BUTUAN CITY, Philippines - Spain, through its Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID), or the Spanish Agency of International Development Cooperation, has joined hands with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the local government units (LGUs) in this region's capital city and Agusan del Norte and other non-government and private stakeholders in extending assistance to the Manobo and Mamanwas tribes and other ethnic groups in Northeastern Mindanao (Caraga region).
The groups have agreed to harmonize their approach in implementing the Indigenous Peoples Development Program (IPDP) for this region.
They also agreed to harness their resources to address the problems of the indigenous peoples which are rooted in poverty.
The groups have likewise agreed on a unified program for the development and protection of the Mamanwa and Manobo ancestral domain claim.
Officials said their undertakings are in support of President Aquino's poverty alleviation program.
Specifically, the groups' objective is to protect and develop the 134 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) of the lumads which covers the municipalities of Jabonga, Kitcharao, and Santiago, Agusan del Norte, and CADT 135 covering barangays Anticala, and portion of Pianing, Butuan City.
To fully understand the program, these groups, along with the Manobo and Mamanwa tribal leaders in the Caraga region, convened for a follow-up convergence seminar/workshop in one of the hotel and convention centers here last week.
IPDP-Caraga Operation Manager Domingo Nayahangan said the IPDP's goal is to increase capacity of indigenous peoples to facilitate the sustainable development and protection of their ancestral domains in partnership with the government, non-government and private sector service providers.
Sibog Katawhan Alang sa Paglambo (SIKAP) Executive Director Ms. Christine Ampon said the convergence partners are guided by its framework.
She said: "Parts of the convergence framework are as follows: 1) IP vision for the development and protection of their ancestral domain; 2) Results-chain that translates the vision into a hierarchy of operational purposes and describes converging and complementary paths to the attainment of the vision; 3) Convergence clusters of directly inter-related results; 4) Subsidiary results-chain that further elaborates a portion of the convergence cluster; 5) Projects and activities aimed at achieving results and sub-results; 6) Convergence management structure, policies, and procedures; 7) Principles of convergence; and 8) Code of conduct for convergence partners."
