AsiaDHRRA remains committed to its vision of “Asian rural communities that are just, free, prosperous, living in peace and working in solidarity towards self-reliance.”

To contribute to this long term vision, it aims to play the role of a promoter and catalyst of relationships with various partners through the people to people dialogue and exchange approach; a mobilizer of resources for human resource development in the rural areas; and a facilitator of processes and opportunities for the strengthening of solidarity and kinship among Asian rural communities.

AsiaDHRRA remains committed to its vision of “Asian rural communities that are just, free, prosperous, living in peace and working in solidarity towards self-reliance.”

To contribute to this long term vision, it aims to play the role of a promoter and catalyst of relationships with various partners through the people to people dialogue and exchange approach; a mobilizer of resources for human resource development in the rural areas; and a facilitator of processes and opportunities for the strengthening of solidarity and kinship among Asian rural communities.

These roles interplay as it pursues its two-pronged goal of:

• strengthening of members and network relations, and
•  building of Asian rural solidarity.

Global developments necessitate renewed efforts at the regional level to advocate policy changes and more responsive programs not just with Governments but also with the civil society sector. AsiaDHRRA is intent on continuing its role of developing human resources in the rural areas, and to make a greater investment in this regard through various capacity- and partnership- building programs, and through efforts to sustain the cycle of action and reflection among its leaders.

In pursuit of its mission, AsiaDHRRA will undertake the following goals in the next five years:

• More responsive DHRRAs;
• Asian NGO leaders prepared to meet the challenge of globalization;
• People’s organizations able to collaborate at the regional level;
• A more favorable policy framework at the regional and international levels;
• A holistic resource mobilization model;
• Network leaders and secretariat able to deliver on AsiaDHRRA’ s five-year development agenda.

1. More responsive DHRRAs

To enhance the capacity of the DHRRAs to respond to the needs and concerns of rural poor communities, they will need to expand their base of operations, improve on their service delivery functions, and develop new and more dynamic leaders. Toward this end, AsiaDHRRA has identified the following strategies:

• Assistance in the design and implementation of the DHRRAs’ Organizational Development efforts
• Resource mobilization for the DHRRAs
• Development of a database that reflects the breadth and depth of rural development work of members
• Exacting of greater accountability from the network
• Strengthening of the volunteer program towards the development of second liners.

AsiaDHRRA, in cooperation with its partners, commits to deliver the following:

• Expanded base of operations of the DHRRAs (in terms of membership, constituency, geographic coverage, programming
• Improved quality of results at the grassroots level (improved extension work/CO and solid work on ground by the DHRRAs)
• Self reliant operations (improved funds mobilization to finance community programs)
• Improved advocacy capacity at DHRRA/grassroots level
• Capacity to engage with governments
• Dynamic leadership at the DHRRA level and new generation of DHRRA leaders present
• Strengthened capacity of the DHRRAs to build and manage their resources.

2. Asian NGO leaders prepared to meet the challenge of globalization

To improve the capacity of NGO leaders to advocate a common position on issues arising from globalization, they must regularly engage in dialogue that promotes consensus building as well as inculcates the value of interaction towards the broader yet common goal of protecting the rights of small farmers and other rural sectors against the impact of policies such as trade liberalization. Toward this end, AsiaDHRRA has identified the following strategies:

• Improvements on and sustenance of mechanisms for fellowship among leaders in the region
• Mobilization of funds and setting up systems to make such mechanisms self-sustaining
• Development and conduct of training packages on leadership development
• Formation of an experts/ resource pool.

AsiaDHRRA, in cooperation with its partners, commits to deliver the following:

• An “experts” pool of leaders serving as a resource for the community of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the region
• A Mechanism for leadership development through dialogue and exchange
• A Program to ensure the emergence of new leaders
• A Leadership Learning Institute established.

3. People’s organizations able to form partnerships/engage in joint action at the regional level

The DHRRAs have always been intended to work closely with organized communities of farmers, fishers, and women. The empowerment of these rural sectors is in fact what justifies the existence of the DHRRAs. Hence, where the Network promotes partnerships between people’s organizations (POs) and the DHRRAs, it is always with a view to capacitating the POs to collaborate at higher levels. Toward this end, AsiaDHRRA has identified the following strategies:

Implementation of joint projects between AFA and AsiaDHRRA in the areas of organizational development, case studies, policy research, translation work, resource mobilization, Formation of a cadre of AFA leaders, Dialogue and exchange, Mapping

AsiaDHRRA, in cooperation with its partners, commits to deliver the following:

• Strong cooperation between AFA and AsiaDHRRA at the national and regional levels
• Strong and autonomous operation of AFA
•  Launch of a Regional Fisherfolk Forum.

4. A more favorable policy framework at the regional and international levels

AsiaDHRRA recognizes the importance of building a unified front among civil society organizations to lobby for more progressive policies and programs to protect the rights and livehoods of the vulnerable sectors, as well as to ensure that the gains secured from previous advocacy work are not squandered. In particular, AsiaDHRRA commits itself to sustain the advocacy for agrarian reform and sustainable agriculture, which are as urgent today as they have ever been. Toward this end, AsiaDHRRA has identified the following strategies:

• Making full advantage of AsiaDHRRA’s accreditation by the ASEAN
• Building the capacity of the network and of the DHRRAs to engage with ASEAN thru on-ground model-building, especially in responding to Agrarian Reform and Sustainable Agriculture issues.
• Establishment of SEARDA
• Conduct of quality research, documentation and popularization of alternatives developed by and at the grassroots level that meet standards of policy research
• Pro-active networking and coalition building in support of the network’s policy and over-all development agenda

AsiaDHRRA, in cooperation with its partners, commits to deliver the following:

• Recognition for the Network as a regional player on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, and peasant movement building
• Expertise in engaging with ASEAN on specific issues, especially Agrarian Reform and Sustainable Agriculture
• CSO community helped to engage with the ASEAN
• Active engagement with Government while maintaining partnerships in the CSO community.
• Expertise in research and documentation developed.

5. A holistic resource mobilization model

AsiaDHRRA aims to contribute to efforts to re-orient stakeholders and donors on the realities of on-ground work so that funding could be channeled properly and that “donor-donee” relationships would be anchored on sound partnership principles. Toward this end, AsiaDHRRA has identified the following strategies:

• Setting up of a database of targeted constituency e.g. pioneers, activity participants
• Tapping non-traditional sources of funds
• Development of a program on Alternative Tourism/Development Education
• Advocacy and networking with Official Development Assistance (ODA) providers and other donors. advocacy and networking

AsiaDHRRA, in cooperation with partners, commits to deliver the following:

• An endowment fund for the network established
• More development financing for CSOs, especially for Community Organizing (CO)/Organizational Development (OD) work.

6. Network leaders and Secretariat able to deliver on AsiaDHRRA’s five-year development agenda

AsiaDHRRA wants to ensure that its leaders remain dynamic and committed to the Network agenda, and able to provide the collective leadership that is crucial to strengthening AsiaDHRRA in its role in the development community. Just as importantly, the secretariat team must realign its operations and calibrate its individual and collective competencies to meet the demands of network operations. Toward this end, AsiaDHRRA has identified the following strategies:

• Effective communication of strategic plan to members (to improve internalization of directions and plans)
• Enhancement of pro-active member involvement in network functions
• Development of solid staff competence
• Strengthening of the role of the secretary general (on networking and resource development)
• Development of a mechanism or system enabling the secretariat and leaders to keep in close touch with on ground realities
• Establishment of a roving (in-country) Secretariat Posting for specific tasks and development of a viable scheme to assemble a more regional Secretariat staff.

AsiaDHRRA, in cooperation with its partners, commits to deliver the following:

• DHRRA members knowledgeable and articulate about AsiaDHRRA
• Capable and committed to promote network agenda
• Able to assume short and long-term anchoring tasks for the network
• A strong and effective secretariat (including improved regional diversity in the secretariat)