Celebrating indigenous and local farmers on World Food Day 2022!
Leaving no one behind, celebrating culture and diversity, celebrating environmental and spiritual integrity!

Through the partnership of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro (ACDO) and Samdhana Institute, we successfully held “Lambo Mag-Uuma!” event in celebration of World Food Day, at the Limketkai Mall 2nd level event center on October 14-16, 2022. This is also our joint activity, in solidarity with the celebration of Indigenous Peoples Month (October) in the Philippines.

Natural resources can provide a source of food, fuel, shelter and various other essential materials. They also underpin complex beliefs and traditions that can be the lifeblood of communities. In the digital era and in the midst of the 4.0 industrial revolution, many people are utilising them as the basis for sustainable livelihoods.

How do we, in Southeast Asia, understand ‘loss and damage’? 

The Manila Observatory, with Samdhana Institute and Chiang Mai University, is undertaking a project to gather the various perspectives and experiences of  individuals and organizations on Loss and Damage. 

Following many years of shifting cultivation practices, Yotoro Hill in Papua’s Jayapura Regency is in a critical condition. This has impacted Indigenous Peoples (IP) living nearby in Kwadeware Village, Waibu District, in the form of landslides and flash floods. In response, the women and youths of Kwadeware Village have taken action, by planting trees on Yotoro Hill.

In 2021, the Philippines was identified as the deadliest country in Asia and 3rd in the world for environmental defenders, with women facing unique vulnerabilities and even graver threats. Women bear the burdens of environmental destruction when their homes and livelihoods, their sources of clean water, food and medicine are gravely affected or lost.  

Last February 8, 2022, NGOs, non-profit associations and local organizations with whom Samdhana had worked with or had supported came together for the Mekong Partners’ Meeting. Twenty-eight participants from 19 organizations from Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos joined the meeting via online. Albeit, it was not face-to-face but the Partners had a meaningful exchange on their current situations, the challenges they have to hurdle, and strategies that for them have been effective.

Samdhana welcomes Le Anh Nguyen Long, Ph.D. and Ms. Ho Ming So Denduangrudee who joined the International Board starting January 2022. Getting younger members of the Samdhana Board is one of the key steps in regenerating the Institute, as they bring in fresh perspectives and new energies.

Brgy. Awang in the Municipality of Opol, Misamis Oriental, is part of the traditional territories of the Higaonon tribe under the Dulangan Unified Ancestral Domain (DUAD). The community used to have an abundant forest where underground water sources abound. It was also rich in chromite, that brought in mining companies, migrants and businessmen, and with it logging and clearing of the area, leaving its mountains barren.

On 5 November 2021, the Samdhana Institute organized The Fork to Farm Global Dialogue for Southeast Asia, as part of COP26 in Glasgow. Co-organised by Nourish Scotland and featuring representatives of communities from various countries worldwide, the event implemented a hybrid format (i.e., with a mix of offline participants in Glasgow and others attending online in their respective countries, in Asia, Africa, Europe, and America)

As part of its ongoing commitment to foster unity to foster unity in diversity throughout Indonesia the Menoken journey recently travelled to the districts of South-Central Timor, with the aim of strengthening networks, sharing ideas for the protection and preservation of the environment.