From Combatants to Development Workers
Strengthening Local Infrastructures for Violence Prevention, Self-Protection and Peacebuilding
From combatants to development workers, NP helps former rebels’ transition towards peaceful and productive civilian lives
With established years of trust and confidence with NP, key officials of the MILF underwent a series of strategic planning workshops to help them identify impact projects and programs for the transformation of their camps into productive and peaceful communities.
The workshops also helped them synergize their individual capacities and abilities towards a common goal of developing their communities. One of the highlights of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed by the Philippine government and the MILF in 2014 is the normalization process, which mainly involves the decommissioning of the combatants, putting their weapons beyond use, and the transformation of MILF camps into peaceful and resilient communities.
In the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte in Mindanao, the Multi-stakeholders Coordination Meeting, initiated by NP Philippines almost a decade ago, has become a regular forum between different stakeholders to come together and discuss issues especially the security of communities in the area. These meetings bring together the government military, the MILF, local governments, and other nongovernmental organizations, with or without NP, whenever a stakeholder calls for its convening to address pressing issues and concerns.
It has also improved the confidence between the government military and the MILF, where the latter is already opening up their camps to visits of the military to discuss projects and programs for the development of the camps.
NP Philippines also trained decommissioned MILF combatants who are now hired as forest rangers to protect the natural resources of the Bangsamoro autonomous region. The former rebels expressed appreciation on how they can apply UCP principles in safeguarding the environment.