BDA shares dev’t. experience in the context of conflict with Thai delegates
The visitors who were headed by Dr. Srisompob Jitpiromsri were welcomed by BDA Executive Director Mohammad Yacob on June 7, 2016 at Bangsamoro Development Center in Cotabato City, Inc. (BDCCCI in Cotabato City.
“We are very pleased to be with you this afternoon and I am welcoming you on behalf of the Bangsamoro Development Agency”, Yacob said.
The discussion started with a presentation on the establishment of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) as development arm of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in accordance with the humanitarian, rehabilitation and development aspects of GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement on June 22, 2001.
This was presented by BDA Deputy Executive Director Engr. Windel Diangcalan.
Engr. Diangcalan mentioned about the on-going initiative of the agency in enhancing its strategic direction along with the change in the current landscape in the country; including the alignment of its program thrusts with the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP).
Accordingly, the visit was aimed to build the Thai delegation’s knowledge of the role of conflict monitoring during the negotiations and implementation of peace agreements in Mindanao.
It is a part of the World Bank-funded Cross Regional Violence Monitoring Knowledge Exchange (CRVME), implemented by The Asia Foundation co-supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Together with Dr. Srisompob were Ayub Pathan and Andrea Engvail from Deep South Watch of Thailand and staff from The Asia Foundation (TAF), who organized this meeting.
Dr. Srisompob told in an interview that they’d like to learn from the movements of the Bangsamoro for the economy development that support the local community who suffer from problems in Mindanao for long time.
“We would like to learn from experience here to share with our problem in our communities in Deep South Thailand. So, peace process here would be applicable to our conflict there,” he said.
“I’ve learned that the movements here like the MILF have learned a lot from experiences in the past and improve and upgrade its movement to the level that you can work on the development to solve the problems of the society. So, this is very great step forward,” Dr. Srisompob stressed.
Accordingly, the conflict between insurgents from the Malay Muslim minority and the central state in Thailand’s Deep South is one of the longest-running subnational conflicts of Asia. Peace negotiations have been intermittent over the last three years.
Since the conflict escalated in 2004, Dr. Srisompob, a lecturer at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, has run Deep South Watch (DSW), which is a semi-autonomous project that monitors violent incidents.
The DSW database is similar to the Bangsamoro Conflict Monitoring System, funded by the World Bank and run by International Alert.
It is further reported that this visit also aimed to discuss BDA’s targeting system for identifying project sites for community driven development (CDD) initiatives.
“We appreciate them this is why we are grateful to receive them because we were able to share our experience here with them. I think, the Muslim-Thailand in South Thailand, need this experience with us to guide the government of Thailand to negotiate with them so that they can come up with agreed political settlement”, Yacob said.
Since 2006, BDA through the Mindanao Trust Fund Reconstruction Development Program (MTFRDP) implements projects employing CDD approach which principle is inclusive development where participation of all sectors in the community are encouraged.