For an application, please click here.       For a description of the announcement, please click here. The ARMM project is funded by the Office of Citizen Exchanges of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is directed by Dr. Susan Russell, Professor of Anthropology and Faculty Associate of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and Dr. Lina Davide-Ong, Director, International Training Office at Northern Illinois University.   A project on Majority-Minority Relations in the Philippines: Religion, Education, Community and Political Process

For a complete discussion of the program, click here. For a list of the participants in the program, click here. For a power point presentation of the participants' plans of action, click here. For a look at some photos while our guests were here, click here. For a look at some photos of the January 2007 Follow-On Activities, click here. Special Report from the United States Institute of Peace Please read the program description below.

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the International Training Office at Northern Illinois University are proud to announce that their project titled THE AUTONOMOUS REGION OF MUSLIM MINDANAO (ARMM) AND MAJORITY-MINORITY RELATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES: RELIGION, EDUCATION, COMMUNITY AND POLITICAL PROCESS was completed in July 2006. This project brought 12 Muslim, Christian and non-Muslim activists and local leaders (e.g., government leaders, educators, media and judicial professionals, female and church/religious leaders, business leaders and proponents of democratic governance) with a stake in the future of this region of the Philippines to Northern Illinois University for a training and capacity-building institute and study tour in July 2006. The major goals of the project were to a) enhance the abilities of local leaders in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao to strengthen the foundation of peace and development in the southern Philippines, and b) promote a better understanding of the United States—its people, culture, values, and civic institutions as a multicultural and plural society. The project also will sharpen the participants’ skills in conflict resolution and management, peace leadership, community activism, and respect for diversity.

The ARMM project is funded by the Office of Citizen Exchanges of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is directed by Dr. Susan Russell, Professor of Anthropology and Faculty Associate of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and Dr. Lina Davide-Ong, Director, International Training Office at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Eric Jones, Assistant Professor of History and Faculty Associate of the Center for
Southeast Asian Studies is also a member of the NIU team. The in-country coordinator is Attorney Marilen Ramiro, Executive Director of the International Visitor Program-Philippines Alumni Foundation, Inc. in Makati. The regional coordinators are Dr. Susana Anayatin, Department of Trade and Industry, ARMM; and Attorney Suharto Ambolodto, Executive Director of the Institute for Strategic Initiative, Cotabato City. Other
participating partner organizations include the Caucus on Muslim Mindanao Affairs, an organization of leading NGO/civil society formations in the ARMM and Cotabato City, and the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
 

A federally funded National Resource Center since 1997, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies provides leadership, focus, and coordination for Southeast Asian studies at the university.  cseas@niu.edu