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COTABATO CITY — Student leaders and campus journalists from across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) gathered on Friday, April 17, at the Center for Excellence in Humanitarian Services (CEHS) of the Community and Family Services International (CFSI) Center of Operations here in the city to lead the initiative to design new, culturally sensitive child protection systems and school-based referral pathways.
The “Co-creation Workshop on Child Protection and School-based Referral Pathway” is a key activity of the Child Protection Capacities (CPC) Project. It aims to develop Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials tailored to the Bangsamoro region. By putting children at the center the initiative ensures that protection systems are inclusive, child-friendly, and based on their real-life experiences.
Spearheaded by the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), which is headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Services Development (MSSD) the activity is implemented by CFSI with vital support from UNICEF and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
Participants included active members of various student government organizations and school publications from the three schools divisions of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, and Cotabato City, who provided essential peer perspectives to ensure that the “Referral Pathway”, the institutional process for reporting and addressing child protection concerns, is both accessible and trusted by the learners.
This bottom-up approach marks a significant shift from traditional top-down policy-making, ensuring that the final materials reflect the genuine voices of the learners.
As the workshop concluded, the drafted materials will undergo further refinement to serve as a standardized model for school-based protection mechanisms across the BARMM.
With this effort, truly, no Bangsamoro child is left behind.
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 CAB, is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area (SGA) composed of eight new municipalities in North Cotabato but under the jurisdiction and sphere of influence of the Bangsamoro Government..
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. (✓)