Schools and communities for peace

Schools for Peace is a project under the Act for Peace Programme of the United Nations Development Programme Philippines. A School of Peace (SoP) is an elementary or secondary school located in conflicted areas in Mindanao. It is a school that undergoes transformation processes following the four phases of change. It seeks to strengthen capacities on integration and mainstreaming of Culture of Peace principles, concepts, and values through Peace Education and Teacher Education.

Mainstreaming process involves integrating peace principles, concepts and values in all subject areas, both in formal and non-formal education through the use of Enriched Lesson Plans and Peace Exemplars, or role models.

As defined by the United Nations, Culture of Peace consists of values, attitudes, and forms of behavior that reject violence and prevent conflicts by going to their root causes. The endpoint is solving the problems of conflict through dialogue and negotiation among people, groups, and nations.

Actor Robin Padilla, the former Bad Boy of Philippine cinema, is now among the Peace Exemplars of the Act for Peace Programme of the UNDP. Early this month, he and UNDP country director Renaud Meyer went to Datu Odin Sinsuat, Shariff Kabungsuan province, to visit the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) staying in the evacuation center. They also launched ACT projects in Mindanao.

Meyer and Padilla led the launching of the Early Recovery Project implemented by the UNDP-Act for Peace Programme for the IDPs. They were joined by Act for Peace Programme manager Diosita Andot and Governor Ibrahim Ibay of Shariff Kabungsuan. Among the projects were a children’s health and daycare center and bio-intensive gardening for the evacuees. Food and non-food items were given as direct assistance, and a rubber-tree nursery was also set up for the evacuees.

Meyer said that the UNDP will continue to assist these Peace and Development Communities and the Schools for Peace so that these communities and schools can be transformed and provide better lives for their constituents and students. Moreover, the Act for Peace Programme approaches the conflict-affected areas in two ways. It helps in capacity-building by giving assistance to the communities and their leaders. It also makes sure that the affected areas, but not involved in the conflict, can live as normally as the other communities in the country.

“After we acknowledge the situation, we make sure that the population suffers the least possible impact due to the ongoing conflict. Another important aspect of our role in dealing with the internally displaced persons is not to let them get addicted or very dependent on assistance. We will help them build and sustain their hope to go back to their homes and assist them towards recovery.”

For his part, Padilla — who is a Muslim convert — appealed to his brother Muslims and Christians to work hand in hand. Lines of communication should always be open, he added: “Lapit-kamay po tayo. At sana, ballpen at papel ang hawak natin at hindi baril.” Padilla’s daughter, Queenie, also visited conflict-affected areas in Mindanao last September and Padilla himself has set up the Liwanag ng Kapayapaan Foundation, a preparatory school that gives free education to mostly Moro children in Quezon City.

Padilla added: “Hanggang may eskuwelahan at daycare centers na ginagamit bilang evacuation centers, hindi uunlad ang karunungan ng mga bata. Ang pinag-uusapan natin dito’y ang kinabukasan ng mga tao — lalo na ng mga bata. Lahat na po ng kailangan natin para magsimula muli ay narito na. Wala na tayong maidadahilan pa para hindi natin makamtan ang kapayapaan. Ipakita natin ang ating buong suporta sa pag-asang dala ng UNDP at ng Act for Peace Programme.”

Act Programme manager Diosita Andot said that the assistance has no deadline and does not end after the evacuees have returned to their homes. “We do not treat them as victims. We deal with them as people who have the right to plan for themselves and who can do something for themselves. We also see to it that our recovery and livelihood programs will be vehicles for social cohesion, where everyone from different cultures, religions, and beliefs can work as one and in harmony.”

The Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) government led by Governor Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan is the lead implementing agency of the programs and projects implemented in the region. The UNDP serves as the managing agency for the programme and MEDCO serves as the overall implementing agency. The Act for Peace Programme supports 250 Peace and Development Communities all over Mindanao.

Afterward, Meyer and Padilla joined a storytelling activity among Muslim and Christian students at the Broce Elementary School of Peace in barangay Tamontaka, Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Broce is one of 31 Schools of Peace supported by the Act for Peace Programme to promote quality, basic education grounded on the values of non-violence. Padilla read a story of tolerance, goodwill and friendship among Muslim and Ilocano children. The children listened with rapt attention — and applauded heartily after Padilla’s reading. The story was developed under the Big Books project of the Kids for Peace Foundation, Inc., of Cotabato City, which is supported by the UNDP and the British Council. The stories are written by core groups of children from Mindanao themselves, who interviewed their parents and elders, and then wrote the stories themselves. In the true tradition of communal ownership, young and old weave stories that spring from their culture and community.

Among the stories are Bagong Golis of Dalingaoen, Pikit, North Cotabato; Pangadapen: Ang Kuwento ni Kandutan of Barira, Carmen, Cotabato; and Ang Balon of Ranzo, Carmen, Cotabato. AusAID helped in the writing of two more stories. In addition to the five stories, the young people have banded together and are now working on the following storybooks: the centuries-old Moro Watch Tower in Guinsiliban, Camiguin; the musical instruments of Aromanen-Manobos, Matigsalugs, and B’laans; and on the Sheikh Makhdum mosque in Simunul, Tawi-tawi.

These kids’ stories introduce them to the glories of their past and opened avenues that introduced them to their culture and history. Moreover, it also asked that if peace reigned before, why can we not have peace again — at present?

The Mindanao Week of Peace is an annual activity held throughout Mindanao to raise peace consciousness and promote the participation of the people in building a culture of peace. The Act for Peace Programme is a joint project of the government of the Philippines and the United Nations, with support from the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the European Union. It is aimed at promoting peace and helping transform conflict-affected areas into peaceful, progressive, and self-reliant communities,

And when you start with the young — in their houses and their schools — you can never really go wrong.

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