ASEAN Youth Forum
ASEAN Youth forum is a platform for youth in ASEAN to mainstream their voices of concerns, issues and recommendations to the ASEAN Leaders to influence policy decision making and it is always organized prior to the ACSC/APF at the host country during the chaimanship of that country. Therefore, AYF will be cor-organized by WGP, YCUD, CVS, PJ, TVS and AYM on 26-28 March 2012 with the supported from Open Society Institute and American Jesus World Service (AJSW).
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WORKING GROUP FOR PEACE's RETREAT
On 01 to 04 December, 2011 at Sihanouk Ville Province at Orchidee Guesthouse with 18 participants from differrence organzations that love peace in the society.
The Retreat focusing on Program Review which is very necessary activity has to be organized in order to look back what we been being done so far and the 3-year strategic plan will be set up for further implementation.
There are many potential members from various institutions and individuals who are the most important resource for peace building and they are also very active in taking part in peace building with the Working Group for Peace so this retreat is needed to done for providing chance to all key members to find new strategy, methodology and clear plan for future work, especially expanding strategy for regional level.
The objective of the retreat are:
- To reflect and review the achievement of WGP
- To develop the three year strategic plan and one year action plan
- To promote team building
- To encourage provide the good opportunity for the active members to exhange or giving feedback in the past and find the progress cooperation continue to work for Peace Building in the future.
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REFLECTION ON PEACE PRACTICE
On 28-29 October 2011, the American Friend Service Committee (AFSC) and Working Group for Peace had been organized the meeting on Reflection on Peace Practice at the Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP).
The purpose of the RPP workshop is to provide an opportunity for peacemakers concerned about the impact of the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand on ordinary people's lives to analyze the conflict dynamics, the relevance of their action to peace writ-large, the effectiveness of their actions to date, and options for increasing effectiveness and impact.
The output of the workshop will also inform the consultant's assessment of AFSC's support to partners. The consultant may also conduct individual interviews with some participants before or after the workshop to ssist this assessment. However, the focus of the workshop will be providing participants an opportunity for reflection and analysis.
The participants will be Cambodian and Thai peacemakers that have been working together to build peace and understanding between the people of these two nations. Other who well understand the conflict dynamics and may contribute effectively to the discussion may also be invited.
The workshop will include current AFSC partners such as:
1. For Cambodia: ACT, BKSN, ICA, KCD, YRDP and WGP
2. For Thailand: PEF, TVS, the Thai Working Group for Peace, and others involved in organizing the Thai-Cambodia Dhammayietra in 2011.
ANNOUNCEMENT
INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY 21st SEPTEMBER 2011
The International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. It was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in September 1982.
In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent Day of Peace. The UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. It has also been suggested that “Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and people. This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples and is a living instrument in the service of peace building.
Since 2008 WGP has been working with local, regional and international NGOs and communities especially we have engaged people from various religion and ethnic groups to work together to promote culture of peace. So we, the WGP strongly considers the IPD as the most important event for all people around the world where they are facing such as kinds of violence, war, civil war and kinds of sufferings to celebrate this day for freedom, harmony and happiness both mental and physical. The WGP always celebrate this event every year since it’s because its significant work is to globally build peace without discriminations. The International Day of Peace is regarded as part of the WGP to strongly support and celebrate that can widely spread peace messages and ideas to public.
