AMNEP in Hanoi: Day 2

The second and last day of AMNEP  still is very interesting.

Due to the quality of speakers and ideas of the morning session, I am very certain that all participants have learnt a great deal on civil society organisations in South East Asia. The key challenges among women in South East Asia were substantially discussed by Professor Aurora Javater and Sally Moyle. Both speakers shared their experiences and interpretations of women's health, social issues and economy in our region.

The afternoon session was my highlight of the trip! It's the day we share some findings from the project and will launch the project's policy brief for NGOs and key Governmental and civil society organisations. Our workshop is set up for NGOs and delegates from different organisations who are interested in development in Mekong countries.

 

The panel includes Dr. Francisco Montiel from the United Nations Women, Tanja Van de Linde from Oxfam Novib and me. We met in the morning and discussed some commonalities among our projects and we need to be certain that the participants will be able to learn certain aspects of women's economic empowerment from our projects.

I shared our research findings and challenges for women in Lao PDR and the effects of mining industry on women and their communities. Our policy brief is obviously useful for participants and they we find that some recommendations from our project can be influential and interesting for NGOs and civil society organisations in Mekong region.

we also worked with the participants on the development of ideas and suggestions for the Australian AID on (1) implications for ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and women in AEC, (2) opportunities for women in the region, and (3) future of economic activities.

The  conclusion of second AMNEP forum was led by questions o the future of Mekong countries and the ways in which NGOs, local and regional Governments can work together for the future of this area.

I really hope that we will be able to return to the 3rd AMNEP and discuss key comparative points from our research project with participants from various organisation. This year is truly a great year for AMNEP and we need to thank DFAT for their support for all participants.

AMNEP in Hanoi: Day 1

I am currently attending the Australia Mekong Non-Government Organisation Engagement Platform (AMNEP) in Hanoi. This is the second AMNEP but I am imprssed by the quality of engagement among NGOs (health, economic, skills and various other sources) and DFAT. Since our project is funded by DFAT (Australian AID), we are pleased to be invited to share outcomes from the project and to launch policy brief from this project at this important platform.

There were approximately 400-500 people at the forum. Ms. Vanessa Wood from South East Asia Regional Branch DFAT (who was also my mentor at the ASEAN Australia Emerging Leader Program) greeted all participants with warmth. Vanessa confirmed the objectives of the forum and how important for the participants who work in NGOs, research and development in Mekong region to meet and share our views and practices. More importantly, with the launch of AEC in 2015, we need to come together to understand key regional challenges.

The morning session was filled with important messages and ideas from top speakers including HE MR Hugh Borrowman (Australian Ambassador to Vietnam), HE Dr. Ing Khanthaphavy (Minister for Women's Affairs from Cambodia), and Gillian Brown.

We spent quality time to discuss key issues such as relationship between women's economic empowerment and educational development in South East Asia. We also heard some outstanding initiatives in Cambodia from Dr. Ing, and some stories on women and workforce in the CLMV countries.  The key challenges in my opinion is differences in women's level of education and training among ASEAN countries. Though a number of women are in the labour force in CLMV countries, few of them have the levels of education and skills that their counterparts in other ASEAN countries have. Very challenging for us in development (and academic).

In the afternoon, there were three parallel workshops (women's civil society, SMEs in Mekong, and methodology to measure and evaluate impacts of women's economic empowerment). I attended the methodologies workshop, due to its proximity to my research project. Again, I learnt some ideas on the measurement of social economic impacts from NGOs delegates and built some ideas and actions with them. By the end of the session, our team proposed a strong message that the evaluation and measurement of economic empowerment is sensitive and we need to take diversity among ASEAN countries into account.

   After a long fruitful day, we were invited to the reception hosted by HE Mr Hugh Borrowman at the Australian embassy in Hanoi. His residence is such a nice colonial style house and I was overwhelmed by hospitality from the Australian AID and DFAT team in Hanoi.

This reception was a great event to chat informally with my new friends from various NGOs from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Australia. I strongly feel that I have made more than connections...I have made friends whom I will work with in development and academic project.

AMNEP ...  What a great forum to meet people! I will share more stories from our day 2 and the conclusion of the forum.

Preparation for the Australia Mekong NGO Engagement Platform (AMNEP)

We are invited by one of the orginasers to participate at the forthcoming Australia Mekong NGO Engagement (AMNEP) Platform in Hanoi, Vietnam. This program will be a forum for NGOs and not-for-profit organisation working in Mekong areas to meet and discuss key development issues. The key agenda for this round is ASEAN economic integration and women. This is obviously a great opportunity for our team to present some findings from this project to NGOs and delegates from the Australian Aid.
I have prepared an abstract for our presentation and eager to share them with you here.

Mining & Development in Lao PDR 

"The extractives sector, including international mining companies, drives trade, economic growth and development in the Greater Mekong Sub-region by creating jobs and boosting government revenue. Yet investment in the extractives sector in developing countries comes with many challenges.
 There is evidence to show that it is women in mining communities who can have the greatest positive influence on the local economy. Empowering rural village women is vital to unlocking local development.
 This study explores how an international mining company operating in rural Lao PDR engages and influences women, directly and indirectly, and the consequent social and economic impacts on the local community.
 This Australia Aid funded ADRAS research addresses important questions about employment participation and sustainable rural development in Lao PDR. Using a qualitative approach, the authors conducted personal interviews with 76 women and men, and group interviews including key community leaders, from seven villages in Vilabouly District, Savannkhet Province.

The preliminary findings of this study confirm that the international mining industry, in this context, can influence women in three major domains. They include (1) relationship with other members in the community, (2) economic power and social status, and (3) self-actualization. This study also confirms that key actors associated with a rural mining community -  multinational corporations and their shareholders, local government and policy makers, and affected village communities – can potentially work together to promote gender equity and empower women in a rural area in Lao PDR."

We will keep you updated with the event which is scheduled in late August.