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Introduction

The "HRD Programme" is the Leadership Formation Programme of the WSCF Asia/Pacific Region under the Region's Movement Building concern. A residential training course of short term duration is held in the different parts of the Region every year, this programme was originally known as the Asian Leadership Development Centre ("ALDEC"), and in the mid 1970s and early 1980s as Asian Secretaries Formation ("ASFOR"), and currently it is termed as "HRD" (Human Resources Development). The change of nomenclature reflect certain shifts of emphasis within the overall leadership development con­cept. In this programme, every year SCMs as well as related ecumen­ical organisations in the Region, each send one or more persons to a chosen centre for leadership training for a period of 3 to 4 weeks.

 

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HRD'84 was held in India from September 9 to 24 at the Indian Social Institute (ISI), New Delhi. The training course was built around the theme "People's Struggle for Freedom and Self-determina­tion in Asia". HRD'84 was of special significance in that it was conducted in conjunction with the Asian Youth Assembly (AYA) con­vened in New Delhi from September 25 to October 10 by the Youth Desk of the Christian Conference of Asia in association with the WSCF Asia/Pacific. Therefore HRD'84 itself was of only two weeks' duration with the HRD participants as a group, then joining the AYA. The HRD participants endeavoured during their training course to come to some common understanding of the role of Christian youth and student movements in the Asian peoples' progress and, through their subsequent participation in the AYA, to promote these ideas within the Assembly.