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Linkages/Partnerships

The Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM) cultivates strong links with both governmental as well as non-governmental partners on a local, regional, national and international scale. These multi-level/multi-stakeholder approaches aim at strengthening the joint efforts and synergies of peace initiatives in the Lanao areas, Mindanao, and the Philippines.

The cooperation between MSU-IIT Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM) and the Civil Peace Service (CPS) program of the German development agency has started in 2009.

The program supports governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as the academe as agents for peace by assigning experts on civil conflict transformation to partner organisations. The program’s objectives are preventing violent conflicts, mitigating the impacts of conflict, strengthening civil structures and securing long-term peace.

In the Philippines, the Civil Peace Service program focuses on the transformation of resource conflicts in Mindanao and on the peace process between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Moreover, marginalized and underrepresented groups are supported in peace and transformation processes and in advancing their interests on all societal levels.

At MSU-IIT, an international peace and conflict adviser works hand in hand with IPDM’s director, peace coordinators, local expert, and student volunteers of the MSU-IIT Youth Chain of Peace (MYCoP). Between 2009 and 2011, Kerstin Proebstel supported IPDM in conducting teachers’ trainings on peace education, integrating peace education into curricula of IIT and public schools, and in establishing and supporting the student peace organisation MYCoP.

Esther Scharf has joined IPDM in the beginning of 2012 and advises its peace education, peace research, peace action and peace advocacy work. Against the background of the unprecedented milestone of the GPH-MILF 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, IPDM currently focuses on further strengthening the constructive involvement of the academe and multi-sector stakeholders in the peace process between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In cooperation with civil society organizations and the support of GIZ CPS as well as MSU-IIT Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE), IPDM organizes Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Fora on the GPH-MILF Peace Process and has invited both Peace Negotiating Panels of the Government and the MILF to Iligan.

IPDM’s civil society partner organizations include: , , , , , Pakigdait Inc., and .

Furthermore, IPDM administers professional linkages with the , the International Monitoring Team, and closely collaborates with the Mindanao Studies Consortium Foundation Inc. (MSCFI), the , the , , and the .

IPDM team members also participate in the trainings of the in Davao to enhance their own capacities and feed their skills and knowledge back into the work at IPDM.

Having identified the subject of History 3 (History of the Filipino Muslims and Indigenous Peoples in Minsupala) as an opportunity for peace-building by addressing historical errors and thus tackling misconceptions and biases, IPDM has initiated continuous trainings on the Teaching of Mindanao History, joined by history professors from MSU-IIT, , and .

For more information visit the Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM) at the outer most peaceful corner of the MSU-IIT campus, just email ipdm@g.msuiit.edu.ph, call 063-222 5315, or .

For more information on the Peace Process between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), visit: