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Roundtable
on
“Promotion and Achievement of
Millennium Development Goals through
Education and Outreach”

Bangkok
24-25 March 2008

Foreword

In a letter dated 19 November 2007, the Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed to Mrs. Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the NGO section of UNDESA, his full support for the establishment of Centers of Excellence on MDG:

“I agree with you that, what would be welcomed at this juncture is more education on MDGs, and a larger mobilization of a wide spectrum of societal actors, including non-governmental organizations, women’s groups, academics, teachers and trainers, policymakers, business leaders, local administrators and everyday citizens, in order to become fully aware of and involved in the MDGs implementation. In this regard I fully support efforts made by many National Economic and Social Councils and by regional networks of NGOs to launch national and regional Center of Excellence which will promote MDGs awareness and information, as well as dissemination of training tools helping to achieve a timely implementation of the MDGs.”

Objectives

The overall objective of this ASEAN Roundtable is to create awareness and bring together high level decision makers, experts, policy makers and representatives from civil society to deliberate on the challenges South East Asian countries face in achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals. Participants to the Roundtable will generate strategies aiming at improving and expanding capacity of institutions and professionals to cope with the MDG challenges. New educational and training tools will be proposed, offering to academic institutions and trainers new pedagogical approaches adjusted and adapted to MDG needs. Taking into account the achievements of the four previous regional Roundtables, this conference aims to help implement the Millennium Development Goals in South East Asia, in time for 2015.

Topics of the Roundtable will include:

1. Discussions on the best strategies and approach to insert MDGs # 1, 3, 7 and 8, in academic training and teaching in the ASEAN region’s institutions, including through the creation of local and national Centres of Excellence on MDGs;
2. How to involve ASEAN institutions in the larger network of academia and NGOs promoting and spreading MDGs training/teaching materials, in the launching of local and national Centres of Excellence on MDGs;
3. How to impart advocacy skills/knowledge/information to selected stakeholders who would in turn become MDGs advocates in their own countries/communities;
4. How to address key challenges concerning the implementation of the MDGs in South-East Asia, in particular, the rising of inequalities, the low level of women participation, the issue of environmental sustainability and especially, the question of the partnership for development;
5. Identification of concrete policy options/action points in operationalize the MDGs at the country level within the broad framework of national development strategies and educational institutions;
6. How to enhance partnerships at the country and sub-regional levels and across a broad range of stakeholders (between senior governments officials, academic organizations, private sector, media, local authorities, civil society and NGOs, UN Country Teams and other development partners) for effective MDGs advocacy and implementation of MDGs action plans;
7. Emphasize education as the basic investment for a long-term sustainable implementation of the four specific MDGs: 1, 3, 7 and 8, as part of a universal Charter for the Right to Human Development for all Mankind.
8. To adopt a resolution for future action and leading to concrete training, teaching and educational measures for the promotion, understanding and action-oriented involvement of academia, civil society and NGOs in the region, in close cooperation with other similar MDGs groups operating worldwide, with the UN-NGO-IRENE (United Nations Informal NGO Regional Network) and with Centers of Excellence dedicated to MDGs throughout the world.

Final Outcome of the Roundtable

The expected outcome of the Roundtable is the establishment of an ASEAN Regional Center of Excellence for capacity building in MDGs based in Thailand, along with commitments by ASEAN participants to launch local and/or national Centers of Excellence on MDGs. The Regional Center of Excellence on MDGs in Thailand will support and nurture partnerships amongst ASEAN government, non-governmental organizations and academic and training institutions at the national levels; and, foremost, will support national and local Centers of excellence on MDGs, based in other South East Asian Countries. The Regional Center of Excellence in Thailand will function as a coordinator for the ASEAN region, and contribute to raising awareness and capacity building on Millennium Development Goals. The Regional Center will help and support institutions of civil society and NGOs willing to become Centers of Excellence on specific MDG issues.

Agenda

1. Creation of a network of regional, national, local Centers of Excellences on MDGs.
2. Recent initiatives and achievements of Centers of Excellence on MDGs (Rabat-Morocco, Monaco, Science Po-France-Paris, Kyung Hee University Korea-Seoul, Mumbai-Educational Institute India-Mumbai);
3. Current MDGs educational and training modules (Health, Education, Physical Education, Women, etc);

Day 1 of the roundtable is assigned as a pre-meeting, at which the participants will deliberate on the needs for capacity building, training modules and ways of collaboration in four parallel sessions, each focusing on one millennium development goal (1,3,7,8):
• Eradication of extreme poverty
• Promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women
• Ensuring environmental sustainability in relation with the 2008 theme of the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR): “implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to sustainable development”.
• Developing a global partnership for development.

On day 2, the official opening of the Conference will take place with keynote addresses by the Executive Secretary of UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), the ASEAN Secretary General, the President of SEAMEO (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization) and the Minister of Social Development and Human Security. In the afternoon, there will be a social event including a sight seeing trip in Bangkok, followed by dinner. The organizing committee will hold a wrap up meeting the same afternoon.

The AIT Commitment on MDG Outreach and Training

The Asian Institute of Technology, over the last five decades has been an active partner of ASEAN and played an important role in capacity building and sustainable development of the region through human and institutional capacity building, and linkages and networks between institutions in Asia, Europe and other western Countries in development initiatives. AIT has proven capacity and agility to mobilize and link together a wide range of international partners, all key experts in their respective fields, collaborating together in research, teaching and development activities. With such capacity, AIT is able to facilitate numbers of areas of cooperation identified by ASEAN, some of which are in line with the Millennium Development Goals. AIT has shown its commitment in promoting higher education in the field of environmental management, social welfare, rural development, and gender equality. AIT’s resource and network for advanced science and technology can be utilized for information dissemination and to support the development programs to meet sectorial needs and the needs of ASEAN members, especially the training of trainers.