COTABATO CITY— At least 200 young combatants from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) will benefit from the Positive Peace Project (PPP) of the Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC).
Launched during the International Youth Day (IYD) culmination activity on Aug. 24, PPP aims to “co-develop a flagship program centered on civic engagement, leadership, management, peace promotion, and entrepreneurship in aid of producing positive reintegration outcomes among identified vulnerable youth combatants of MILF and MNLF and young people widely exposed to violent conflict across the region.”
During the launching, Rodolfo Matucan Jr., head of BYC Development Management Unit, said that “many young people with violent pasts are left to their own devices to rebuild a new life”, hence PPP is designed to help them build a meaningful transition.
“Positive Peace Project is designed with the ideals of creating an enabling platform that will assist our transitioning youth combatants to become productive versions of themselves and potentially provide alternative lenses of development,” Matucan explained.
Based on the project design, the youth combatants will receive viable socio-economic opportunities such as training on leadership, technical–vocational skills, and entrepreneurship according to the result of the benchmarking/needs assessment.
Funded through BYC’s 2021 Special Development Fund, the initiative will be implemented in the next six months across the region in partnership with Bangsamoro Planning Development Authority (BPDA), Cooperative and Social Enterprise Authority (CSEA), Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE), and elements of MILF and MNLF. (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)
