Philippines: Good Governance

In Mindanao local communities suffer from long lasting tensions - deeply rooted in historical and socioeconomic injustices - which often lead to conflicts, discriminatory practices and violent extremism.
The Project, funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, aims at enhancing mutual understanding between individuals of different faith and background, contributing to acceptance of diversity and pacific resolution of conflicts. Preventing discrimination, intolerance and violence are the main action lines of this three-year intervention, together with civil society empowerment and promotion of culture and dialogue platforms.
Religious leaders and youth community leaders are the main target actors, with the final responsibility of establishing a long-lasting culture of peace, respect and tolerance.
 

The “Joint Action for Land Rights” project focuses on land rights as an emerging issue in the field of human rights. PIN´s main goal is to support the work of civil society organizations, including human rights organisations, in support of vulnerable and socially excluded groups (e.g. farmers, indigenous people and women) with a particular focus on supporting the empowerment of these groups to claim their land rights. Three decades since the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law was passed, farmer beneficiaries in the Philippines still face various legal and social obstacles to accessing their right to land tenure, while other communities face wide-scale land grabbing.
The project is supported by the European Union’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and is jointly implemented by People in Need (PIN), Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC), KAISAHAN and BALAOD Mindanaw. A local non-government organisation, BALAOD Mindanaw actively works for the land rights of poor, rural communities and monitors land related human rights violation in Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon.