Amidst the declaration of the Martial Law in Mindanao on May 23, 2017, the Al Qalam Institute for Islamic Identities and Dialogue pursued the organizing of the Peace of You: CVE/PVE in Focus Regional Workshop last May 24-25, 2017 at the Silsilah Harmony Village, Zamboanga City which highlighted the theme: Empowering Mindanaoan Youth through PVE/CVE Initiatives. It was attended by 35 young peace advocates from Ateneo de Davao Zamboanga University (AdZU), Unibersidad de Zamboanga (UZ) Western Mindanao State University (WMZU) and Eternal Youth. Almost 60 committed to participate but due to the occurences in Marawi, some were unable to attend because they were not allowed by their parents and some were also fetched by their guardians in the middle of the training.
This workshop was conducted to gather baseline data directly from young Mindanaoans who are mostly from areas which experienced violent extremism through comprehensive workshops and dialogues. In addition, it was also maximized to determine the level of awareness among the young population Zamboanga City on Countering and Preventing Violent Extremism as well as to assess the extent of youth participation in the aforementioned cause in their own areas.
The Al Qalam Institute for Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia tapped youth Leaders from the Mindanaoan Youth Development Center (MYDC), Inc and Founding Members of the Salaam Movement who have been involved in peacebuilding and CVE/PVE initiatives were invited to share their experiences and learnings on Youth Empowerment, Advocacy Development, Role of the Youth in PVE/CVE and Bridging Peacebuilding and CVE/PVE.
On the morning of the first day, Prime Nover Deles, the MYDC Executive Director and Project Assistant of Al Qalam Institute facilitated the plenary session and workshop on YOULead: Basic Youth Leadership. In the afternoon, Kenny Lloyd Angon, Board Chairperson of the MYDC led the discussions on YOU for the Youth: Advocacy Development while Althea Dannia Esmael, Project Coordinator of the Salaam Movement gave emphasis on her session on YOUth for Peace: The Role of the Youth in PVE and CVE. In the second day, Jorjani Sinsuat, a founding member of the Salaam Movement made a comprehensive presentation on YOU and Me: Bridging Peacebuilding and CVE/PVE while Mr. Angon was requested to have short session on the YOUth in Action: SMART Planning to guide the participants in making their final output.
To ensure the safety of the participants and organizers, the administrators of the Al Qalam Institute decided to cut short the workshop and some of the activities were no longer perfomed. Instead, they were given as bring home activities and the participants were instructed to send their responses and action plans via email.
This activity report encapsulates the significant information gathered in the 2-day regional workshop. It also includes recommendations for further improvement of the activity and the action plans made by the participants.
