From Cambodia to Mindanao: A Journey of Learning, Exchange, and Inspiration
Ten peace partners of Pro Peace Cambodia completed the two weeks trip in Davao City Philippines, starting with their participation in the intensive one-week-course at the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute, followed by the learning exchange with key conflict transformation experts and organizations in Davao, returning with in-depth understanding of conflict analysis tools, facilitation skills, and the discovery that their own work is inspiring others abroad.
The delegation, which included the teachers from Battambang Education Teachers College (BTEC), Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University – Phnom Penh (SBUPP), Provincial Department of Education (PoE) in Battambang, Diversity Youth Group, and peace education trainers and storytellers from our academic partner, Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University – Battambang Branch (SBUBB), gained deeper understanding on conflict-analysis tools, digital peacebuilding approaches, community-based facilitation methodologies drawn from the Philippines' decades-long experience of peace processes in Mindanao.
This was the result of Pro Peace’s initiative called South-South Learning Exchange where our Cambodian partner organizations not only learn the concepts and theories of conflict transformation from the courses provided by Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute (MPI), but also learn how these theories and concepts play into practice through their exchanges with the key individuals and organizations in Davao City, such as forumZFD Philippines and their partner organization Community Action for Integrated Development, Inc. (CAID), GIZ-Civil Peace Service Philippines (GIZ-CPS).
Why Mindanao
Both countries, Philippines and Cambodia, are navigating the legacies of violent conflict while working to strengthen peace infrastructure and create platforms where different communities can engage in meaningful dialogue and co-creation spaces.
For Cambodian peacebuilders navigating their own legacies of conflict, the Khmer Rouge atrocity, the disrupted social trust, the silences between generations, the Philippine context offered a mirror with useful differences. The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), signed between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), led to the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and has become a reference point for community-based reconciliation and civil society engagement in peace processes across the region.
Pro Peace Cambodia identified the Philippines as a learning context with direct relevance to Cambodia's own peacebuilding contextual reality. Both have their own peace education processes, efforts on interreligious harmony, and community-level reconciliation from the ground up. For our Cambodian partners, the Philippine context helped them reimagine what else they could do, the possibilities of peacebuilding and conflict transformation in their own community, by stepping into a different reality, somewhat familiar, and learn how decisions were made and gain understanding on the tools, processes used in achieving peace in Mindanao.
What Participants Learned
Participants cited conflict analysis as one of the most practically important areas of learning. Several noted that MPI provided structured frameworks, including conflict mapping approaches and content analysis tools, that gave them more nuanced understanding to read and analyze situations they work in daily.
A field visit to CAID’s community in Samal Island helped Cambodian partners understand what conflict analysis framework means in real-life setting. SBUBB-Human Library team leader, Loy Monyroth, was impressed by how women leaders are shaping decision-making processes in their community. It was also through this visit that Venerable Ren Kearen, Diversity Youth Group representative, was made more aware of the different shapes and forms of conflict, reflecting on CAID’s experiences on fighting for their identity on the island.
“My visit in Samal Island helped me change my understanding of peace. Peacebuilding is also about your right to exist.” - Venerable Ren Kearen
The use of technology on peacebuilding and storytelling has drawn the attention of our Cambodian partners particularly who are working on the field of oral history and intergenerational exchange. With the role of Venerable Kong Pisith as one of the lead multimedia storytellers in SBUBB-Human Library, he pointed out the need to understand and examine all stories, as all of them have ‘meanings’ and ‘stories to tell.’ His participation to the MPI’s Technology for Peace course helped him understand what lies deeper than the technique: it is the recognition that our communication choices have the capacity to influence the conversations in the communities, and these choices will be crucial to shape the understanding of the communities on their own conflict.
“We have the power to shape conversations through our stories and communication materials. All photos have stories to tell. We should learn in our work how to make our photos and materials for responsible storytelling.” - Venerable Kong Pisith
Doing it scared. This is what Choek Sreypich, one of the SBUBB-Human Library storytellers, shared after facilitating their Open Session highlighting their work on intergenerational exchange in Battambang.
“It was scary in the beginning to lead a discussion, as a young person, but I felt respected, my stories are valued, and I feel inspired how other storytellers, or peacebuilders in my group take pride on sharing their own stories.” – Choek Sreypich
Facilitation was another area of significant growth. For her to be able to lead an open session with a group of experienced professionals during the program, she found this experience as transformative. "I had to stand in front of people who knew much more than me," she said. "I admitted I didn't have all the answers. But I stayed."
The learning exchange in Davao also expanded the understanding of our Cambodian partner organizations on the role of the academe and the historians in shaping public discourses.
Lim Dalin, the head of BTEC’s Research Department, find inspiration on how forumZFD Philippines’ Advocacy for Mindanao Histories and Studies Project was taking shape through the participation of various historians and storytellers. They saw the potential of this project to use history education as a way to move beyond simply transmitting facts to fostering critical reflection, empathy, and dialogue across differences in the communities. They also see how this approach could also strengthen education and awareness of young people and communities in Cambodia by developing a deeper understanding of the past while cultivating a collective commitment to preventing the recurrence of violence and injustice.
“As someone working in research, I was inspired by how the Mindanao History Project brought together multiple stakeholders throughout the process. It showed me that producing knowledge is not just about conducting research, but also about creating spaces where different actors can contribute their perspectives and expertise.” – Lim Dalin
Commitments Going Forward
Participants left Davao with specific action commitments, returning home with the reflection that the work is not done yet. The real work is about translating all these newly acquired skills and knowledge to practice: where the bearer of these resources multiply, where conflict analysis tools and conflict transformation theories and concepts are utilized to guide their decisions, to shape their training designs, and to also make their conversation spaces more meaningful.