Starting Point
Ms. Myla Leguro has a master’s degree in Peace Studies from the Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame, USA. Since 1991, she has been a Technical Advisor II in Social Cohesion and Church Engagement for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which has been involved in peace and development projects in Mindanao, Philippines.
As Programme Manager of CRS-Philippines’ Peace and Reconciliation Programme, Ms. Leguro organised the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute in 2000 and the Grassroots Peace Learning Course in 2003. She trained internationally in Timor-Leste and Nepal, and contributed to peacebuilding conferences in Colombia, Thailand, and the United States.
Peace Journey
Since age 17, Ms. Leguro has been engaged in peacebuilding in Mindanao, where conflict among indigenous, Muslim, and Christian groups has persisted for over a century. Her stint with the CRS has enabled her to foster peaceful relations among rival communities and with the Manila government. She focuses on promoting women's inclusion in peace processes and political decisions. During her time as a visiting fellow at the Kroc Institute in 2006, she documented peacebuilding experiences related to peace education, interreligious dialogue, zones of peace, and civil society advocacy. At that time, she also collaborated with faculty members, such as John Paul Lederach, to develop the Reflective Peacebuilding Toolkit, which sparked her interest in peace studies and led her to pursue postgraduate studies in 2008.
After graduation, she returned to the CRS-Philippines team to launch a governance-integrated peacebuilding programme and helped set up monitoring and evaluation systems to measure impact and outcomes.
Success Stories
Ms. Leguro’s contribution is acknowledged globally with a nomination for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. Moreover, between 2016 and 2018, she directed a global CRS initiative named Advancing Interreligious Peacebuilding, which comprised four projects focusing on interreligious dialogue and collaboration in Egypt, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Niger, Nigeria, and the Philippines. In 2014, she represented the Philippines at the Global Summit Against Sexual Violence in Conflict held in London. In 2019 and 2020, Leguro provided technical assistance for multiple peacebuilding efforts across Asia, while also deepening her involvement in civil society in Mindanao