A Homegrown Approach to Accompaniment in the Face of Violence: IFI’s Lumad Accompaniment Program in Mindanao

A Homegrown Approach to Accompaniment in the Face of Violence: IFI’s Lumad Accompaniment Program in Mindanao

Author: Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies (CPCS)
Published by: CPCS
Publication date: December 2016
ISBN: N/A

A Homegrown Approach to Accompaniment in the Face of Violence: IFI’s Lumad Accompaniment Program in Mindanao is a CPCS Learning Paper focused on the Lumad Accompaniment Program in Mindanao in the Philippines. A component of the Mindanao Lumad Ministry, the Lumad Accompaniment Program was initiated by Mindanao Bishops Conference at a consultation meeting on the Lumad situation in November 2015. The bishops had convened to discuss and formulate a collective response to “ongoing and worsening human rights violations perpetuated by structural violence” against Lumad peoples.

This paper analyses the key features of the program and discusses some significant challenges for the program in the context of the Lumad community where the pilot accompaniment program was conducted. This paper covers events up to early October 2016. The remarkable speed of implementation and early success of the Lumad Accompaniment Program and the role of the programme within the broader framework of ministry towards Lumad peoples make it an interesting subject of study in community security. That the Lumad Accompaniment Program is a homegrown, domestic and civilian intervention presents further points of interest in the contemplation of the relative impact between insiders and outsiders in peacebuilding.