Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy (SAPA) will hold its second General Forum in February in Bangkok. Over 60 people are expected to attend this meeting, which aims to develop common action plans of civil society organisations.

Date: 2-3 February 2007
Venue: Bangkok, Thailand

Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy (SAPA) will hold its second General Forum from 2 to 3 February in Bangkok. Over 60 people are expected to attend the two-day meeting, which aims to develop common action plans of civil society organisations. Most importantly, it aims to evaluate SAPA’s activities in terms of civil society response to them. Leaders of SAPA member organisations are expected to attend this meeting.

The General Forum is open to all SAPA members and partners. On the first day, participants will join a public forum on thematic discussions. One of the themes is the challenges posed by China and India, also known as “Chindia”, that are emerging “regional superpowers” in Asia and their impact on the human rights situation in the region.

The second day is for organisational discussions, open to SAPA members only. The members will address general membership and creation of new working groups among other issues.

The General Forum is convened by SAPA Regional Steering Committee, in cooperation with local hosting organisation FORUM-ASIA. The committee is composed of seven regional civil society organisations: Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Asian Partnership for Development of Human Resources in Rural Asia (AsiaDHHRA), FOCUS on the Global South (FOCUS), Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), Peace Boat, South East Asian Committee for Advocacy (SEACA) and Third World Network (TWN).

Established at its first regional consultation in Bangkok in February 2006, SAPA was born out of common concerns about how to enhance the effectiveness and impact of civil society advocacy by improving communication, cooperation and coordination among non-governmental organisations operating in Asia. It has more than 100 civil society member organisations.

Application

Application deadline: 23 January 2008. Kindly download and fill up the Application form (.doc).

For more information, read Background note (.pdf) and Programme agenda (.pdf) or contact:

• Anselmo Lee, Executive Director at [email protected]
• Pokpong Lawansiri (Pong), Southeast Asia Program at [email protected]