On December 17, 2021, Juhra Kilam, a Muslim lecturer from Isabela, Basilan, conducted a PCVE lecture in Barangay Mangal, Sumisip, Basilan. The activity was attended by 37 Muslim women from the same barangay and focused on raising the awareness of women against supporting terrorism and underscoring the crucial role in PCVE activities.
During the said activity, the lecturer highlighted the crucial points of the PCVE like refraining from giving any help or aid to terror groups, “non-membership” from any terrorist groups should never be used as an excuse or alibi to indirectly support terrorism activities, and the important role of women in guiding their children and prevent them from joining terrorist groups. In relation to the role of women, the lecturer also emphasized women empowerment by way of identifying violent extremism and the proper way of reporting such threats to the government authorities. Aside from terrorist-related reports, the lecturer taught them the “referral pathways” as an important mechanism for reporting violence against women-related cases (VAW). In terms of community building, lectures about the importance of active participation of women in decision-making process of barangays and municipalities and the importance of “Tarbiya” or development and training of people in the PCVE efforts were taught.
Moreover, during the lecture, certain issues and concerns were raised by the participants like their refusal to continuous extortion of ASG that resulted in the bombing of their plantation cooperatives; The problems in “ayuda” and inaccessible social services of the government to Barangay Mangal that was in far-flung areas; and lack of information drive to increase information awareness of women on terrorism issues.
At the end of the program, the participants hoped for more similar activities in the future and expressed their gratitude for their new learning that could be valuable for empowering communities and women against violence.
