NEWS




25December

“Youth should be involved in the struggle”: Iqbal

“Find a way to serve the struggle”, MILF PIP Chair Mohagher Iqbal told the youth leaders’ participants of the Bangsamoro Youth Leadership Workshop on Peace and Development for the Bangsamoro and Beyond at Casa Leticia, Davao City on December 24, 2017.

Iqbal further said that the only way to understand the context of the struggle is to be involved in it. He encouraged the youth to try to help the struggle in their own way, and to continue learning and educating themselves to be prepared for the future as every one of them has the potential to be a leader.

He also discussed leadership and governance as well as important provisions of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) pertaining to governance in the Bangsamoro. He told the participants that the Bangsamoro government will have a consultative, and collective leadership through its ministerial form of government, reflecting the current system of governance in the MILF, and the tradition of the Sultanates. 

Other lectures during the 3-day workshop included the review of the highlights of the topics discussed on the previous Bangsamoro Youth Leadership Training including the timeline of the Bangsamoro struggle; the issues and concerns identified by the youth in the previous trainings.

 A lecture on community organizing, and development was delivered by Wahab Guialal. In his discussion, he shared the different models of development, and the relationship between community organizing, and community development. 

A workshop was also conducted to determine, and prioritize the issues, and concerns of the Bangsamoro Youth. Based on their outputs, they identified Islamization, Education, Unity among the Bangsamoro, Lack of knowledge about the Bangsamoro struggle, violent extremism and radicalism, and lack of youth, and women participation, and representation as the most pressing issues, and concerns that needs to be addressed.

The workshop is part of the Bangsamoro Youth Leadership Training Program of the Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute with support from FASTRAC. The activity was attended by selected youth leaders from the previous trainings conducted at five cluster areas. 

The main objective of the workshop is to develop a Bangsamoro Youth Agenda for Peace, and Development which will be submitted to the MILF, and UNDP.