AsiaDHRRA’s 30th Anniversary DHRRAW conference was successfully concluded, attended by 130 development practioners from 12 Asian countries. The Opening Guest speakers were Secretaries Dinky Juliano- Soliman and Ging Quintos-Deles, representing the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Office of the Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process, respectively. It was a happy occasion to have them in the DHRRAW as both Cabinet officials have roots with the DHRRA family: Dinky was the 2nd National Chairperson of PhilDHRRA and Ging was once a CENDHRRA staff in its early years. A warm reunion was witnessed especially among the pioneers, with 10 of them coming from the 1974 DHRRAW era.
The conference was also a celebration of the gains of the DHRRA network thru the sharing of the milestones of each DHRRA in each country and the parallel workshops on four chosen “good practices” in rural development. The good practices discussed are on Sustainable Integrated Rural Development (PhilDHRRA), Grassroots Organizing and Networking (InDHRRA), People Empowerment through Cooperatives and Rural Credit (DHRRA Malaysia) and Partnership Building for Human Resource Development (VietDHRRA). The 30-year story and milestones presentation of AsiaDHRRA was capped by a moving video featuring the founding leaders Antonio and Angelita Ledesma.
The input on Human Resource Development in Rural Asia by Ms. Josie Fernandez ended with a challenge to the network to define a human resource/human development framework in the face of the new development context in rural Asia and in each country. This General Assembly agreed to look into the network’s HR/D framework and fellow regional organizations expressed interest to join the process. The updating on the UN MDGs, anchored by Social Watch-Philippines, elicited passionate comments and a dialogue from the participants. The panel reactions from the Focus on the Global South, SEACA, ANGOC and AFA provided diverse perspectives on how the MDGs should be referred to in regards our work in the civil society movement.
The anniversary was highlighted by a testimonial and awarding program for the DHRRA founding leaders, partners in development, and AsiaDHRRA’s PO partner. Central to the recognition were the roles played by its founding leaders namely Fr. John Dijkstra (posthumous), Drs. Antonio and Angelita Ledesma and the DHRRA network’s historical donor partner, Misereor. Other awardees are the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania (JCAEO) from whose partners’ support made the DHRRAW 1974 possible; the Asian Farmers Association (AFA) as AsiaDHRRA’s main PO partner and continuing source of inspiration; and the ASEAN Foundation, APHD, Agriterra, CORDAID, Open Society Institute, SEACA and the AJPN – partner agencies that AsiaDHRRA is meaningfully cooperating with.
Available on request is the souvenir publication “AsiaDHRRA: Three Decades of Nurturing Partnerships, Solidarity Building, and Working with Asian Rural Communities”.