Consultants to the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP) Program of Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) convene for the first consultancy meeting on January 21, 2014 at Al-Nor Hotel, Cotabato City.

The meeting was attended by various consultants and partners from international organizations such as Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA), The Asia Foundation (TAF), Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Representatives from different line agencies of the government were also present through the initiative and coordination of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). They are from Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).

The meeting commenced with an opening remarks from Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan, Chairman of the BDA Board of Directors and of the BDP Project Steering Committee.

He stressed the indispensability of this Plan in ensuring the success of the massive reconstruction and development efforts that will be undertaken to address the needs of Bangsamoro communities ravaged by several decades of armed conflict and government neglect.

Dr. Dipatuan urged that in the conduct of the plan formulation, the consultants must keep in mind the distinct features and peculiarities of the Bangsamoro areas and the imperative need to align the Plan to the context of the Bangsamoro communities that is just emerging from a long protracted conflict.

Presenting the Concept Note on the BDP was Engr. Windel P. Diangcalan, BDP Core Planning Team Leader. The Concept is a vital guideline to come up with a development plan responsive to the unique situation of the Bangsamoro. He underlined the timelines given by the MILF Central Committee and the need to come up with the components of the plan on their respective time schedules.

Dr. Ayesah Abubakar, BDA Adviser on Development Planning and member of the BDP Advisory Council, explained BDA’s Development Framework anchored on the trio of Sustainable Human Development Framework, Peacebuilding Framework and the BDA Core Values System. The BDA Framework of Development will serve as the guiding principles in the crafting of the BDP up to its implementation stage.

She further explained that, the BDA Development Framework shall undergo grassroots validation and revision, as necessary, after the conduct of “community visioning” exercises as part of the activities for this plan formulation. This will ensure the inclusive nature of the framework and the BDP itself.

Dr. Mohammad S. Yacob, BDA Executive Director, enlightened the participants on the BDA core values system necessary to create a new development mindset of the Bangsamoro that is conducive to peace and institution building anchored on universal Islamic principles to create citizens security, social justice and jobs for sustainable human development.

Dr. Fermin Adriano, World Bank consultant and member of the BDP Core Planning Team presented list of available related literature and secondary data that can be used in crafting the BDP. He emphasized the important task of the consultants in identifying gaps and proposing solutions to fill these gaps.

Dr. Urooj Malik, Senior Technical Adviser of BDA and member of the BDP Advisory Council, expressed optimism that the BDP will be completed if all the consultants and experts will be on board in time and donors provide all budgetary requirements they have committed to finish the BDP in May 2014.

After each presentation, an open forum followed and was facilitated by Mr. Assad Baunto, World Bank consultant and member of the BDP Core Planning Team.

Among the significant results of the meeting were the gaps identified on finalizing the commitment of development partners to the BDP formulation. This was though a short workshop conducted during the meeting.

Also relevant are the action points developed by the body from the activity.

According to Engr. Diangcalan, one of the immediate next steps of the said meeting will be the conduct of the Writeshop with the BDP consultants and Bangsamoro Focal Persons on February 6-7, 2014 in Cotabato City to develop an Integrative Report to help BDA in the formulation of the BDP.

“It is expected that by February, the BDP process is at its full speed. This includes conduct of community visioning and among others, Engr. Diangcalan said.

Currently, the BDP program is doing series of coordination, meeting and consultations to different sectors both in the government and private to introduce the plan and in soliciting support and possible complementation.