The 2nd Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Community Development, with the theme “Enriching CD Education amidst Global Economic and Environmental Crises”, was successfully held last Oct. 20 – 22, 2010 at SEARCA, UP Los Baños, Laguna, with around 200 participants from 13 countries, including the Philippines. Other countries represented include Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Sri Lanka, US, South Korea, and Singapore. The conference was jointly sponsored by Community Development Society of the Philippines (CDSP), Sikhay Kilos Development Association Inc. and College of Public Affairs, University of the Philippines Los Baños, with support from Japan Foundation and SEARCA. Hon. Corazon J. Soliman, secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development was the keynote speaker. The plenary speakers were Dr. Amaryllis T. Torres, Instructor Mori Yasushige, Prof. Yorinaga Oribe, Prof. Rowena Boquiren and Dr. Aristotle Alip.
During the three day conference, there were 48 papers presented in the 15 workshops and 14 poster presentations. The study tours to five areas were also well-attended and received by the participants as they saw various community development programs being implemented by various groups, e.g. forest conservation and protection; resettlement; community based health and nutrition; and community-based disaster risk reduction. The CDSP held its 2nd General Assembly during the conference. The CDSP Board of Directors reported on the accomplishments in the past year and shared the plans for the succeeding year, including plans for strengthening CDSP in the regions, resource mobilization, and strengthening linkages with other regional and international CD practitioners and organizations. Currently, the College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines Diliman (UP CSWCD) is a member of IACD.
Generally, the conference was able to achieve the following objectives: identify challenges for community development work arising from the economic and environmental crisis confronting marginalized communities; review how community-based education programs and CD curricula in both undergraduate and graduate levels can be improved to respond to the above mentioned challenges; identify strategic areas for continuing collaboration in research, extension, advocacy and training, specially between academic community, community development practitioners, and grassroots communities; and formulate guiding principles for CD practice and ethics for CD professionals in the Asian Pacific Region.
The conference organizers are very happy with the outcome of the conference. The attendance was beyond what was expected. The discussions in the plenary and workshops were lively, informative and thought-provoking. The participants gained new friends and contacts in the CD network, had moderate to high level of satisfaction in both process and content of the conference and expressed strong interest to continue linkages across countries in Asia Pacific.
Report submitted by: Aleli Bawaga, Chair of the Community Development Society of the Philippines
