Through face-to-face engagements with indigenous peoples’ groups and using a process of “free prior informed consent’, three indigenous groups were identified to participate in the project. They were the: • Kankana-ey of Kibungan, Benguet; • Higaonon of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur; and • Sama Dilaut/Bajau of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga. The project was officially launched on July 10, 2008, at the CHRP grounds in Manila. Attendees included indigenous leaders and other representatives from each of the three communities; civil society agencies; government and local government representatives; and the international community. The national and regional project teams worked with each of these three communities from then to August 2010. Using human rights community-led development processes, the teams assisted and encouraged communities to identify and prioritise their human rights issues and implement plans to address them. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation took place during the project within the communities and within, and between the Philippines and Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Commissions. The project has resulted in the following outcomes: Indigenous communities 1. Indigenous communities can identify their human rights issues, prioritise and address these and monitor the outcomes. 2. Implementation of strategies to deal with the prioritised human rights issues has begun in all communities. Communities own the issues and have developed strategies to resolve them. 3. Each community has human rights advocates. 4. Two years of engagement is a short time. Communities wanted to continue with identified actions and sought ongoing support of the CHRP and other organisations and agencies. Agencies of the State and local government 5. State agencies and local government (regional, provincial and barangay) have been involved at community level. There is evidence of change in the practices of some. Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines 6. All communities reported an improvement in their relationship with the CHRP, an enhanced knowledge of the role of the commission and its services, and confidence to approach it. 7. There was a marked increase in the HRCLD capability of the CHRP regional teams. 8. The CHRP have adopted an indigenous peoples policy. More detailed information can be found in Building human rights communities, the experience of three indigenous peoples in the Philippines https://elibrary.chr.gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-retrieve-file. pl?id=72d876d0ad31a8b8b52ed0d2e06459f7 Before, we were afraid because we did not know that we had any rights. Even if others treated us badly, we did not fight back, because of fear. (Sama Dilaut/Bajau) APF HRCLD Guide 57