Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc.

Kaangayan, Kalambuan, Kalinaw ... sa Mindanaw, sa Pilipinas, sa Kalibutan

Waging Peace in the Barangay
Posted 19 April 2008

	Before the end of the training, the local community facilitators made a brief reflection on their new roles as educators or trainers cum peace builders in their respective barangays.

A movement is now slowly brewing in the barangays of Misamis Oriental, slowly transforming the once conflict areas into peaceful ones. A calm and gentle atmosphere is slowly creeping into the local people’s consciousness.

As part of its strategy of educating towards a culture of peace, Balay Mindanaw has been continuously conducting comprehensive peace building courses dubbed “OP KORS! Operation Peace Course.”

Silent, obscure and away from the limelight of media, these local people have been waging peace in their respective barangays. Right after their OP KORS Training, through their recalls, come stories of their journey of peace. They have told stories of how they have handled conflicts in their homes better (Peace work at home) and how as local leaders, they have managed and resolved conflicts better.

They said that at home, they have become more effective in dealing with conflicts. Through their learning in self-transformation sessions, they have become aware of their push buttons and then manage these well. In dealing with their children, some shared that before, when their children commit mistakes, they would immediately scold them in their raised voices. They said that now, with much effort, they have learned how to listen first to their kids. Instead of raising their voice, they have learned to communicate their feelings peacefully through an assertive way. These are just some of their stories; there are more stories waiting to be told. Peace starts with the self and directly radiates at home. Conflicts are still present in their homes, they say, but the difference is they could manage these better.

While building peace at home is challenging, they shared that more challenging is dealing with their communities, being active in their barangays as volunteers, workers and even as officials. In their communities they are faced with far more diverse personalities. Barangay leaders are constantly placed in a situation of mediating or helping settle local conflicts. They said it helped a lot to provide an atmosphere of peace at the very start of the mediating process. Their analyses of conflicts are more thorough and deeper. Hopefully more conflicts will be resolved at the local level.

The Peacebuilders also played a big role in the participatory formulation of their respective Barangay Peace and Development Plan.

In a push toward its mission, Balay Mindanaw has conducted the Trainers’ Training for Community-based Peacebuilders. The 21 participants were from the different communities of Claveria, Misoret and Gingoog. They are barangay officials, PO leaders and volunteers of their respective barangays who have already undergone the comprehensive peace course and are now at the stage of being trainers’ themselves.

The activity aims to further strengthen the local community peace advocates living and working for peace. With this in mind, they will hopefully be able to resolve conflicts better at the barangay level. Their creativity in resolving conflicts will help in the development and in opening up of new Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms. Community-based Peacebuilding is seen as an important anchor to keep BMFI “grounded” and rooted as it pursues its other multi-level involvement in peacebuilding and development work.

The participants had a review of the SIAD-COCOBREAD process and were also given sessions on the National Peace Plan and the Philippine Political and Legal System. These gave them the context of their role as Peacebuilders. The main bulk of the sessions were on training management, designing trainings and adult learning process.

After the training, they immediately planned to conduct a series of community-based Operation Peace Course in their respective areas. The major difference is that this time, it will be them who will handle the session, making into action immediately what they have learned during the Trainers’ Training. This is a big step in spreading the Peace constituency, Peace Cadres who will spread out the good news that peace brings. Slowly a peace movement in Mindanao is emerging.

To date, there are already two Community-Based OP KORS! Trainings conducted which were spearheaded by the graduates of the Trainers’ Training. The community based Op Kors were held at the Tabuk Community Center in the municipality of Lagonglong.

The Trainers’ Training for Community-based Peacebuilders was held at the Balay Mindanaw Peace Center last March 10-15, 2008.