The Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, the recipient organization led the Project Inception and Planning for the PROTECT Peace Project (Promoting Resilient and Organized Citizenry Towards Empowerment and Community Transformation for PEACE in the BARMM) participated by the five sub-recipient organizations namely: Integrated Mindanaons Association for Natives, Inc. (IMAN), Kadtabanga Foundation for Peace & Dev’t. Inc (KFPDI), Tarbilang Foundation Inc., Lamitan City Rose Women Organization Inc. and Gagandilan Mindanao Women Incorporated. The success of the said project planning and inception is in behalf of the Funding Partner, Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).

The Project Inception and Planning formally started with an opening prayer preceded by the introduction of the participants where they chose their partners and introduced each other. The activity formally started on January 8, 2020, while the participants from Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu arrived on the evening of January 7, 2020. The activity was a blast because all participants were actively engaged in the discussion.

Guiamel Alim, Chairman of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society gave his opening remarks in the said event welcoming everyone to the activity. In his speech, he emphasized the importance of seeing the project in its positive aspect all the time. As he stated, the project is an action towards preventing violence and promoting peace. He stated that may be most of the people would see the actions of the participating organizations as something little towards the greater and wider aspect of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s issue on violent extremism. But as he said, “Ang ang ating trabaho ay parang isang tuldok lang and we don’t see it. (Our work is like a dot in this bigger world and we don’t see it.) But it helps. Our collective action greatly helps in the promotion of peace and resiliency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.” The words of the CBCS Chairman had encouraged the participants to move forward and stand for their mission and vision for the PROTECT Peace Project.

A topic on Understanding good governance was lectured by Julie Email, VSO Peace Educator who spoke about maintaining the importance of good governance. On the other hand, Robert Apadan discussed project management and project cycle giving the participants a wider understanding of the project cycle and how important each cycle.

The participants aside from the project inception and planning was also given a chance to meet and to build rapport with each other through the Solidarity night where all participants where their traditional attires and presented a short traditional performance. The Solidarity night was a memorable night as the participants became part of some parlor games and were given a chance to enjoy the night. The Solidarity night aims to make each organization comfortable to each other as they plan to work for a three-long year project.

The two-day activity was ended with the presentation of the Strategic Planning of each sub-recipient organizations including the review of the project agreement and the future steps the PROTECT Peace team may undertake.