YLDA Hits the Road to Thailand
2008-05-14

Preparations are on high gear for the holding of the YLDA training on moderation this coming May 27 to June 1, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. Following the direction from the Executive Committee, YLDA Program Officer and Head of Secretariat Pey Canlas is leaving no stones unturned in ensuring the success of the event.

The cornerstone of these preparations has been to ensure a reliable and up and running information resource center for the member organizations and the public to know and verify updates about the event. The event blog created in April serves this purpose.

More than a month after it made the official announcement for its Training of Trainors on Facilitation and Moderation, almost 600 visitors have visited the YLDA blog on the Bangkok event as of May 15, 2008. The YLDA Secretariat has also been in close contact with the nominees and has sent around 100 emails pertaining to the event.

Aptly titled "Political Communication and Making Events Work - A Practical Introduction," the blog about the latest and first YLDA workshop of the year attracted visitors from four corners of Asia with Southeast Asia registering the most number of visitors according to YLDA Blog statistics.

The blog also serves as the information and resource page and includes downloadable materials like the program, the nomination form, and pre-departure guidelines. There are already nineteen nominees from ten member organizations of YLDA and majority of these shall be confirmed as participants to the Bangkok event.

The YLDA Secretariat in Manila will post in the blog the official list of participates after the deliberation of the screening committee this week. The one-page essays on youth movement and liberalism submitted by the nominees will also be made available for the public to read by Tuesday, May 20, 2008.

The Manila Secretariat is ably supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Regional Office in Bangkok, which is handling the preparations in the host city.

Garda Bangsa Garda Bangsa was formed in 1998 following the successful political reform spearheaded by students and other campus activists to depose the tyrannical regime of President Suharto. The organization was founded by Abdurram Wahid, a former adviser of President Suharto who resigned following an escalation in government corruption and political management by the administration. He championed "Responsible Openness" within the government system and proposed the establishment of a Reform Committee in order to mitigate poor governance within the administration. His calls were left unheeded and so he eventually withdrew support for the government and joined the efforts advocating for reform in the government. Read more...