Biography Narrative

Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan is the founder and currently the Executive Director of the Al Qalam Institute of Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia at Ateneo de Davao University; and a facilitator in intra-faith and interfaith dialogue (worked as a United Nations Volunteer – Community Development Specialist from 1998 – 2003). He is a post graduate candidate of Master of Arts in Anthropology focusing on Islam, identities, and political anthropology. He is a former Provincial Board Member of the 1st District of Maguindanao Province (Shariff Kabunsuan). He is a conflict transformation and socio-political landscape consultant to local and international agencies in Muslim areas of Mindanao. He is a group facilitator in dialogue, non-violence training and conflict analysis and management. He is interested in interreligious dialogue, conflict transformation and violence mitigation, especially in the South – Central Mindanao and conflict prone areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Interreligious Activities and Initiatives

IRD with Religious Leaders to Bridge Cotabato to BARMM

The initiative aims to tap inter religious leaders to provide a platform for dialogue and address current issues that affects the city, especially the government’s programs on addressing the COVID 19. There will be three to five sessions of dialogue and to gather religious leaders (maximum of 10 to follow the social distancing protocols) and to conduct an online dialogue with national leaders, like the head of the Catholic Bishop Conference and the Darul Ifta, to encourage the two groups to work together and set aside their differences.

Conflict Transformation for Regional Peace Movement

This is a new project that 4 fellows in 3 different countries will create a peace training program, followed by a peace walk and a peace charter that each of the participant will adhere to. Since we were alumna of KAICIID Fellowship, we want to create a regional peace network as a pilot project of other regional peace projects. We have goal that we can hold this project yearly to maintain and streghten regional peace network. We realize that we can’t make peace happen by doing it with our own. We need to work and collaborate with another to make this world a better place to live.

Engaging and Training Selected Religious Leaders (Muslims and Christians) in Davao Region for Peace and Reconciliation in Southern Mindanao: An Interreligious Dialogue Approach to Conflict Mitigation and Peacebuilding

The Bangsamoro peace process has as its goal to develop and implement a peace deal that will address the conflict in Mindanao. Along this line, an effective mechanism to support peace initiatives is to have a multi-stakeholder program through series of trainings and workshops focusing on conflict mitigation and peacebuilding through inter-religious dialogue (IRD). This project looks into the strength of religious leaders in Mindanao who are committed to ending violence among religions and creating cultures of peace, justice, and healing. The framework to be used will be the inter religious dialogue design as promoted by KAICIID.