COTABATO CITY (Jan. 5, 2023) — The Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) conducted a series of rapid area assessments and need analyses of youth combatants, sons and daughters of Mujahideen, and young victims of violent conflict on December 20 to 28, 2022 across the Bangsamoro region.
The activity was aimed at gathering relevant data on the young people’s situations and needs to generate policy briefs for ministries, agencies, offices, and other instrumentalities of the Bangsamoro that will provide recommendations for relevant intervention pathways to their significant needs.
The assessments, which served as the first component of BYC’s Positive Peace Project (3Peace), were carried out in major camps of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) across the Bangsamoro region.
The assessment was composed of three parts: focus group discussions (FGD), key informant interviews (KII), and survey interviews, which were facilitated by BYC employees and youth volunteers.
Prior to the camp immersions, a series of courtesy visits and meetings to the camps commanders across the Bangsamoro region was conducted in mid-2022. A two-day facilitation training was also conducted to equip the facilitators with appropriate skills.
3Peace is a long-term project that aims to produce former young combatants who are trained and capacitated in socio-economic aspects ensuring their positive reintegration to become productive members of society and translating their narratives into policy actions and development agenda.
The assessment result will also serve as basis of BYC in providing significant interventions under the project to address the young people’s identified issues and needs.
BYC is an office attached to the Office of the Chief Minister that provides leadership in formulation and initiation of regional policies and plans, and in the setting of priorities and direction for youth promotion and development programs and activities. (BYC PR Unit/KAA)
