CODE-NGO participates in the 1st Glo-cal Advocacy and Leadership in Asia Academy (GALAA)

One of the key roles that a national NGO platform can play is to network with NGOs on the global or regional level, for better coordination of efforts, to give its members access to the global level of advocacy, as well as access to the resources and lessons from other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in these coalitions. On the other hand, another challenge that NGOs have been facing is the decreasing number of “second-liners” or the next generation of NGO workers and leaders. These two challenges were squarely faced by the 1st Glo-cal Advocacy and Leadership in Asia Academy (GALAA), a training event that was held last September 28-October 2 in Bangkok, Thailand. “Glo-cal” stands for global-local, an aim of the training organizers, the Asia Development Alliance (ADA) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), to root more locally the global development discourse. The event targeted mid-level staff to bolster their ability to support their NGOs in glo-cal advocacy. CODE-NGO sent its Program Officer for Advocacy, Jet Pacapac, to undergo the training, with the support of the organizers and their funders.

The 5-day training was packed full, with learning sessions on the crucial linkages between development and human rights advocacies; the post-2015 development and its processes and linkages with the Open-ended Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, the G20, BRICS, and others; an overview of the international human rights agenda, its standards, procedures, and mechanisms, including regional human rights mechanisms; and advocacy and communications strategies and planning.

There were also lectures from guest resource persons, such as Virginia Dandan, the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity, Maria Magdalena Carmona, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, and organizations such as TERRA (Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance) and Focus on the Global South.

Other learning activities included a Jeffersonian Dinner, where participants engaged in discussions on their civil society role models over a meal, and TED Talks, where participants had to deliver a compelling “idea worth spreading” in just 7 minutes. There were also daily quizzes on the heavy load of required daily readings.

With the solidarity night ending the event on a high note, GALAA holds promise as a seedbed for the future glo-cal advocates and leaders in Asia.