September 6, 2011 News: The Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute (BLMI) has been in full gear in providing basic capacity-building training for the various sectors of Moro society.

The BLMI is a product of the ongoing GPH-MILF peace negotiation. This is the second agency borne out of the GPH-MILF peace negotiation. The first was the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), which is the development arm of the MILF.

The establishment of the BLMI was discussed during the 10th Formal Exploratory Talks between the two parties in February 2006. It was finalized and formally agreed upon during the 14th Formal Exploratory Talks held on November 14-15, 2007, with funding commitment from the Philippine Government to jumpstart the Institute's operations.

It was then registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and supported by international donor agencies

The BLMI’s training center in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao was constructed with funding from the Government of Japan to the tune of P4 million.

Mahmud Ahmad, newly appointed Executive Director of the BLMI, told Luwaran that the month of September has been fully loaded with training ranging from basic capacity building on bookkeeping, financial system, human rights and international humanitarian law, issues on indigenous peoples, on women, leadership and management.

Ahmad succeeded Dr. Tomanda Antok, who is now the assistant chancellor of the Datu Odin Sinsuat branch of the Mindanao State University (MSU).

He disclosed that from September 1-3, the Geneva Call will sponsor training on human rights and international humanitarian law.  This will be followed by those sponsored by the Non-Violent Peaceforce, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Asia Fou7ndation.

The BLMI has also embarked on various training with expenditures coming from the P5 million provided by the Philippine government through its peace panel.

The money will all be utilized for training purposes.