Cotabato City gov't, Relief International support women in peacebuilding
Mindanao Peace Process • 20:00 PM Tue Oct 3, 2023
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By:
Jules L. Benitez, Communications Coordinator Relief International-WE RESOLVE
Vrinda Dar, Relief International Country Director visited Cotabato City on October 3, 2023. She unveiled the women peace billboard installed at the grounds of the City Hall and later inaugurated a livelihood for peace project in Cotabato City.
COTABATO CITY – In support of the efforts of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to sustain the peace in the region, the Cotabato City government and Relief International agreed to cooperate in building the capacities and mobilizing community women as peacebuilders.
Symbolizing the commitment to empower women for peacebuilding, Vrinda Dar, Relief International Country Director for the Philippines, and Abdulwahab Midtimbang, City Administrator of Cotabato, unveiled the women's peace billboard in the city with the message “Ina, linawag ka sa walay; Babay, tyakap ka sa kalilintad.” (Mothers, we are the light in our homes; Women, we are nurturers of peace).
“This symbolizes the heroic efforts of women in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to preserve the gains of the peace agreement and nurture peace at the community level,” Dar said.
The Country Director of Relief International added, “Our organization is committed to do bayanihan with the Bangsamoro to achieve the fullest well-being of its people and transform fragile settings into communities of peace.”
Cotabato City Mohammad Bruce Ali Matabalao, in a message delivered by the city administrator, acknowledged the importance of the role of women in peacebuilding.
He said that the capacity of women to promote peace in the community must be supported.
“Mothers are truly leaders; speakers of the house and keepers of our values,” Mitimbang said.
Relief International, in partnership with Balay Mindanaw Foundation, is implementing a peacebuilding project in eight municipalities of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Special Geographic Areas called the “Women Engaged in Responsive Solutions to Conflicts and Violence in Mindanao (WE RESOLVE).”
The project, which is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), intends to build communities of peace in these areas, which are considered fragile settings because of recurrent armed conflicts.
Since 2020, Relief International and GFFO have supported a total of 90 peace communities in BARMM.
The WE RESOLVE project is implementing 40 livelihoods for peace projects and another 40 peace initiative projects in the aforementioned areas. Some 6,000 community women are benefiting from the project.
Relief International is also supporting COVID-19 response and routine immunization to protect the most vulnerable children in BARMM.
(Photo below shows Relief International inaugurating a fish processing livelihood project in Barangay RH-11 on Oct. 3. The project, supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, benefitted 32 women).
