The Partners

 

EUThe European Union is a unique economic and political partnership between 27 European countries. In 1957, the signature of the Treaties of Rome marked the will of the six founding countries to create a common economic space. Since then, first the Community and then the European Union has continued to enlarge and welcome new countries as members. The Union has developed into a huge single market with the euro as its common currency.

 

What began as a purely economic union has evolved into an organisation spanning all areas, from development aid to environmental policy. Thanks to the abolition of border controls between EU countries, it is now possible for people to travel freely within most of the EU. It has also become much easier to live and work in another EU country.

The five main institutions of the European Union are the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors.

 

The European Union is a major player in international cooperation and development aid. It is also the world’s largest humanitarian aid donor. The primary aim of the EU’s own development policy, agreed in November 2000, is the eradication of poverty.

 

DEVCONDEVCON, Inc. is a non-stock, non-profit organization catering alternative consultancy services to the grassroots and development agencies. DEVCON subscribes to the strategy of people’s empowering alternative development. Assistance to community development projects is supported by its strategy. It mainly comprises awareness program and technical skills development. It firmly considers these programs as prime factor in project implementation, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation.

 

DEVCON is a development agency advocating a supporting role for Non-Government Organizations and Peoples Organizations (NGO-PO) in helping the poor charts the course of their own economic and social growth. Since 1990, DEVCON developed the NGOs and POs from small-bit actors to full pledged directors of their own communities and organizations and hence, control over their own future. DEVCON operates and maintains development network with more than 50 NGOs-POs from Mindanao.

 

Freedom, justice and solidarity are the basic principles underlying the work of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). The KAS is a political foundation, closely associated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).

 

KASKAS cooperates with governmental institutions, political parties, civil society organizations and handpicked elites, building strong partnerships along the way. In particular, KAS seeks to intensify political cooperation in the area of development cooperation at the national and international levels on the foundations of their objectives and values.

 

KAS has been active in the Philippines since the late 1960s. From 1998 to the present, the main activities of the KAS in the Philippines have focused on Social Market Economy, Institutional and Political Reform, and Peace and Development in Mindanao.

 

 

The SSR Story begins…. 

The security sector reforms (SSR) evolve from a concrete context of conflicts, specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It tries to re-define the role of soldiers not simply in terms of warriors but also in terms of peacebuilding as community or society emerges from conflict situation.

 

In the Philippines, the SSR story begins in a similar conflict situation, particularly in Southern Philippines. The journey would never have taken off the ground without the active partnership of two officers and gentlemen of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.  They are LtGen. Moh. Benjamin Dolorfino and LtGen. Raymundo Ferrer.  Both Gen. Dolorfino and Gen. Ferrer have been involved into all sorts of peace initiatives since they were young officers.

 

The two generals began the conversation with the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) on possible training workshops on security sector reforms for the officers of the AFP assigned in Mindanao.  The major task is to find a fund partner since the training workshops are not included in the regular AFP budgetary allocations.

 

The concept of the security sector reforms is still very young in the history of the AFP.  It is inevitable that during the initial discussions, some senior military officers have expressed their reservation on training workshops that include among others, history of Mindanao, the peace process and bridging leadership for officers of the AFP.

 

The two generals, Gen. Dolorfino and Gen. Ferrer, doggedly continued the conversation with IAG.  IAG’s partner, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, funded the small beginnings of the SSR in Mindanao.

 

For a Mindanao-wide SSR training workshop, a need for a big fund donor is to be found.  Initial conversation on the SSR concept was conducted with Mr. TitonMitra, Minister Counsellor, of Australian Agency for International Development  (AusAid) was promising.  And in subsequent talks, AusAid became fully on board. With the fund support from AusAid, the dream has come true.

 

The engagement in SSR has become more urgent with the resumption of the peace talks following the debacle of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in 2008 and with the Philippine government’s official declaration of the priority of the peace process policy.

 

IAG has developed two phases in the Security Sector Reforms. The first phase consists of three major themes that underpin the existing peacebuilding training programs. The first theme is a brief study of the history of Mindanao with special focus on the struggles of the two Moro Fronts (MNLF and MILF).  This is an attempt to contextualize the emerging role of the AFP as peacebuilders in the midst of conflict situation in the Southern Philippines.

 

The second theme situates the said role within the framework of the basic human rights as enshrined in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights and in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.  The module includes also a brief presentation of the International Humanitarian Law. These rights are inalienable and no matter the situation on the ground, the basic rights of people have to be recognized and respected, especially so by the security sector. 

 

The third theme deals on the many and various peacebuilding attempts and concrete praxis on the ground where the AFP, particularly the Philippine Marines, interface as they shape their new emerging role of peacebuilders. The actual module includes also conflict analysis and mediation, particularly in rural areas that involve the participation of local leaders.

 

The second phase of the SSR was launched during the stint of MGenDolorfino as Commanding General of the Philippine Marines Corps. But the actual implementation happened during the stint of MGen Juancho Sabban who took over from MGen Dolorfino when the latter was promoted as the Commanding General of the Mindanao Western Command. 

 

The second phase consists of ten modules focusing on four major themes. 

 

The first theme (Modules 1-2) deals on the holistic understanding of the conflicts in the Philippines, their roots, the growth of the rebellion through the years, and the peace process that has become the official policy of government beginning in 1992 during the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos.  

 

The second theme (Modules 3-4) situates the conflicts within the broader understanding of Human Security following the UN definition that includes among others economic, food, health, environment, personal, community and political security.  It also links the work for peace to Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law. Basic Human Right as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution and the UN Declaration of Human Rights are inalienable rights and cannot be dispensed with in the name of a narrow understanding of national security.

 

The third theme (Module 5-6) expound on the actual imperatives on the ground as soldiers shape their role as peacebuilders.  It begins with a fresher understanding of the traditional Civil Military Operation (CMO) hewed from the actual praxis on the ground.  The usual understanding of CMO as a simple counter-insurgency is transformed into new ways of addressing conflicts through peacebuilding initiatives in the communities.  From CMO, it moves to the very heart of the third theme that expounds on soldiers as peacemakers, peacekeepers and peacebuilders.

 

The fourth theme (Modules 7-10) shows the need of soldiers’ involvement and active participation in concrete imperatives in the communities. These are the following: (1) sustainable community development; (2) the urgent call for action to become environmental stewards; (3) the need for effective social marketing for peace; and (4) soldiers as ‘Bridging Leaders’ in the communities they are ‘planted’.

 

The whole SSR story tells a different message as it shapes a new paradigm for soldiers, particularly in situation of conflicts and post conflict. . The classic understanding of the Armed Forces as ‘protectors’ under the narrow understanding of so-called National Security Doctrine is no longer sustainable. The old paradigm may be ‘successful’ in the short terms, but both in the medium and long terms, military might does no put an end to conflicts, specifically internal conflicts. The old military operations have always been saddled by accusations of human rights abuse, lack of sensitivity (ethnic and religious), and devoid of any understanding of the deep root causes of conflicts.

 

No doubt, there is an urgent need for a new paradigm that spells concretely the new emerging roles of soldiers in times of conflict as well as post conflict.  The SSR, though often labelled by ‘left activists’ as sophisticated counter-insurgency program, are, actually, attempts to re-define the role of the Armed Forces as protectors of the people and the nation.

 

The Ten Modules that accompany the SSR story capture these attempts and praxis on the ground of Southern Philippines.  The Institute for Autonomy and Governance with its partner, the Philippine Marines Corps, offer these modules to the entire Armed Forces of the Philippines, specifically to the Training and Doctrine Command (TraDoc). 

 

In fact, the last training workshop on SSR made attempts to get the AFP TraDoc Command on board so as to include SSR into the military curricula at all levels of training.  These attempts are ripples within the AFP. But, IAG and PMC believe that the ripples can become waves in the AFP as it adopts the fourth pillar in peace and security framework articulated by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

The Project

Logo for FB Profile PicThe “Recognition of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for their Empowerment and Sustainable Development” (IPDEV) was launched in February 2012 and is co-funded by the EU and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

 The Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) together with Development Consultants, Inc. (DEVCON) and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung will carry out this project in the five provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Lanao del Norte. Within a period of three years, the project team will work towards the protection and promotion of rights of Indigenous Peoples (IP) in the ARMM.

 

The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) introduced in 1997 granted fundamental rights such as ancestral domains, cultural integrity, self-governance and empowerment, as well as social justice and human rights to the IP population in the Philippines. However, in the ARMM marginalized ethnic groups have not been able to fully enjoy and exercise these fundamental rights as the IPRA does not apply in the ARMM. It is these discriminating politico-administrative structures that leave about half a million IP (comprising up to 20 per cent of the ARMM constituency) at a disadvantage and unequal before the law. We seek the formulation and the implementation of an Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP), as an instrument of empowerment that should then be integrated into local development plans.

 

With a cross-cutting approach, the project shall specifically address the absence of an enabling law in the ARMM that recognizes the IP’s rights and social justice as embodied in the IPRA law, the 1987 Philippine Constitution and other existing international law for IP’s. Our activities will focus on capacity building for the empowerment and strengthening of IP self-governance as well as advocacy for socio-legal and administrative reforms in the ARMM. The overall objective of this project is the development of IP communities in the ARMM that recognize and practice the rights of minorities at all levels and the improvement of living conditions of the most marginalized population.

 

Key Project Facts

 

Full Title of the Project

Recognition of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for their Empowerment and Sustainable Development (IPDEV)

Location

76 barangays in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur

Duration

36 months (February 2012 to January 2015)

Partners

  1. 1.Institute for Autonomy and Governance Initiatives, Inc. (IAG)
  2. 2.Development Consultants, Inc. (DEVCON)
  3. 3.Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS)

Funding

  1. 1.European Union (EU)
  2. 2.Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS)

Target Groups

1,672 indigenous traditional and formal leaders, 2,280 IP farmers and fisherfolks, 1140 IP women and youth and 50 personnel from the Office of Southern Cultural Communities and from local government units.

Final Beneficiaries

half a million (500,000) indigenous people in ARMM, including the Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangan Manobo in Maguindanao province, the Higaonon of the two Lanao provinces, the Badjao of Basilan and Tawi Tawi and some smaller groups of IP

Overall Objective

development of IP communities in ARMM that recognize and practice the rights of minority at all levels, and the improvement of living conditions of the most marginalized population in the ARMM

Specific Objective

design and implementation of Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plans and their inclusion in the Development Plans of the Local Government Units, backed by strengthened IPs governance and justice systems and advocacy campaigns for socio-legal and administrative reforms

 

 

The Project Description

The overall objectives to which this action shall contribute are the development of IP communities in ARMM that recognize and practice the rights of minority at all levels, and the improvement of living conditions of the most marginalized population in the ARMM.

Specifically, the program aims:

 

a.  To gather cultural information and baseline data and eventually set and facilitate the formulation of the Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP);

 

b. To capacitate and equip the indigenous peoples in ARMM with fundamental and rights-based knowledge and skills towards the promotion of indigenous knowledge, systems and practices (IKSPs) and eventually increase their active participation in local governance;

 

c.  To capacitate and equip indigenous peoples in ARMM with necessary knowledge and skills that will eventually build and support sustainable livelihoods and manage natural resources;

 

d.  To design, implement and facilitate the inclusion of the ADSDPP within the LGU planning instruments of Community Development Plans (CDPs); and institute strategic advocacy campaign that strengthens and enhances IPs ability to exercise their collective rights in ARMM.

 

Achieving the specific objectives, the action shall design and implement four interrelated components:

1) Cultural Mapping and formulation of ADSDPP;

2) CapacityBuilding for Empowerment and Strengthening of Self-Governance;

3) Advocacy for Socio-Legal and Administrative Reform;

4) Implementation of ADSDPP and its integration in the local development plans.

 

The activities under the four components are expected to deliver the following results and outputs:

  1. Obtained legal recognition (Resolution, Ordinance, Executive Order or any similar legal instruments) of the rights of IPs in the ARMM, to be at par with IPs in other ethnographic regions achieving for them equal protection before the law in the context of international and Philippine laws.
  2. Capacitated a total of 5,092 IPs (see target groups above) and 50 more government officials in ARMM to a level of pro-active readiness to exercise IP rights as provided by the 1987 Constitution and laws, using the primacy of customary law and principles of self-governance.
  3. Have enhanced knowledge and skills of 38 IPs to do applied research and documentation of IP cultural integrity leading to self-delineation of their ancestral domains/lands, recording of ethnographies and indigenous knowledge, and revitalization of their social organizations.
  4. Have equipped 2280 IP farmers and fisherfolks with necessary knowledge and skills that would eventually transform them into more productive actors in the sustainable development of livelihoods and ancestral domain as well as managers of their natural resources.
  5. Have instituted and operationalized substantial and mandatory participation by groupings of Indigenous Women in the abovementioned legal recognition processes, community organizing, entrepreneurial skills training, and formal accreditation of their indigenous roles, whenever applicable.
  6. Have equipped 176 IPs with knowledge/skills to act as experts on environmental resource accounting principles for incorporation in the Barangay, Municipal, Provincial and Regional Development Plans; and on quality assurance standards to monitor clean air and safe water.
  7. Have formulated 4 (one for each ethnic grouping) research-based ADSDPP involving all sectors based on the rights-based approach to development framework (RBA), including an FPIC Protocol.

 

The Components and Activities

Component 1 Cultural Mapping: Baseline Setting and formulation of the Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP), including

 

  1. the Conduct of Participatory Rapid Assessment (100% demographic survey in 76 Barangays, 83 sessions for the focus group discussions (FGDs),
  2. interviews for 253 key informants,
  3. documentary review and analysis,
  4. conduct of 2 series SWOT analysis workshops).

 

The information gathered is to be systematically analyzed to formulate the ADSDPP as well as OVIs (objectively verifiable indicators), and benchmarks for the implementation of the entire project. The component shall also initiate to design a culture-sensitive data base on existing population, ancestral domains/lands and indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSPs); and start setting up of linkages with Local Authorities, OSCC, and NSAs. This component will be implemented in the first six months for the 4 ethic groupings in ARMM, including 8 trainings on ADSDPP formulation.

 

It shall also conduct 164 results-oriented community-based workshops/learning sessions on research and documentation of genealogies, ethnographic evidence, and community mapping for self-delineation of ancestral domains (pusaka); produce self-written field ethnographies on “adat” or “ukit”, collection of customary laws and other determinants of cultural integrity, social cohesion and survival; initiate activities to establish indigenous knowledge network to promote IP education in the ARMM.

 

Component 2 CapacityBuilding for Empowerment and Strengthening of Self-Governance:

 

  1. collect jurisprudence on decided cases using customary law;
  2. develop training modules for IPs on the systems and procedures of the judicial processes (ADR), the tribal barangay justice system, human rights documentation, and other para-legal training;
  3. provide support on the accreditation process of IPs in the ARMM to serve in judicial processes/systems, social services, environmental protection, local development initiatives and bodies, human rights action centres, and development of indigenous peoples’ organizations;
  4. conduct gatherings for Consensus building on the socio-legal status of IPs in the ARMM.
  5. The activities will be implemented during months 7 – 28 of the project.
  6. Component 3 Advocacy for Socio-Legal and Administrative Reform:
  7. construct Empowerment and Sustainable Development (ESDEV) Indicators adhering to MDG, Constitution, international law and IPRA in the form of an ESDEV Report Card to be incorporated in the ARMM development agenda;
  8. conduct knowledge enrichment and skills training to enhance capability of IP ancestral domain communities to lobby for the passage of a regional Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act for ARMM;
  9. Conversion/creation of Tribal barangays for IPs in the ARMM;
  10. Increase awareness of the right to Free and Prior Informed Consent to apply to all public and private development interventions/initiatives, and
  11. Increase efforts at administrative reform and establish linkages with the NCIP/NGAs.

 

This component will be implemented simultaneous with component 1 and 2 activities in months 3-32.

 

Component 4 Plan and Protection Formulation and Implementation: This component shall be initiated upon the completion of the demographic survey and in Component 1. It shall implement activities that facilitate the formulation of a rights-based, holistic framework for ADSDPP. This component shall be implemented during months 7 – 32 upon the formulation, validation and acceptance of the ADSDPP, including 152 sessions for embedded training of the subproject implementation identified in ADSDPP; 6 Trainings each on Marketing, fund management, accountability and fiscal management trainings.

 

Priority subprojects are incorporated in the barangay development Plans (CDPs) and acquire LGU counterpart in the allocation/management of the LGU internal revenue allotment (IRA).

 

 

 

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