19th General Assembly and 3rd Youth Assembly Updates

As we approach the 19th General Assembly, we are gradually getting more and more occupied with the preparations for the hosting of the GA. Similarly our host YMCA, the National Council of YMCAs of Korea and the Daejeon YMCA are also busy with the preparation for the General Assembly to give you a warm and hearty welcome at Daejeon. Just to refresh your memory, our 19th GA will be held at Daejeon Convention Center, Daejeon, Korea during 7-11 September, 2015 (Youth Orientation starts 6th September 2015). We have progressed quite a lot in our planning and would like to update you all in some matters related with the General Assembly.

General Assemblies are held at the beginning of each quadrennial of APAY. The Assembly gives the opportunity to the leaders of the YMCAs of our region to meet together in order to stimulate and renew YMCA leadership, to plan collectively for common actions for the YMCAs at the local, national and regional level in responding to the challenges of our present day. The Council Meetings will deal with the constitutional matters of APAY, including the election of the office bearers and board members for the next quadrennial.

Youth Orientation Sessions shall take place before the General Assembly for the APAY Youth Reps, Change Agents and Youth participants. These sessions shall start from 1.00 pm Sunday 6 September 2015.

An Executive Committee Meeting will be held on 7th September from 11.30 am to 2.00 pm at Daejeon Convention Center. Representatives (National Presidents and National General Secretaries are expected for the ECM in the morning of 7th September 2015)

The theme of the General Assembly is

“Anchored on our Rock: Building a Sustainable Future”

Participants of the General Assembly

The General Assembly is open to the general leadership and active membership (lay/volunteer) and staff members of the YMCA. Delegates to the General Assembly will need to be endorsed by their respective National Councils.

We encourage youths to participate in this Assembly. There will be special youth orientation sessions on 6th & 7th September and the youths and APAY Youth Reps. can continue their participation at the General Assembly till 11th September.

There will be special programs arranged for the spouses of the YMCA participants during the Assembly.

Registration

Within this time quite a good number of participants have already registered with us for participating in the General Assembly. Those who have not registered yet, please do so at the earliest in order to get your choicest accommodation. The rooms at ICC Hotel are limited in number as such it will be served only on first come first serve basis. We also urge you to encourage our YMCA youths to register at the earliest. Please remember that the youths need to arrive at the GA venue before the noon of Sunday 6th September 2015. The Youth Orientation starts immediately afternoon that day. All international participants should book their flights to Incheon Airport, and the host YMCA shall make arrangements for travelling from Incheon Airport to Daejeon. The chart of costs of participation at the GA is as follows : -

Spouses also need to register, with filling up the Registration Form. Please write the word SPOUSE in one corner on the first page of the Registration Form.

Executive Committee Meeting

We are planning to hold an Executive Committee Meeting on Monday 7th September from 11.30 am to 2.00 pm at Daejeon Convention Center.(Earlier we announced 9.30 am, now changed to 11.30 am) We request the Executive Committee Members, the National Presidents and the National General Secretaries to arrive Daejeon by the evening of Sunday 6th September, so that they can attend the Executive Committee Meeting in the morning of 7th September. Please also indicate in your registration form separately if you need accommodation reservation from night of Sunday 6th September.

Cultural Nights

We request each of the national movements to come prepared to present one cultural item performed by their participants during the APAY Cultural Night to be held in the evening of Thursday 10th September 2015. We expect that the national movements can share their rich cultural heritage through these presentations like music, dances, etc. Similarly, the participants shall have the opportunity to have a taste of rich Korean culture, at a cultural soiree to be held in the evening of Tuesday, 8th September 2015.

Visa Assistance

Citizens of some countries enjoy visa on arrival to visit Korea and some of the participants many need prior visa issued by the Korean Embassy in their respective countries. In this case, if you need an official letter of invitation from the host Korean YMCA please let us know, we shall send it to you. Please check with the Korean embassies in your respective countries; citizens of some countries may need notarized invitation letters and guarantee letters from the Korean sponsor, we shall also furnish that, in such case, we request the participants to immediately register with payment of fees and start processing their visas. Obtaining such documents from the host YMCAs might need some time.

Worship at DMZ and Exposures

One of the important events of the 19th General Assembly shall be the special worship at the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone, the no man’s land between the borders of North and South Korea. This is a pilgrimage of peace by the participants of GA on the early morning of Wednesday 9th September 2015. We expect all the participants attend this special worship at the DMZ, soon after the worship, the participants shall be visiting the site of their preferred exposure on that day. The participants shall be asked to select their choice of exposure site while they shall register for the GA before the orientation session on 7 September.

The bus journey to the DMZ and back shall be a long one for several hours, we shall be returning to the hotels late at night. Participants who do not wish to participate at the worship at DMZ and the exposure program thereafter could opt to visit Daegu YMCA on that day to visit the YMCA Programs there.

Strategic Dialogues

Strategic Dialogues are deliberative sessions, dialogues on emerging issues that calls for YMCAs’ responses for the next quadrennial. There will be workshops on nine issues, in two parallel rounds. The participants shall have an opportunity to choose two sessions one from each round to participate in the Dialogues. Designated presentators shall present the issue to the participants during the dialogue, and then the participants shall have opportunity to deliberate on the issue and give their opinions and suggestions. These suggestions shall later help APAY to formulate the APAY directions for the next quadrennial.

Registration Cancellation Refund Policy

In the previous occasions, we have noticed that the organizers had to bear the related costs in case of cancellation of registrations. As such we have laid down a registration cancellation policy at this GA. In case any participant desires to cancel his/her registration, the refunds of Registration Fee, Participation Fee and Green Fee shall be made in the following manner. We would especially like to remind the participants and the national movements on this matter.

Subsidies

We have arranged some limited amount of travel and participation subsidies, especially for the youths and for the participants representing YMCA movements with financial constraints. It is mandatory for all participants to pay the Registration Fee and Green Fee. Subsidy request forms have been sent to the designated National YMCA Movements already. The deadline for submitting subsidy request to APAY is on 30th June 2015.

Program Schedule

We are enclosing herewith the tentative program schedule of the 19th General Assembly and the Youth Orientation Program.

Should you have any queries or need any clarifications, please do not hesitate to contact us, please contact our Executive Secretary Duncan Chowdhury for this purpose at duncan@asiapacificymca.org.

Looking forward to meeting you at the great Asia Pacific Reunion of YMCAs at Daejeon next September.

The Program Schedule of the General Assembly appended below.

~ Duncan Chowdhury

2nd APAY Global Citizenship Institute 2015

We are pleased to inform that the 2nd APAY Global Citizenship Institute was held from 22-30 April 2015, at Baguio city YMCA in Philippines. Twenty youths, both volunteers and staff, representing eleven national YMCA movements of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, Timor Leste and Vietnam participated at this intensive Global Citizenship Education Training Program. During this training the participants gained the knowledge and understanding about the social injustices and the burning issues of Asia and understood about today’s globalized world and how we are interconnected with each other.

On the first day, the key note speaker was Dr. Erlinda Castro Palaganas, professor of Management, from the University of the Philippines Baguio. She contributed and strengthened participants to understand critical thinking on social realities/ issues and defined role and plan of actions as global citizens in social transformation. She shared about global citizenship concepts and the framework, how it relates to our responsibility for the transformation of the young people, to be active social participants in the development of our communities, region and at global level at large.

The participants were divided in two groups for field exposures and homestay. Cristina Miranda, Executive Secretary of APAY gave an orientation how to collect data, interview people and about the background of the communities of exposure. This year, the field exposure was in selected two communities, the gold mining community & the farming community. The participants spent two days and two nights in the communities and met the people, they became a part of their lives during the short span of time. Upon their return they shared their experiences to the whole group. Professor Elmer Ferrer helped to analyse relevant issues what they had experienced in the communities. He talked about three important elements of social change;

1. Understanding the situation/context
2. Understanding the vision/goal
3. Understanding the methodology

Professor Ferrer shared general information about Global Citizenship perspective and source of the problem of global crisis. How important it is to build new culture, consensus on ultimate meaning and values, the industrialized world towards a new vision for the Earth. Such vision also needs to consider the plight of billions of people suffering from poverty, disease and dislocation in the underdeveloped countries. The new values need to be more inner-directed than outer-directed responsibility for the planet and its people needs to take precedence over economic advantage and ultimate expansion.

He highlighted YMCA perspective on Global citizenship. The YMCA motto is “That they maybe one”, we are one and belong to one Earth and on humanity. The Global Citizenship education shall be youth-centered and holistic in approach and promote collaborative efforts with government, NGOs, other agencies and institutions and international collaboration and partnership. It is a platform to prepare the youth to become effective leaders and change agents in their respective communities. Finally, Professor Elmer Ferrer led the participants to think that global citizens are a catalyst of social change: enhancing values, principles and ethics, building and affirming strong personal foundations and ethics.

Kohei Yamada General Secretary of APAY conducted a session on how to make arrange field visit and address identified issues in their respective local situations. All the participants had to draw up their own action plan which they intend to implement upon return to their respective YMCAs.

The training concluded with high expectations that the participants shall hold follow up programs in their own YMCAs after this training. We thank the National Council of YMCA in Philippines and Baguio YMCA for their relentless support, which made this Global Citizenship Institute a success.

~ Roger Peiris

APAY Green YMCA Awards 2014

The Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs Green Team is continuously working towards promoting environmental programs in the YMCAs in our region. With a view to recognize and reward the YMCAs who are engaged in green activities in our region, the APAY Green Team has launched the APAY GREEN YMCA AWARDS effective from 2013.

The APAY GREEN YMCA AWARD shall be presented in two categories, (i) one local YMCA and (ii) one national YMCA from the region of Asia and Pacific.

The awards shall be adjudged, considering the YMCAs involvement in the past year, in promoting programs and advocacy in one or more of the following areas:

1. Creating Green Teams in local or National YMCAs.
2. Considered the impact of their operation on the environment and planned for future improvement.
3. Conducted training or awareness raising initiatives about ecological concerns & advocacy.
4. Implemented positive initiatives in the provision of services and programs, specifically with environmental sustainability in mind.
5. Has raised funds for green activities.
6. Motivated local movements to initiate campaigns and advocacy
7. Developed and documented environmental strategies and targets, specific to their community.

Time Table

National movements and Local YMCAs who are interested to take part in the program needs to submit their applications to the APAY Green Team following the guidelines (please see below) latest by 30th June 2015.

The APAY Green Team shall form an independent Selection Board to decide on the recipients of the Award. The decision of Green Team shall be final.

The Awards shall be declared and presented during the 19th General Assembly of APAY scheduled to be held during 7-11 September, 2015 at Daejeon, South Korea. The recipients of this award shall be presented with commemorative plaques during the General Assembly.

Please visit our website for the questionnaires for the local and national YMCA.

http://www.asiapacificymca.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=408

Applications needs to be reached to
Asia & Pacific Alliance of YMCAs
23, Waterloo Road, 6F
Kowloon
Hong Hong

or by email to
office@asiapacificymca.org

please write APAY Green YMCA Award
in the subject line of the email
latest by 30th June 2015

Babu Markus Gomes Elected President of NCY Bangladesh

The 38th Annual General Meeting of the National Council of YMCAs of Bangladesh was held on 24th April 2015, Friday at the YMCA Training Center, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, with due fervor and solemnity.

On the same day soon after the Annual General Meeting, the newly elected National Executive Committee of NCY of Bangladesh held their first Executive Committee Meeting and elected National Executive Committee Member Mr. Babu Markus Gomes representing Savar YMCA as the new President of National Council of YMCAs of Bangladesh, in accordance to the constitutional provisions.

Mr. Babu Markus Gomes’ involvement with Y movement in Bangladesh started when he was a University student in 1988 as a youth member. Mr. Gomes was also the President of NCY of Bangladesh during the tenures of 1997-1998, 2000-2002 and 2010-2012. Mr. Babu Markus Gomes had served as the member of Executive Committee of Asia & Pacific Alliance of YMCAs for the period of 1997-2006 and 2010-2011. He hold the position of the Vice President of APAY for the present tenure 2011-2015. Mr. Gomes also has served as Executive Committee Member of World Alliance during the terms of 1998-2002, 2002-2006 and 2010-2014.

We congratulate Mr. Gomes for his continued leadership in the Bangladesh YMCAs and hope he will manage to bring the YMCA movement to a new height during his tenure of office.

ICF Meetings in Sri Lanka Center on Curriculum Development

The ad hoc committee that has been given the task by Interfaith Cooperation Forum (ICF) to develop its concept of community organizing, or CO, met from April 27 to May 1 in Negombo, Sri Lanka. The purpose of the meeting was to look through the various resources that have been collected thus far and update them. Secondly, the ad hoc committee worked on a curriculum for future CO training programs. The curriculum is in three formats: a one-day introductory workshop, a one-week introductory workshop and a three-month comprehensive CO workshop. With the completion of these curricula, the ad hoc committee is ready to put them into use. The one-day and one-week workshops are designed for national coordinators’ meetings and other similar programs. The extensive three-month workshop will be for groups willing to put the time and effort into becoming full-time organizers.

The first workshop will be held with the School of Peace (SOP) participants in 2015. Some members of the ad hoc committee will help as resource persons.

Meanwhile, curriculum development was also the center of discussion of ICF’s ad hoc committee devoted to children’s justpeace education that met from May 4 to 7, 2015, at the same venue. The small group attending this planning meeting were from ICF’s network in Indonesia and Sri Lanka who work in their communities with children and their issues as well as ICF staff members based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In addition, there were two guests from outside of ICF’s network from India and Palestine who also have a wealth of experience in the area of justpeace education for children.

During the meeting, the participants shared their own experiences of working with children in their contexts where conflict is common, and, based on this discussion, the outlines of ICF’s curriculum for justpeace education for children were drafted. Within the next few months, the group hopes to finalize the curriculum.

In addition to this important subject, the meeting participants also discussed the completion of a resource book on justpeace education for children and presenting sessions on this topic to the participants of ICF’s upcoming SOP that will be held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, beginning on Aug. 1.

~ Bruce van Voorhis