Unity is key to address worldwide woes
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2020 02:29:42 +0000
PEACE advocates from the youth sector came together on January 25 in Quezon City for an inaugural peace and unity conference.
Dubbed the #IsangBayanPH Youth Peace-Building Conference, the event drew 100 delegates aged 18 to 30 from different parts of Metro Manila to learn from expert peace advocates the critical skills needed in addressing conflict and in fostering dialog with other young leaders.
“We need to call for more ways to stand together not just as one nation but also hand-in-hand with other countries for problems of a global scale,” shared Arizza Nocum, one of the convenors of #IsangBayanPH and a peace advocate with both Muslim and Christian roots.
According to its convenors, the #IsangBayanPH conference aims to be a space for positive narratives for harmony and dialogue.
During the inaugural conference on Saturday, participants interacted with experts led by Prof. Miriam Coronel Ferrer, the chief negotiator credited with brokering the historic peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Other speakers included Prof. Macrina Morados, dean of the University of the Philippines Diliman – Institute of Islamic Studies (UPD-IIS); Caroliza Tulod-Peteros, senior mediator for the Mediators Network for Sustainable Peace; Egypa Balindong, Marawi youth leader, vlogger and filmmaker; and Mark Jacinto, advocate for the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
#IsangBayanPH is organized by KRIS Library, a nonprofit organization focused on creating platforms – both offline and online – to promote peace education particularly among young people.