09
Jul

UNDP and Partners conduct Vital Capacity-Building on Risk Management and Safeguarding in BARMM

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MSU Main Campus - Marawi City > 11-Sustainable Cities & Communities (SDG Goals) > UNDP and Partners conduct Vital Capacity-Building on Risk Management and Safeguarding in BARMM

ED Acram A. Latiph, Ph.D

Cotabato City, BARMM– The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines recently concluded its critical Capacity-Building Sessions on Risk Assessment, Management, and Safeguarding Practices. The successful sessions brought together UNDP personnel alongside key partners and stakeholders from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Government, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and notably, the Mindanao State University – Institute of Peace and Development in Mindanao (MSU-IPDM). These sessions were a cornerstone of UNDP’s risk-informed development (RID) approach, which proactively integrates risk considerations into all stages of development, acknowledging that development initiatives can sometimes create or intensify risks.

Participants engaged deeply with UNDP’s comprehensive risk management framework, focusing on identifying, assessing, and treating risks to achieve organizational objectives while minimizing negative consequences. A significant highlight was the emphasis on safeguarding practices, a crucial aspect of UNDP’s work dedicated to prioritizing the safety and well-being of individuals and communities—especially those in marginalized and vulnerable situations—from harm, abuse, and exploitation.

MSU-IPDM emerged as one of the most active participants throughout the sessions, demonstrating its strong commitment to enhancing its knowledge, advocacy, and capacity. This active involvement is expected to significantly bolster MSU-IPDM’s ability to better serve the community in the BARMM region. The capacity-building sessions effectively strengthened participants’ understanding, skills, and attitudes across vital areas of risk management and safeguarding, including: • Prevention of / Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) • Child Rights and Protection • Engaging Indigenous Peoples / Indigenous Cultural Communities By fostering these essential capabilities, UNDP Philippines and its partners are poised to implement more resilient, inclusive, and effective peace and development initiatives across the Bangsamoro 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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