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COTABATO CITY — The Nordic Ambassadors — Christian Lyster (Norway), Anna Ferry (Sweden), Saija Nurminen (Finland), and Franz-Michael Skjold Melbin (Denmark) — together with Nik Delfin, Senior Adviser of Norway, paid a courtesy visit to Minister Mohagher Iqbal on September 17, at the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) Conference Room.
MBHTE’s Headquarters is at the Bangsamoro Government Center (BGC) here in the BARMM capital.
The visit served as an avenue for cordial and productive discussions, highlighting mutual commitments and shared perspectives in the peace process in BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).
During their visit the Nordic ambassadors further reaffirmed their support to strengthen and sustain peace efforts in the region.
Also present were Minister Atty. Raissa Jajurie, head of the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD); Jehan Usop, deputy minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST); and Al-Bari Macalawan, director of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) – Maguindanao.
𝐌𝐁𝐇𝐓𝐄, 𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐏𝐀 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐌
Meanwhile, MBHTE, together with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed on September 16, 2025, at MBHTE Conference Room, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to institutionalize Comprehensive Gender and Health Education for Youth within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for 2025-2028.
The MoU which is to formally inaugurate the partnership between the MBHTE and UNFPA, further marks the public launch of this commitment to empower the Bangsamoro youth with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their health and well-being, consistent with the principles of the Fatwa on the Model family in Islam.
“We need to invest in our youth, this generation will soon produce leaders, it is important to develop future leaders in all aspects of life, especially in health,” said Iqbal.
Minister Iqbal also pledged to commit with full cooperation in this partnership, saying, “We hope our partnership will be institutionalized to help the young people experience more. As for the MBHTE, rest assured we will sincerely extend our full ability within the frame of the law. We will have our full cooperation.”
This partnership aligns with the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP) 2023-2028 and supports key MBHTE initiatives such as Oplan Kalusugan sa Bangsamoro (OKB) Program and the Madrasah Learning and Development Program (MLDP). By leveraging UNFPA’s global expertise and MBHTE’s mandate that aims to develop and integrate locally contextualized, age-appropriate, and culturally sensitive health education into the region’s diverse educational system.
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages — now eight new municipalities — that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur. (✓)