22
Jun

Forging a Formal Future: IPDM and World Vision to Sign MOA for Sustained Peacebuilding in Mindanao

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MSU Main Campus - Marawi City > Uncategorized > Forging a Formal Future: IPDM and World Vision to Sign MOA for Sustained Peacebuilding in Mindanao

Aliah P. Cali-Pascan, JD., DPA

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur – The Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM) at Mindanao State University (MSU) Marawi and international humanitarian organization World Vision are poised to solidify their robust partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in July. This formalization marks a significant step in their collaborative efforts towards fostering lasting peace and development in Mindanao, building on activities that commenced as early as August 2024.

A crucial meeting held on Thursday, June 20, 2025, brought together key representatives from both organizations to iron out the details of the deliverables outlined in the forthcoming agreement. Leading the delegation for IPDM was Executive Director Acram Latiph, a renowned expert in peace and conflict studies and socio-economic development in the Bangsamoro region. World Vision was represented by Elizabeth Beth Maddin, their Financial Chief, and Oliver Opud, a seasoned Peacebuilding Expert, among others.

The MOA aims to bring greater precision and structure to the ongoing collaboration, ensuring that future activities are well-defined and that mutual support between IPDM and World Vision is effectively realized. This formalization is a testament to the success of their initial, informal partnership, which has already seen various peacebuilding initiatives take root in the region.

A key outcome of this reinforced alliance is IPDM’s official membership in the peace forum, a vital platform that determines and prioritizes activities to be implemented annually. This integration will allow IPDM to directly contribute its academic and on-the-ground expertise to strategic peacebuilding discussions and program planning.

World Vision has openly acknowledged IPDM’s significant technical assistance capabilities, recognizing the Institute’s capacity to contribute meaningfully to their shared objectives. Both organizations anticipate that this will be a long-term partnership, fostering sustainable support and collaborative action for the benefit of communities in Mindanao. The signing of the MOA in July is eagerly awaited as a symbolic and practical step towards a more peaceful and developed future for the region.

About the author

The institute for peace and development in Mindanao (IPDM) was created by the MSU Board of Regents during its 182nd Meeting on December 7, 2001. The institute assumed the functions of two defunct units: the Muslim Christian Center for Peace Studies and the Muslim Mindanao Development Institute. It is now the central coordinating unit for all existing peace and development programs of the campuses of the University. MSU was established on September 1, 1961 as one of the government responses to the so-called “Mindanao problem.” The problem includes a violent struggle of segments of the Filipino Muslim population to redress long-standing grievances and assert Muslim selfhood and identity in the face of real and imagined threats of cultural and spiritual assimilation by the majority Filipino Christian population. The University was mandated to accelerate the “integration” of the cultural communities in Mindanao into the mainstream body politic and to accelerate the development of its service areas through instruction, research, and extension. In the pursuit of these objectives, the University also seeks to infuse spiritual and moral values, national consciousness and solidarity, and mutual understanding among Filipinos, which are necessary for peaceful coexistence and sustainable development. IPDM was therefore, created with the expectation that it would contribute to the easing of tensions and the promotion of justice and peace between Filipino Muslims and Christian by expanding knowledge, improving understanding and heightening sensitivity in relations between the peoples of Mindanao in particular, and the Philippines in general.

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