Davao City – Led by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), international donor agencies, local bodies and other prime movers of education participated in the first Basic Education Donors Forum of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which was conducted in this city.

Considered benefactors and friends of the Moro people, heads and representatives of USAID, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Labor Organization (ILO), Consulate of Malaysia, Department of Education (DedEd)-National Office, Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and ARMM’s key Cabinet officials joined the forum that highlighted the region’s effort to improve basic education for its residents.

The foreign donor agencies, said in an ARMM statement, “unanimously responded positively and vowed to continue their assistance to improve the quality of education in the ARMM.”

Access to education has always been difficult and most trying for the residents of ARMM due to lack of needed schools and classrooms arising from poverty and lack of peace, among others. As a result, literacy is very low in the five provinces and one city of ARMM.

When ARMM Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan assumed leadership of the autonomous region on October 1, 2005, he immediately prioritized education to address its attendant problems.

In thanking foreign and local supporters of ARMM, Ampatuan appealed to them “to consider the policies and guidelines on official development assistance adopted by the regional government in support to the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which call for maximizing the aids going to the autonomous government.”

Ampatuan called for the setting up of committees to manage the utilization of development assistance, including funds for education through the Oversight Committee on Strengthening
Development Assistance Coordination (OC-SDAC) of ARMM.

DepEd-ARMM under Regional Education Secretary Hadji Udtog Kawit organized the forum in coordination with the Regional Planning and Development Office (RPDO) and the OC-SDAC.