Newsletter No. 335
News-Analysis
July 21, 2006

 

The following news article appeared yesterday in the Manila Standard Today newspaper:

JAPAN BANKROLLS TRAINING PROGRAM FOR MUSLIMS
By Florante S. Solmerin

Local communities and non-government organizations affiliated with the Bangsamoro Development Authority (BDA) will be the beneficiaries of the P4.2-million grant from the Japanese government. The money will bankroll a training program for them, said Secretary Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process.

The program will be jointly implemented by the Japanese embassy in Manila through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Philippine government through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Director Rolly Asuncion of the OPAPP’s Peace Institutions Development Office revealed that the program’s goal is to build the capacity of BDA’s peace and development facilitators to be able to manage community-based projects that JICA will soon implement in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao. The training program aims to enhance the knowledge of training participants about Mindanao and the Bangsamoro people’s situation, concepts on conflict transformation and peace building, and participatory community development, Asuncion said. He added that the program also aims to “develop their skills in community organizing, crafting, and implementation of peace-based community development plans,” as well as negotiation and conflict or dispute resolution/management. “The program will be composed of four week-long courses, starting with a basic course where participants are introduced to the basic concepts and principles of community organizing, community development, peace and conflict, and conflict analysis,” he said.

Asuncion also stressed that the final course on training skills development will train participants in packaging the preceding three courses and developing them into a training program, where they will be equipped in planning, managing, and conducting such training. “The course on conflict resolution and peace-building will focus mainly on nonviolent and transformative approaches to conflict with the aim of providing participants the skills in mediation, negotiation, and dialog,” Asuncion added.