PMUI envisions that the people living in poverty will have a developed community with equal respect to people’s rights, interest and welfare by promoting physical, economic, social, cultural and spiritual prosperity, thus promoting peace and social security.
With its humble beginnings in 2009, the PMUI was able to empower Mangyans to become volunteers and intermediaries between Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC) and government agencies. Through a participatory learning approach, over 938 learners benefitted from the literacy programs conducted by the Mangyan educators, with topics on leadership, accounting, management, human rights, gender and development, and democratic values.
PMUI gradually transforms the indigenous communities as ‘agents’ of their own progress. The group now mobilizes seven distinct IP groups, which include Hanunuo, Buhid, Tadjawan, Taubuwid, Alangan, Bangon and Iraya, as development partners in the grassroots.
They are trying to achieve those goals by working in the following areas:
- Advocacy – initiates and promote Indigenous People basic rights, dialogue at the local, regional and national levels, to address the legal rights and be mainstream in the society.
- Education
- Capacity Building
- Environmental Protection
- Spiritual Formation
- Community-based programs
- Medical and Dental Assistance
- Cultural Development
- Citizenship Program