Landas is a condensed version of a research on peace-building and non-formal education programs by and for the young people in Mindanao. The book was completed in 2005. Commissioned by Consuelo Foundation to an independent writer, the condensed work includes a review and validation by the original Mindanao-based research team. The study covers major programs on the twin subjects of peace-building and non-formal education. Despite the focus on the involvement of young people, the origin, leadership, social development assumptions, design, location and target groups, magnitude, implementation approaches, duration, available resources, and future orientation vary across all players and programs.

Although the content is essentially a technical report, Landas (meaning “path” or “way” in English) was chosen as the title for this book for two reasons. First, the comprehensive study attempts to trace the various means for achieving peace in the long-troubled southernmost major island and surrounding smaller islands of Mindanao. It also attempts to provide a profile of non-formal education initiatives for young people, particularly for out-of-school youth. It summarizes and describes the various life and career paths taken by the youth through the course of the writing of the book.

Second, the report provides a fairly thorough inventory of the challenges that social development planners and implementers need to address in order to accelerate the attainment of peace and to pursue in earnest the educational imperatives for marginalized young people in the area. Thus, it offers general guidelines for improving the paths and opening new paths for the youth. The underlying common denominator among the paths proposed is youth empowerment for peace building with non-formal education as a major vehicle.

*Description is a reworded and condensed version of the “About the book” section.