprise in Davao City, is now open again. This coffee shop had been closed for five months due to CoViD19 lock down. After reconfiguring our operations and integrating public health safety protocol, we’re ready to serve you. Welcome back!
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/08/coffee-for-peace-cafe-reopens-with-appropriate-public-health-safety-protocol/
How can we dignify and help folks from communities who are more economically in need, compared to the other communities in the city, during these times of public health crisis?
Organize a ‘community resource sharing event.’ That’s what three organizations did to serve an urban poor neighborhood in Davao City.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/08/pbci-cfp-tribe-participated-in-a-community-resource-sharing-event/
We’re excited for the wonderful possibilities were facing and at the same time having a ‘feeling of suspense’ because of inherent uncertainties. Before, our journey can be described as trekking through a vast landscape with plenty of landmarks. Now, it’s like navigating through an ocean. No landmarks. We’re charting a new map. But we know our True North. We have our Reliable Compass. We are being moved by the Holy Wind. Uncertain and yet so assured!
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/07/in-response-to-the-new-realities-were-reconfiguring-our-operational-systems/
The message of Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) is articulated and demonstrated even in the midst of CoViD19 public health crisis and the growing unjust governance in our land. This is particularly made possible by 7 budding women entrepreneurs who are being mentored by the PBCI-CFP Tribe. They are Mary, Sihaya, Annie, Wanay, Mandy, Bennette, and Diane. They are developing their own micro-enterprise and have been marketing their products and experiencing encouraging results.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/07/pbci-cfp-family-gives-birth-to-womens-social-enterprise-initiatives-as-a-response-to-covid19-realities/
Sihaya Ansibod, PBCI Director of Field Operations, has been updating me on her activities. At this point, she’s directing our Inclusive Development Consulting with a corporation and with a government agency, working in three provinces in Mindanao. As far as our team is concerned, her trustworthiness is at 100 per cent level. Sihaya speaks for PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) in the area of field operations.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/07/our-director-of-field-operations-pursues-inclusive-development-projects-amidst-covid19-realities/
With much gratitude to Afunyan—our Creator, Tala fulfilled all her academic requirements and earned the Master of Arts degree in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, Virginia, USA. Her thesis topic, “Decolonizing and Localizing Peacebuilding Through a For-Profit Social Enterprise: The Story of Coffee for Peace and PeaceBuilders Community,” helps us see a clearer picture of our journey at PBCI and CFP.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/06/tala-completes-her-masters-degree-from-emus-center-for-justice-peacebuilding/
Independence is freedom from various military, economic, political, and religious systems that still enslave us. It is earning our self-respect. It’s when we can ensure agricultural sustainability in the context of the 21st century global reality. Independence means training more social entrepreneurs who regenerate resources for all. Independence is enjoying our right-to-self-determination as a multi-cultural society. Most of all, independence is the liberation of women in our society.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/06/philippine-independence-day-not-until-we-truly-enjoy-our-right-to-self-determination/
My own research of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act 2020 leads me to some scary and chilling points listed below. This list is not exhaustive as I don’t have enough time to dig deeper due to other pressing meetings and assignments. I am a peace-loving Pinoy. I am a law-abiding citizen. I am not affiliated with any political parties. I am a Pinoy and subscribes to #AllPinoysMatter.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/06/anti-terrorism-bill-a-possible-return-to-the-dark-days-of-marcos-martial-law/
This is my expression of support to the call of my Palestinian Christian brother and friend, The Rev. Dr. Jack Sara. “I have already written several articles on this subject, expressing how so many of those so-called ‘Evangelical leaders’ have not been helpful in achieving peace here,” he laments. “As we mark the seventy-second year of the nakba,” he adds, “I call upon Christians around the world to help us say enough of the injustice and to join us in prophetically speaking against systems that instill suffering and strife on a weak and almost helpless people.”
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/05/i-support-my-palestinian-sisters-and-brothers-as-we-commemorate-the-72nd-year-of-al-nakba/
ProducePeace+ buys fruits and vegetables directly from farmers at justice-based prices. They sell them to solidarity markets mostly belonging to upper-middle class families. They use a big chunk of their net profit to provide nutritious food relief for the urban poor. ProducePeace+ is building a justice-based relationship between socio-economic divide through social enterprise. This opens a way towards conscientization, transformation, and healing of both the people and the land.
Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2020/05/in-the-midst-of-covid19-crisis-a-new-social-enterprise-is-born/
We are sent by Mennonite Church Canada Witness in partnership with our international community.
