Suarez Mother for Peace is a women movement in Iligan City under the umbrella of Mindanao Commission on Women that forms the mass base of the Commission all over Mindanao Archipelago, Philippines.

The Mindanao Commission on Women (MCW) was established in 2001 by Muslim, Christian and indigenous women leaders of Mindanao as a vehicle to influence public policy and public opinion about peace and development. MCW has become a significant voice in articulating a Mindanao peace and development agenda from a women’s perspective.

MCW has mobilized, educated, persuaded, and lobbied to make women’s issues central to the decisions about peace, believing that no peace agreement can be implemented or can peace be sustained without the leadership and participation of women. To help in the building of peaceful and prosperous communities for our families, the MCW chose three inter-linked areas of work, namely, peace and multiculturalism, poverty reduction, and politics and governance.

The commission is composed of women leaders who have many years of experience in peace and development programs in Mindanao. Eighteen Area Core Groups (ACGs), composed of women leaders and renowned experts in each of the program areas, implement advocacy campaigns at the local level. Collectively, the ACGs engage in Mindanao-wide campaigns. The Mothers for Peace movement forms the mass base of the Commission.

Key strategies
• Advocating for social justice, gender equality and human rights
• Engaging “key people” (decision-makers and opinion leaders) and mobilizing “more people”
• Linking efforts from the grass roots to the macro policy environment