1st Environmental Forum for Kapatagan Valley Theme: Creating Greener Environment and Disaster Free Kapatagan Valley thru Sustainable Watershed Management

ECOWEB in partnership with the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) and the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO) of the municipality of Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte has recently concluded the 1st Environmental Forum for Kapatagan Valley on June 21, 2011 held in the Municipal Function Hall of Kapatagan.

The theme for the forum is to create a greener environment and disaster free Kapatagan Valley thru sustainable watershed management. The forum aims to highlight the biodiversity and socio-cultural significance of Mt. Inayawan Range Natural Park  and to surface issues and concerns surrounding the protection of this critical watershed area. The organizer also aims to generate commitment from the Kapatagan Valley member municipalities in helping the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) conserve the pristine ecosystem of MIRNP. DENR-X, PENRO, PAWSCMZ Chief Grace Lapeciros, Prof. Alongan Mangorsi of MSU-IIT, and Regina S. Antequisa, Executive Director of ECOWEB where among the presenters of the forum and imparted important information on Biodiversity, Watershed Management, Forest Protection, Islamic Environmental Governance, Riverbasin Approach and Disaster Risk Reduction. Participants of the forum where from the different sectors of Kapatagan and that includes Farmers, Women, Business, Civil Society Organizations, Schools, Barangay and Municipal LGUs, as well as representatives from other municipalities like Tubod and Nunungan. PAMB members and the media, represented by Radyo Natin and PAGASA where also present during the forum.

Important issues and concerns where raised later in the afternoon and they were to be considered in the updating of the Municipal Environment and Watershed Management Plan of Kapatagan. Initiatives such as riverbasin reforestation and crack down of wood charcoal production in some Barangays were already made in the municipality of Kapatagan to address the issues of illegal logging and timber poaching are also worth mentioning.

This would be the first of the series of Environmental Forum to be held in the member municipality of Kapatagan Valley.

EcoWEB joins MILF Peace Panel Dialogue with Non-Moro Civil Society Leaders

EcoWEB, Inc., represented by its Executive Director, Ms. Regina Antequisa and Peace Program Coordinator, Ms. Presciosa Derro, together with some 60 participants recently attended an event entitled MILF Peace Panel Dialogue with Non-Moro Civil Society Leaders. The Peace Panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), led by its Chair Mohagher Iqbal, seeks to engage leaders of non-Moro civil society organizations (CSOs), churches, businesses, international organizations, and academic institutions in order to discuss with them the MILF’s draft Peace Agreement. He was joined by Atty. Datu Michael Mastura, Bobby Alonto, and Datu Antonio Kinoc. Some of the questions asked during the dialogue were related to the territory of the future Bangsamoro state, the lands of the migrants and indigenous peoples. The dialogue dealt with issues such as religious freedom, Shariah Law, Abu Sayyaf, and kidnapping. The Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) has been facilitating a series of consultations, which started on March 6 in Cotabato City, with non-Moro civil society leaders from Davao and Cotabato. They met with Christian religious leaders and Non-Moro CSO leaders on March 9 and March 14, 2011 respectively in Maradeca Office, Marantao, Lanao del Sur.

The MILF peace panel deems these open and mutual dialogues with the stakeholders in Mindanao indispensable in order to elicit their views, ideas, and questions with regards to MILF’s proposals and position in the peace talks. MPC considers this a unique opportunity for Mindanaoans to take part in shaping viable and sustainable political options to resolve the root causes of the armed conflict in Mindanao. After the dialogue, an action planning co-facilitated by Ms. Antequisa was held where several activities were identified as concrete steps to support the GPH-MILF Peace process.

Cinema for Peace Road-show featured at Social Work Week in Mindanao State University (MSU) of Marawi

The Department of Social Work in MSU which celebrated its Social Work Week on March 1^st – 5^th, 2011 invited EcoWEB, Inc to conduct “Cinema for Peace” road-show showcasing EcoWEB’s documentaries on peace-building efforts. Cinema for Peace, an activity instigated by EcoWEB during the 2010 Mindanao Week of Peace celebration, featured the films Rising from the Ashes: A story of friendship in Kolambugan, and Lumbac: A story of Mindanao. Rising from the Ashes tells the story of how the local government unit (LGU) of Kolambugan, in partnership with various peace actors, initiated a recovery process with the communities affected by the impact of the August 2008 MILF attack in their town. Lumbac film also shows how the community of Lumbac, with Kolambugan LGU and support groups, transformed a conflict over the roughly 200 hectares coconut land involving more than a hundred families of Maranao and Bisayan settlers.

A series of activities were conducted during Social Work Week with a principal theme of peace and development advocacy. According to Prof. Genine Faunillan of the Social Work Department, the viewing of EcoWEB’s documentary films was the highlight of the week, as it gave an opportunity to learn lessons from the films which would be valuable to their students’ further appreciation of the profession’s role in peace advocacy efforts. Students had lively discussions with EcoWEB’s Executive Director, Ms Regina Antequisa, as she unwearyingly answered questions during the forum after the film showing. Barangay Captain Malamit of Lumbac was also present to give personal testimonies about the Lumbac land conflict and their experience in transforming the conflict with support from ECOWEB, the LGU of Kolambugan and other government and non-government support groups. One student from among the audience commented about the presence of Brgy. Captain Malamit, being a Maranao, together with the EcoWEB's Executive Director, a Bisaya, as something inspiring and a manifestation that even with differences in identity and religion, conflict transformation and peacebuilding could very well be worked out.

The Cinema for Peace road-show, a project of EcoWEB with support from GIZ and CAFOD, will continue year-round to universities and schools in Lanao.

EcoWEB Rejuvinates for 2011

Over the last three months, with the end of the financial year and the beginning of another year of our work toward a better Mindanao, we at EcoWEB have taken the organization through a thorough review to ensure we are at our most productive in 2011. To do so, we strategized a three-stage process. Part One was a Lessons Learned Workshop with our partners. Secondly, we held a Review and Assessment involving all of our Project Officers, the feedback from their respective teams of both staff and volunteers, as well as the results of our collated feedback from partners, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders over the past year. Finally, we carried out a grueling planning session incorporating all of that information to ensure we stay on track.

Lessons Learned Workshop

Held in December, in Naawan, this took place over three days. By no means perfect, it was our first attempt at such an event, and the outcomes were substantially beneficial to our efforts, and our understanding of our impact! The highlight of the Workshop was an innovative information-gathering technology called Open Space, whereby several facilitated discussions took place at different tables simultaneously, and participants were not restricted as to at which table they had to sit. The idea behind the technology is that people are able to open up and share their thoughts and ideas in the most unbridled and creative way, and our results showed that we were able to gather excellent ideas and feedback across the board, including which parts of our work are less understood by the greater community, and what we need to do to address that.

Review and Assessment

For the second stage of this process, the Management Team travelled to Bohol, the intent being to enable team building and cohesiveness, and to allow thinking to take place outside of the normal environment, such that creative juices could flow freely! Over the space of four days – working from morning till night – the team went over every element of every program and activity carried out over the past year. At the same time last year, EcoWEB had developed a plan that set target outputs for two and five years. We identified our progress on each of these targets, and while behind on a small minority of our goals, we are indeed on schedule or soaring ahead on the vast majority. There is truly much to be done to meet the goals we set, but we were able to positively ascertain that we had much to celebrate from last year’s work.

Planning

The first stages of our planning took place in Camiguin, and involved the Management Team, as well as the staff team, a couple of members of the Board, and a few of our volunteer outreach workers. Again, the team was hard at work, arriving at the meeting room right after breakfast and not finishing until well past dinner time, but much was accomplished in that space of time. Perhaps the most important feat was that we were able to merge our 2- and 5-year goals into more concise and succinct three-year goals. A new plan incorporating all of our programs was begun, and this was carried over into meetings held back at our headquarters in Iligan City over the next couple of weeks. We’re very happy with the end result, which doesn’t stop at the plan itself, but includes:

· Planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME) that continues to lead in its creativity and innovation;

· A more administratively robust PME system in the upcoming year;

· Strengthening of our Social Enterprise, EcoHerbs, which includes a line of Body and Massage Oil, turmeric and ginger Health Drinks, and delicious palapa – each product of which is comprised of ingredients from several communities with whom we work, as part of our Sustainable Livelihoods program.

· A continued commitment to promoting good governance, safer environments, more peaceful communities, and stronger livelihoods and the realization of rights for the people with whom we work.

We’re excited about 2011, and we invite you to continue checking in to learn about our accomplishments as the year progresses!