20
Mar

Youth Peace Education: Third Sided Series

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MSU Main Campus - Marawi City > IPDM News > Youth Peace Education: Third Sided Series

By Aliah P. Cali-Pascan, JD,

Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao

Study shows that youth as categorical concept is treated as “othered” in the discourse of conflict. This has inspired the partnership of the Institute of Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM) and the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) in Lanao to inspire and engage the youth in the discussion of
peace building.


This gave birth to the Third Sider as a project. This introduces the new role of the youth in the community. As a project, this was conceptualized by Rahana Ganda of NCMF specifically to address the concerns of the youth. She introduced this concept in several youth activities and got good impression. When this said project was presented to Dr. Acram Latiph, the Executive director of IPDM, he immediately embraced the challenge of implementing this project in the campus in collaboration with the MSU community high schools and laboratory schools of in the university. This is considered part of the vision of the University in becoming a National Peace University. This said project opened opportunities for the University in its preparation for integrating the concept of peace and development in the curriculum of the basic education in congruence with the upcoming national policy.


The first series of this partnership was held last December 12, 2022 at the Kalimudan Hall, Meranaw
Cultural Heritage Center with student leaders from University Training Center, MSU Senior High School,
and MSU Balindong Community High School as participants.

“The youth must shine like a diamond,” said Dr. Latiph in his welcome remarks. This is a way to inspire the
youth of today. Other NCMF representatives and facilitators were Amoran Batara Jr. and Dr. Anisa Mapupuno-Laguindab. From the IPDM were Mohammad Sharief and Dir. Aliah P. Cali-Pascan who helped in facilitating activities and peace reminders for the role of the youth in the society, respectively.


This pilot program was made possible by the support of the MSU System President Atty. Basari D. Mapupuno and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos in Lanao del Sur as part of the initiatives to make the MSU System as the National Peace University of the country.

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.