ICF Program Committee held its first meeting in 2022

Last Updated (Monday, 28 February 2022 16:42)

The Interfaith Cooperation Forum (ICF) Program Committee held its first meeting in 2022 on February 11 via zoom. Four ICF alumni and four APAY staff attended the meeting. The alumni were Rinku Mankhin, an alternate member from Bangladesh, Hein Thura Htet from Myanmar, Dunhill Angelo Maraya, an alternate member, and Hamsiya Olimpain from the Philippines. The ICF staff were Baidido Saganding, Program Officer, Annika Denkmann, BftW seconded personnel to ICF, and Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, Coordinator. Mr. Nam Boo Won, APAY General Secretary, also attended the meeting.

The meeting started with the greetings from Mr. Nam Boo Won. He also congratulates the ICF and its committee members for the work done in the past year. During the meeting, Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro reviewed the Term of Reference of the Program Committee members. Some of its members are ending their term this year. Biplob Rangsa, ICF committee member from Bangladesh will finish his term this February 2022. However, due to the need to have a representative from the alumni who joined ICF activities before 2018, Biplob will continue to serve another term. One may recall that each member shall serve the Committee for two years, however, this could be relaxed when necessary. This is a special arrangement as provided for, in the Term of Reference. Meanwhile, ICF will look for potential candidates from the alumni circle to replace inactive members.

The meeting also served as an opportunity to share updates on ICF activities. Baidido Saganding shared an update of the ICF website. Each country will submit brief information about its alumni engagement and activities, to be posted on the website to reach a wider audience. Nepal was the first to submit and update its information on the website. Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Philippines agreed to submit by early March 2022. ICF is also expecting alumni from other countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Timor Leste to submit their articles and photos respectively. Baidido shared an update on the small grant proposals. The deadline for submission of these proposals was on January 15, 2022. Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, and Timor Leste submitted their proposals. These proposals are now under review by the ICF staff. The alumni network may apply for two small grant projects: one for Local Peace Education, Advocacy, and Networking, and the other one for Alumni Follow-up activities. Moreover, Baidido informed the Committee that ICF received two small doable projects from the participants from the Philippines in relation to the November-December workshop.

Annika Denkmann shared the result of the ICF survey as part of the tracer study. Launched in November 2021, the purpose of this survey was to understand the relevance and impact of ICF programs. The survey result will hopefully help ICF to evaluate and plan its programs.

The meeting was also an opportunity to share ICF activities for 2022. The Newswriting workshop scheduled in February was postponed to May this year. The book entitled Just Peace in a Globalized Context, a joint project with the Tribal Study Centre, Eastern Theological College, Jorhat, Assam, India is already out of the press. A virtual launching of the book will be planned soon with the Northeast India team. Meanwhile, the ICF e-book project, Chasing our Dreams for Peace is still in the making. The committed writers and contributors can still send their essays, stories, poems, poetry, and artworks on or before March 4, 2022.

Overall, the meeting was successful. ICF is thankful to its committee members and APAY for its continued support.

Baidido Saganding
ICF Program Officer