AWCF-FK project has back-to-back activities

This May 2011 was a busy period for participants of the “Capacity-building for Gender and Co-operatives in Asia” Project, implemented by AWCF and the Fredskorpset (FK) Norway among AWCF’s member-organizations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Philippines. The five-year Project began in 2008 where human resource is developed as personnel from AWCF’s member-organizations take part as exchange participants in batches, with the different organizations acting as their hosts or Project partners. Exchange participants stay with their host-organizations for 10 months.

As 2010-2011 is the third year of Project implementation, all stakeholders were immersed this May in preparing reports and presentations for their two major meetings: the “Third Phase Review Meeting” and “Fourth Phase Partners Planning Workshop.”

The first meeting
The first meeting was held in Quezon City, Philippines on May 17, 2011, starting off with welcome messages from AWCF’s Chairperson Ms Kruewan Chonlanai and Executive Director Ms Salome Ganibe; and FK Regional Representative Asia Mr. Sacha Jotisalikorn. AWCF Program Coordinator Ms Angelita Valdez facilitated the orientation on the meeting. Representatives of the Project partners gave project updates through Powerpoint and audiovisual presentations. The presentations shared the learnings of the exchange participants in their respective host-organizations, and also emphasized the impact and results of the exchange activity in relation to the objectives of the different AWCF member-organizations.

To corroborate the Project updates, actual testimonies of FK third batch exchange participants were given, particularly from Ms Pakialakshmi d/o Maniam (from Malaysia) and Ms Janjila Nuansri (from Thailand). The meeting ended with the presentation of the issues and challenges besetting the Project partners, and the recommendations to address these concerns. Among the concerns expressed by the Project partners were the visa processing requirements in Indonesia, matching between their current needs and expectations and the tasks of the exchange participants whom they host, and detailed documentation to assess the contribution of the exchange participants to the attainment of organizational objectives.

The second meeting
The second meeting for the AWCF-FK Project was held May 18-20, 2011, also in Quezon City. Two more representatives from each AWCF member attended this meeting that set off preparations for the Project’s fourth phase to begin later this year. The meeting’s participants worked together with the AWCF Secretariat and FK to develop three documents that will guide the AWCF-FK 2011-2012 Project activities. These documents are the substance of the Project, the partnership agreement, and the budget calculations.

This meeting’s main highlight was the identification of five positions to be involved in the exchange Project’s fourth round, namely, a Credit Union Technical Officer (from Cambodia to be assigned in Thailand), a Business Development Officer (from Philippines to Indonesia), a Research and Documentation Specialist (from Philippines to Malaysia), an Extension Programmer and Researcher (from Vietnam to Philippines), and an Information Officer (from Philippines to Thailand).

The meeting ended with the signing of the partnership agreement for the Project’s fourth round of exchange.