Making a difference in a world of conflict

MANILA, Philippines - Women’s rights and understanding of gender issues have significantly grown in recent years. However, the complexity of women’s roles and responsibilities are even more pronounced in areas of armed and religious conflict and ethnic discrimination.

 While it is difficult to survive and lead a normal life in such areas, it is even more remarkable when women rise above these challenging situations and work toward establishing and maintaining peace and harmony, attaining economic recovery, and upholding human rights.

The Asian Institute of Management (AIM) TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Leadership provides tools for leaders to work toward conflict resolution, enabling them to bridge social and economic divides to reduce poverty and increase equality. AIM’s Bridging Leadership Fellows Program demonstrates a new kind of leadership – leadership that forms linkages of understanding and action to address social conflict, a reality in many emerging markets throughout the world.

The Bridging Leadership Fellows Program also underscores the critical role that women play in conflict resolution. The program has attracted leaders from all over the Philippines, including women that are making a profound difference in their communities.

TESDA senior training officer Ruby Andong (front and center) joins the participants of a seminar on values formation and skil ls training for small-engine mechanics (top). Al-Mujadilah Development Foundation, Inc. project director Zahria “Linky” P.M. Mapandi addresses a general assembly of the organization’s partners (above).

Sitti Djalia Hataman, wife of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Mujiv Hataman, founded Pinay Kilos (PinK), an organization based in Zamboanga City and works on the areas of peace, health, and women’s rights in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga Sibugay. Hataman also established Pinay Kilos Young Cadres for Peace (PAYAPA) as part of her project for AIM.

“I no longer share our women’s everyday stories, experiences, fears, and aspirations,” reflected Hataman. “This made me uncomfortable speaking and engaging on their behalf, and it became clear that they do not need my voice to speak for them, as they have their own voice.”

PAYAPA hopes to provide spaces for the development of young Muslim women who aspire to become community-based peace-builders. The project targets nine peace cadres from the Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi areas, focusing on capacity building, articulating social divides, developing a community peace agenda, and implementing a Bridging Peace Project.

Another NGO working to uphold women’s rights is the Al-Mujadilah Development Foundation, Inc. (AMDF). Led by project director Zahria “Linky” P.M. Mapandi, AMDF works for the meaningful participation of women in peace-building, good governance, poverty reduction, and sustainable development.

Ma. Luz Go,chairperson of the Mindanao Tri-People Consultancy Services Cooperative and the Kapayapaan Kapatid Council, works with communities to develop small businesses and promote peace (top). Bae Rose Undag, a consultant for Building Bridges for Peace and the National Commission on Indigenous People, works with the Higaonons (above left). Sitti Djalia Hataman, wife of ARMM governor Mujiv Hataman, speaks on peace, health, and women’s concerns in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga Sibugay (above right).

“I was deprived of my right to make my own choices and for my own choices to be respected,” said Mapandi, sharing her experiences as a Maranao Muslim woman. Mapandi works toward enterprise building for enhanced Islam and gender equality mainstreaming in communities of peace, as well as to arrest trafficking of persons.

Meanwhile, Ruby Andong, Senior Training Officer at the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), believes that values transformation and skills development are tools necessary to achieve peace and good governance. She has been motivated by “the difficulty of life and the moral decline of the Bangsamoro people brought about by continuing conflict in our communities.”

Andong’s work involves skills training for some 5,000 indigent men, women, and out-of-school youth, with the goals of developing an enlightened and productive community, working together for peace and development by reinforcing Islamic values, providing livelihood skills for entrepreneurship and employment, and strengthening collaboration with all stakeholders.

The Mindanao Tri-People Consultancy Services Cooperative and Kapayapaan Kapatid Council, through its chair and planning and development head Ma. Luz Go, hopes to create a showcase for Christians, Muslims, and indigenous peoples sharing peace, understanding, and development through business.

Bae Rose Undag is another leader working to improve the state of indigenous groups in Mindanao. She is a tribal leader of the Higaonons and a consultant for Building Bridges for Peace (BBP) project, established by the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC), and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). At present, she is working closely with the Tatrico-Odliba community, one of the most neglected among the Higaonons, addressing their domain claims spanning 13 barangays, with the hope of mainstreaming these issues in the Provincial Peace and Order Council.

All these women have acknowledged that the Bridging Leadership Program at AIM has provided new perspectives and approaches to their leadership and management skills.

“It has given me new perspectives, and a more systematic approach to dealing with the different divides I am confronted with,” shared Hataman. “I am new to government bureaucracy, and the tools I learned, particularly on systems thinking and the concepts on leadership, have helped me a lot.”

In areas of conflict, there is little trust among various groups, and this is addressed by the program, which focuses on collaboration among stakeholders, developing a common understanding of the conflict, and reaching a consensus on how solutions can be developed and applied. A sense of co-leading is espoused by the program which challenges current approaches to leadership. The bridging leader is not your traditional leader but one who recognizes the need to work with and through others to respond to complex issues.

“My AIM experience has contributed to my work and advocacy by enhancing my mind set. It made me believe the power of collaboration as an effective and more sustainable way of achieving our goal,” explained Mapandi.

 “The Bridging Leadership inputs transformed me from a ‘timid’ Bangsamoro woman leader to a Bangsamoro woman bridging leader. This leadership for social transformation addresses complex problems in our communities through multi-stakeholder processes,” added Undag. “We have started working through collaborative partnerships to address conflict through peace building activities that will start from within the self and promotion of skills-based livelihood activities.” 

Countless other women and communities have benefitted from a new approach to addressing decades-long issues. It is hoped that these strategies will allow concerned women to empower others, reduce conflict, and create peaceful and thriving communities that espouse gender equality, provide access to vital services, and recognize the rights of all peoples, regardless of their religious and ethnic affiliation.