Thirty seven (37) participants from Cotabato City, municipalities of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Talitay, North Upi, South Upi, Datu Saudi, Shariff Aguak, Mamasapano of Maguindanao, and Lebak of Sultan Kudarat actively imparted their views and opinions on what kind of society they envisioned for the Bangsamoro.

Representatives, which comprise of community leaders, farmers/fishermen leaders, women leaders, indigenous people and settlers’ alike, have gathered to pilot the community visioning exercises being facilitated by the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) with the assistance of BDA volunteers from various Regional Management Offices in Mindanao, as part of their “learning by doing” exposure prior to their deployment to their respective areas.

Mr. Omar Hamdan – RMO volunteer from BDA Central Mindanao Region, headed pilot activity.

One of the main points of community visioning exercise is for BDA to reach out to small barrios or barangays that, according to Mr. Guiamel Alim of the CBCS, are the “epicenter of conflict and development”. He identified that the exercise requires the meaningful participation of the community when drafting the Bangsamoro Development Plan. An intricate “from bottom to top type of planning is what we are going to do”, he added when explaining what the activity is all about.

During the exercise, issues regarding poverty, illiteracy, and crimes were raised and tackled through little debates on how it should be addressed.

In relation to this and still part of the exercise, the hopeful representatives also engaged in group discussions as to how they envision a Bangsamoro community. According to them, it should be a peaceful society, with prosperous economy, and has righteous leaders.

This community visioning exercises piloted the tools and methodology that will ensures maximum participation of the Bangsamoro community stakeholders that would aid in formulating transitional development plan for the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.

The over-all goal of the community visioning activities is to define the kind of society the Bangsamoro would like to pursue in the future as an expression of their right to self-determination. Specifically, the exercise will: 1) determine problem areas and/or sources of dissatisfaction/grievances in the communities, its causes and possible solutions, 2) identify the needs and define the aspirations of the Bangsamoro for their envisioned society, and 3) determine projects and programs that will respond to these needs in the two-year transition from 2014 to 2016.

Present during the activity were: Dr. Fermin Adriano, Assad Baunto and Ica Fernandez both members of BDP Core Planning Team from the World Bank; Dr. Abdulmannan Gayak, Dr. Zainal Kulidtod, Dr. Minang Sharief, Dr. Abdul Pagayao, Mr. Ismael Kulat, and Mr. Abdul-Jalil Umngan both members of BDP Focal Persons, and Max Africa of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

BDP operation is supported by the Mindanao Trust Fund (MTF)- a multi-donor fund facility administered by the World Bank and supported by the following development partners: European Union (EU), Australian Embassy (then AusAID), Canadian International Development Agency, New Zealand Aid for International Development, Sweden International Development Agency, United States Aid for International Development and the World Bank.