IMAN

The Integrated Mindanaons Association for Natives (IMAN), Inc. in partnership with Islamic Relief Worlwide (IRW-Philippines) holds a 3-day Community Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment Workshop on July 10-12, 2018 at Peñafrancia, Andres Alonzo St., Cotabato City.
The 3-day workshop aimed to have have unify understanding about Disaster Risk Reduction and able to identify and assess the degree of disaster risk in the community and draw recommendations.
During the Training Workshop, Sir. Anwar R. Salik- the Municipal Administrator of Kabuntalan, Maguindanao expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the project. According to him, “Because of the workshop offered by the IMAN-IRW our knowledge and perspective about disaster preparedness has expanded, he said. We are also grateful for choosing barangay Butiren, Payan and Katidtuan as your covered barangays, he added.
The 3-day workshop is participated by 2 Municipal Local Government of Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, different barangay officials, IRW Program Officer- Maam Joyce Cea and 6 IMAN staff.

The Integrated Mindanao n’s Association for Natives Incorporated go through a process of Strategic planning in order to determine what the organization want, how it will be achieve and how the success will be measured. The said Activity was conducted on August 25-27, 2017 at 8th Avenue Resort, Kabacan North Cotabato. It was attended by All IMAN staffs and the Board of trustees. Dolores Corro, CRS Project Manager served as the facilitator and resource person of the said activity.
The day to day activities of the organization outside and inside are patterned. Also, the planning provide bigger picture of the organization and had helped in the alignment of the resources of the organization to the areas of most beneficial impact. It had created a common understanding of the goals of the organization which gives clarity about what more the organization want to achieve and plan of action for day to day operations. Moreover, the different issues and challenges encountered by the Project Staffs are identified and possible solution and recommendation was also plan to address them.

The Integrated Mindanaons Association for Natives led the turn-over ceremony of 1 unit classroom building at Balugo Elementary School, Sittio Balugo Datu Montawal Maguindanao. The said activity was attended by Country Representative of Terres des Hommes Pilgrim, IMAN Executive Director Mike P. ALon, KFI staffs, IMAN staffs and the teaching forces including the students of Balugo Primary School. Also present in the ceremony was the parents and other stakeholders in the community.
The 1 unit classroom building will be utilized by Grade V and Grade VI pupils of the said school. This is to continually support and strengthen quality education for Bangsamoro children in Mindanao as part of the main goal of the program. PTA President Mohadjar Kalimpo expresses his gratitude to the IMAN, KFI and TDH for the unending support they have given and showered to the Bangsamoro children of Ligawasan Marsh. “Shukran and Alhamdullilah” he exclaimed.
Miss Pilgrim, Terres Des Hommes Representative state her thankfulness for the community in welcoming the project from the beginning and still supporting it at present and in behalf of TDH they will never get tired in helping the vulnerable and marginalized communities in Ligawasan marsh.
One of the main highlight of the ceremony is the ribbon cutting and the formal turnover of the building. The sound of the laughter and the smile on the faces of the community especially of the teachers and the learners are very evident after the ceremony.

Meeting with the teachers is an initiative activity of iREAD project to monitor the formal start of the in-school intervention at 5 covered school of iREAD namely Pagagawan Elementary School, Pedtad Elementary School, PAtadon Elementary School, Baya Elementary School and Langkuno Elementary School. The meeting was held at Oro Resto KAbacan, North Cotabato last July 22, 2016 attended by School head and teachers of each school.

The main highlight of the meeting is the updating and discussion of the the in-school intervention in audio-visual remedial class and integrating the tablets in their lesson in teaching slow reader and non-reader students. The tool to be use for monitoring the reading progress of the beneficiaries are also discussed. Strategies of each school that might be beneficial and adaptive by the other schools also shared during the updating.

IMAN and teachers also agreed to conduct further meeting in connection for the smooth implementation of the iREAD in-school intervention. template and formats should be made and distributed in the school to have and uniform way of reporting. Further, progress of the student should always be monitored by the teachers and Project Officer assigned.

“Clothes, in the end, in our own tradition, are something holy. It’s not about fashion, style and manner. It’s about respect. It’s about honesty. It’s about identity”. But traditional clothes have been overlooked by young generation of today. The changing of Fashion trend from time to time also contributed to the young mind of the children to ignore the clothes our ancestor used to wear.
One of the Respect Workshop, Mindanao History focuses on the clothing of the different tribes in Mindanao. The clothing is as diverse and beautiful as the people living in it. In the generation today, tradition, custom and belief has been neglected and forgotten by our youth.
During the Workshop, the children discover more about the tribal or traditional clothing of the people in Mindanao that they can be most proud of. They expressed their love for our culture and tradition and they make their own version of clothing as inspired by our traditional costumes. The children also made an outfit inspired by the traditional clothing of the different tribes in Mindanao. It does not only build camaraderie among them but it also explores the creativity in them.
It is a tragedy that some people in Mindanao no longer wear their traditional clothing. From small babies to aged grandparents, everyone can now
be seen in the same mundane pair of jeans and t-shirts. It is the current generation of youth that is taking the lead in widening the gap between our traditions and the new fashion trends.
It seems as though the uniqueness of Mindanao has deteriorated as everyone nowadays just wants to be just like everyone else. We believe it is time to show the world that there is no need to put our traditions aside just to be a part of a crowd. Knowing about our culture and wearing our traditional clothing is extremely important. Why should we shy away from wearing these clothes when our traditional costumes are so vibrant and beautiful? Mindanao is filled with fantastic cultures and it is our duty to pay respect to these cultures by feeling proud of our motherlands clothing and patriotically wearing it.

The turn-over of the equipment’s was held at 2 covered schools of iREAD project namely Patadon Elementary School last February 7, 2017 and Pagagawan Elementary School last February 8, 2017 respectively. The installation of the solar power is one of the prior activity before turn-over of the equipments at 3 off grid schools and they received the equipments last June 13-15, 2017. The said activity was attended by 347 composed of BLGU, Teachers, and District Supervisor of each school, learners, PTA, GRF FMO Sir Philbert Yee and IMAN staffs.
The turn over ceremony is a half day activity which aims to finally hand over the gadgets like 30 tablets that includes screen protector and cover, personal computer, LCD projector with tripod screen and printer. The program serve as go signal to formal start in school intervention. The security of the equipments was also reviewed during the activity.

Memorandum of Understanding signed between Executive Director Mike P. Alon, PTA President, District Supervisor, School Principal and Sir Philbert Yee.

Five covered schools express their gratitude for being one of the selected beneficiaries of this one of a kind project. They also extend their thanks to the supporting agencies no other than USAID, GRF and IMAN staffs. They also commit to support the project through-out the implementation.

The installation of solar power in the off-grid school covering the elementary schools of Baya (March 14, 2017), Pedtad (March 15, 2017) and Langkuno (March 17, 2017) was completed. Formal orientation on the use, maintenance and usage of the solar system was orient to the teachers at the 3 covered schools. Consultation and dialogue meeting to the BLGU also conducted prior to the said installation. A full-system check is being conducted to ensure that solar power system installed meets the agreed requirement.
Teachers and other stakeholders express their gratitude to USAid, GRF and IMAN for giving them this kind of project that benefits the schools and the selected beneficiaries.

“We don’t learn from doing, we learn from reflecting on what were done”. This quote underline the thought of we don’t learn from experience but we learn from reflecting on our experience. This is the main goal of the quarterly reflection.
The activity highlights the accomplishments of the Community Facilitators in the course of actual Year 2 ADM class project intervention. It also serves as the venue where they identify the issues, problems and challenges encountered where they formulated action plan to address it.
Absenteeism has been the major issue concerning the facilitators. Most of the time, if not absent the students are late because according to them, they are helping their parents for the cause of living.
Home to Home visitation was conducted by the facilitator as one of their major strategy plan in order to address the issue, majority of the Barangays discover that the main cause of their absence is the fact that they have been engaged to working in farm or taking good care of their siblings even at a very young age.
The Facilitators talk to the Parents and convincing them to send their children to school, some also ask for help from the BLGU so that the parents would do so. This plan has been successful so far, but still there are cases of absenteeism but not as many as before.
This activity proves the importance of reflecting on actual process of implementation to be able to identify the treats of success and come up with the necessary adjustments in order to achieve success.

“If you support the community, the community will support you”. This old cliché emphasizes the importance of building proper and good relationship or rapport among the people of community.
The BLGU of Brgy. East Patadon visibly supports the cause of the Innovation for Rural Education Advancement for Moro Children in Mindanao Project (iREAD).
The entrance of the project intervention in Patadon would not be possible without their invaluable commitment and support. In fact, they offered the BLGU Hall and the covered court for our off school intervention which is the Alternative Delivery Mode class conducted every Saturday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
In the recent ADM class first year intervention, they also lend their mega phone because they saw and observe the need for it since children do not listen if destructed and so that the lessons and topic will be delivered well and the community facilitators will have much easier way of teaching and delivering without shouting.
They are always present in every activities, meetings and consultations conducted in support for the project. If there are trainings or meetings in their place they make sure to give counterpart and if the Brgy. Captain is not around, He always make sure Barangay Councilors are there as the representatives.
Moreover, The mantra of the Barangay Local Government Unit of East Patadon is working hand in hand in order to achieve success and share success in order to achieve fulfillment for the development of the Barangay and this has been visible up to now.

The Integrated Mindanaons Association for Natives officially launched its newest project uported by its long-term partner Catholic Relief Services (CRS) at Datu Montawal Municipal Hall last October 13, 2016. The project entitled “ Water, Sanitation, governance in Mindanao” also known as WASH.
The said event were attended by the Executive Director Mike P. Alon, DAtu Montawal Mayor Vicman Montawal, Vice mayor Datu Ohto Montawal, MLGU officials, Barangay Captains, Representative from other Health agencies, WASH Project Manager Lucille ISnani, CRS and IMAN staffs.
WASH is a four-year project covering the 11 Barangays of Datu MOntawal in using phrase-approach. The project aims to contribute to the development and improved WASH-related outcomes in targeted conflict-affected and disaster prone communities in DAtu Montawal through sustainable WASH intervention. The project also seeks to effectively integrate WASH service improvements and provision into governance functions of DAtu Montawal, MAguindanao. Ts primary goal id to announce the said Municipality as the first Zero Open Defecation.
Hon. Vice Mayor Datu Ohto Montawal state that he will give his 100% support to the project accordingly. District Supervisor Delhia Daniel, also commit her support to the project. ABC President Datu Jasmerudin Mangadad shareds his appreciation to the IMAN for the help it has given Pagagawan since 2010. Ma’am Dolly S. Corro of CRS also emphasizes that CRS DATU MONTAL and IMAN has shared vision in developing Datu Montawal Municipality. Thus, she also stated that everybody should work hand in hand to make this dream come true.
Other health agencies and 11 BArangay Captains also show their support through signing the wall of commitment and support provided.
The program was closed in an inspiring message by the Provincial Planning Development Officer Mr. Utto, according to him, “Together let us make this Municipality, the first Municipality in MAguindanao declare as ZOD or Zero Open Defecation.”