Following their Tech Camp trainings held this year, numerous EAI-PH alumni organized and participated in different peace-promotive initiatives across the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and Surigao del Sur.
Inaugural launching of a peacebuilding club in Isulan
#Up2Youth Tech Camp Batch 1 alumni Ruel Pugoy organized the “Student Leaders’ Seminar for Peacebuilding,” a one-day training seminar on peacebuilding attended by 100 students from grades 7-12 in Isulan National High School (INHS), Isulan, Sultan Kudarat last September 26.
Pugoy, an established alumni from the said high school, explained in his opening message how the Tech Camp empowered him to be a peace advocate and highlight the importance of talking about peace in schools.
Promoting the value of collaboration, Pugoy invited his fellow Tech Camp alumni, Bashyr Endong, to talk about Conflicts in School and the proper use of Social Media. His talk focused on how bullying and discrimination can happen online and offline and how to deal with it in a positive and healthy way.
EAI-PH staff were also in full support and attendance during the event and gave talks to the student body. MERL Officer Tommy Pangcoga talked about the history of conflict in Mindanao, while Program Manager Joel Dizon explained to students the working definition of Violent Extremism as adopted by EAI and the results of the Stakeholders Workshop. He emphasized the danger of recruitment in schools and asked students to focus on alternative messages and activities instead of joining these groups.
Meanwhile, Tech Camp Coordinator Adam Anay shared about the importance of being active peace advocates even while we are students. He stressed that the youth of today can do many things if they set their goals into it and he stressed the importance of solving and providing a solution to the issue of conflict now and not let it spill to the other generations.
As part of the seminar, the INHS Peace Club was then officially inaugurated with the launching of their Facebook page, logo and website. The ceremony was graced by INHS Principal Ms. Cherry Escoto and Dizon. The INHS Peace Education Club is the first peace club in the division of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
Promoting peace education through environmental care
Seeing the potential to upcycle plastic garbage in schools and local communities, two alumni from the OURmindaNOW Tech Camp Batch 2 pitched their social enterprise idea during YouthDrive’s “Business Start-up Challenge” at the Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City last October 9.
Following their one-week bootcamp last September, Alumni Hussien Abo and Datu Raid Salik, together with Leah Palao, presented their prototype products and pitched their business idea, “Plastakes” to selected judges and entrepreneurs.
“Plastakes” is a social enterprise which aims to create functional and lifestyle products from upcycled plastic bottles. Their product line includes school and office organizers, chic hand cases, portables boxes, and plan to move towards creating industrial materials like plastic-based hollow blocks. The business idea aims to promote sustainable development approaches that create a scheme which will financially support students in need.
Abo said the social enterprise was birthed because of two pressing problems they saw in the municipalities of Datu Anggal Midtimbang and Datu Odin Sinusuat in Maguindanao: insufficient livelihood and lack of economic opportunities, and the growing influx of plastics being thrown in the community.
“Because our main goal is peace, then we will focus on the social impact on how we can make these communities work together with a culture of peace. In some ways of promoting peace, you must have a sustainable and clean environment and we saw this as an opportunity in helping the people of the communities in reshaping their economic status,” he added.
YouthDRIVE, Youth Driving Innovative Social Enterprises for Community Transformation, is a flagship program of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Mindanao. The event is in partnership with the Office of Bangsamoro Youth Affairs, IDEYA, Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, Beinteuno Production, and The Moropreneur, Inc., which serves as the Host Organization for EAI-PH’s Kutawato Messaging Hub.
Abo and Salik’s team was part of a total of 11 finalists who showcased their ideas for an opportunity to win a cash grant to implement them.
Bringing the power of alternative messaging to Hinatuan
To re-echo their insights and lessons learned from the #Up2Youth Tech Camp, three Batch 2 alumni in the persons of Jhon Anthony Cuyacot, Lea Palaran, and Jurilyn Mamayabay organized a one-day seminar in their hometown in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur last October 19.
Participated by around 40 members of the Student Action Force – Hinatuan Chapter, the Up2Youth Re-Echo seminar patterned the tech camp modules and culminated with an elevator pitching of their peace projects.
The seminar included 5 sessions: Defining Peace and Violent Extremism, Defining Empowerment and Radicalization, the Use of Social Media for Social Change, Review of Violent Extremism Environment Maps, and the History of Conflict in Mindanao.
After this project, Cuyacot plans to bring the one-day module to other schools and communities such as the Hinatuan National Comprehensive High School and Barangay Sto. Nino in Hinatuan where he hopes to reach the out-of-school youth (OSY) in the area.
“We need to arouse OSYs and help them realize their potential to affect change in their community, and not be deceived by malicious situations and circumstance that they are in,” Cuyacot said.
EAI-PH through its Alumni Program continues to track over a hundred alumni and see the good work that they are continuing to do and initiate for peace and development in Mindanao.
