Student Empowerment for Transformation 1996

The following are selected highlights of SET'96. Summaries of the outputs of SCM and Country Reports, participants' reflections and insights during the Exposure program and the Sub-Regional Workshops are available at the WSCF-AP regional office. The E.T. apologizes for not including these info because of lack of space.

Under the theme "Responding in Faith: Our Struggle to be Free," twenty-five youth leaders from SCM movements and networks gathered at the Bina Darma Center in Salatiga, Indonesia from August 5-30, 1996 to participate in the 1996 Student Empowerment for Transformation leadership training programme.

The primary objective of this year's SET was to facilitate a better appreciation of the globalization process as it infringes on issues of human rights and human dignity. To accomplish this, SET enabled the participants to critically examine development paradigms that are dominant in global politics and economics. It also provided venues for understanding and articulating emerging sodo-political trends, gender and environmental concerns. The theme of SET focused on the interaction of high speed transition to free market structures of Asia-Pacific countries and its relationship to HR: violations, protection, and promotion.

According to Rev. Daniel Peter, WSCF-AP Regional Secretary, "through the SET, WSCFAP assists national movements in efforts to develop their leadership base not only by enhancing the participants' awareness of issues on a regional and sub-regional perspective, but also by challenging them to commit in work that affirms the fullness of life. We can say that SET '96 was designed to advocate for human rights from the perspective of justice."

SET 96 completes the 3-year program initiated in 1994 with support from ICCO.

Participants, Resource Persons and Other Training Team Members

Of the 25 who attended the SET '96 program, 20 are representatives from 14 national movements, and 5 were from WSCF-AP and host committees.

Among the 10 individuals who facilitated the entire program, 3 were guest resource persons while the remaining 6 are either staffer committee members ofWSCF (one from the IRO office in Geneva, 2 from the Hong Kong office, and the remaining 3 are separately holding office as regional Solidarity Work coordinator. Steering Committee member, and chairperson of Regional Women's Committee). In terms of gender representation, the female resource persons and training team members outnumber their male counterparts six to four. Representing the host team were three GMKI members, of whom two are female.

Inputs

Aside from the input on the Indonesian socio-economic and political situation, there were three inputs that dealt with concerns on human rights.

Michael Mitchell, one of WSCF-AP's coordinators for Solidarity Work, presented inputs on the following topics: "The Human Rights Situation in the Asia-Pacific Region" and "Human Rights and Economic Rights." In his first presentation (situationer), Michael, gave some general trends on and conditions of HR in the region. He stated that the difficulty in dealing with the issues and concerns surrounding HR evolves from the use of analyses and frameworks that originate from the west and north; oftentimes removed from the actual situations in the region. He further emphasized that the manner in which HR is treated, i.e., separating the different aspects of a persons humanity (e.g., cultural, political, economic, social, religious), and restricting the way HR is understood (e.g., not to include gender, participation, development as integral concepts), is contrary to the spirit of human rights: universality, interconnectedness, and the common humanity of all peoples. He called on the participants to uphold the belief that HR is an integral part of the faith of Christians, and maximize the strength of the youth and students sector particularly in critical analysis and articulating the truth.

In the input on "Human Rights and Economic Rights," Michael presented a wide array of economic trivialities to emphasize the nature of the current global economic order. Among these are: the continuing dominance in global economic trade of transnational companies (TNCs); that only 200 of the world's largest companies control one-fourth of global production; foreign debt of poor countries is increasing by as much as US$ 10B annually; that 90 percent of the money flowing through foreign exchange networks have nothing to do with providing goods and services to people. He further emphasized that while the global character of economics provides opportunities, the dangers that it poses are very frightening. In most cases, if not all, poor people are the ones victimized by the structures and mechanisms (e.g., free-trade systems, trading blocs, liberalization, privatization). The session ended in focused group discussions where participants identified alternative forms of action or responses to violations of human (economic) rights (i.e., recognizing the power of the trade union, consumer groups, and other movements, inclusion of a social welfare agenda in the overall economic agenda, etc.).

Presented by Maricel Jugo-Gavina of Gabriela, a women's organization in the Philippines, the input on "Women's Rights are Human Rights" provided insights on women's issues in the Philippines. During the input, Maricel outlined the current state of the women's sector under the Ramos Government's "Philippines 2000" program. She cited various ways and forms in which the Filipino people's rights, particularly those of the workers and peasants, are being trampled upon by the government's rush towards becoming an NIC. In the Philippine experience, since more than half of the working population are women, they too are victimized by greater economic hardships. Unfortunately for women, this is over and above the discrimination that they face in the more usual manner, i.e., stereotyping of gender roles, unequal treatment in the work environment, minimal participation in decision-making processes, patriarchy, etcetera. She went on to say that under these conditions, the advancement of human rights in its economic, social, political and cultural dimensions is also an advancement of women's rights. The input was ended with a call to arms: "Women's rights advocates should struggle for equality and democracy for all, because it is only through the advancement of human rights that women's rights will be attained."

Exposure

Three exposure sites were visited from August 7 to 12. These were: an agricultural community near Salatiga; Kadere, which is an industrial town; and Cilacap, a fishing community. The five-day live-in activity was designed to enable participants to get firsthand experiences of situations from cross-sections of Indonesian society, and enhance their ability to analyze the socio-political and economic situation of the country. Specifically, the exposure focused on the following concerns: (1) economic and cultural rights of an agricultural community; (2) industrialization and human rights of workers; and (3) protests against developing a fishing community into a tourist destination.

The participants got a 'second-look' of Indonesia from its Tighter side' on the 25th, when they visited some of tourist spots: Soloh, Kharaka Beach, Yogyakarta, and Borobudur Temple.

Biblico-Theological Reflections

Ms. Evangeline Rajkumar, a former staff member of the Serampore Theological College in Calcutta and presently taking her doctoral studies with the South Asia Theological Research Institute of Bangalore, facilitated three bible studies. The reflections encouraged the participants to analyze and articulate concerns on human rights. The themes discussed during the sessions were: (1) Human Rights Violations and Concerns in the Bible;(2) Women's Rights are Human Rights; and (3) Cultural and Religious Values which Promote Human Rights.

Country Reports

Dominant themes in the country reports were: negative effects of fast-track, high-profile development (i.e., widespread confiscation/ conversion of agricultural land, exploitation of labor, displacements of communities, etc.); heightened suppression and harassment of people's movements and forces critical to government; concerns/issues of IP and minority groups; and discrimination against women and homosexuals.

SCM Reports

Another important part of the training program was the sharing of national movement representatives. During this session, presenters gave an orientation to their specific movement's organization and work. Unique to the program's design, however, was the identification of specific human rights issues and concerns that they support. Some representatives also shared the reasons why they take up such issues and the difficulties they face in doing so.

Men and Women, and Joint Caucuses

As part of WSCF-AP's commitment to the advancement of gender concerns, SET '96 also provided opportunities for women and men to have separate and joint discussions on issues related to their sexuality. For most of the participants, their experiences during the different gender caucuses provided them with a new way of looking at and understanding themselves and people of the other sex. They were able to identify and articulate concerns on masculinity, femininity, equality in relationships between and among women and men, dynamics of women and men partnerships, gender roles, family upbringing that influences heavily on stereotyping these roles, and such other related topics-

The participants expressed that while the caucuses were very enlightening and encouraging, their difficulties in communicating with each other (i.e., language barrier) limited their capability to exchange more information and experiences. To a large extent, this situation was the main reason why many of the activities utilized during the caucuses were group dynamics and group exercises.

The Workshops

Consistent to the participatory and issue-based learning design of SET, several workshops were held during the entire program. Sub-regional and regional workshop sessions helped to facilitate discussions on critical human rights issues, mechanisms used to suppress and oppress people, and how peoples movements respond to these.

There was also a workshop and a group discussion on cultural rights and homosexuality, respectively. The cultural rights workshop was led by Mariana Katopo, an Indonesian feminist poet and founding member of Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT).

In addition to the abovementioned activities, workshops on leadership, movement building, and the human rights action-planning were conducted. The leadership workshop, facilitated by Necta Montes, focused on leadership principles, concepts, and skills. Group dynamics and structured learning exercises were also undertaken. These enabled participants to articulate their understanding of leadership, identify their present leadership styles and possible areas for improvement, and practice group facilitation and communication skills.

In order to tackle the various aspects of movement building work, the participants were divided into four clusters to discuss the following concerns: (1) women; (2) staff, admin, and funding, and relationships with the churches and senior friends; (3) communication, participation, and leadership problems; and (4) politics and religion. The workshop ended with a synthesis of the reports, highlighting possible action steps that can be undertaken.

Problems

· lack of leadership development

· lack of opportunities, venues for communication and interaction

· difficulties in recruiting new members

· inter-personal conflicts that affects organizational work

· dominance of some senior friends in decision making structures/processes

· lack of opportunities and venues for women members to actively participate in organizational life and work

· few women in top/strategic organizational positions

· no activities for women

· general patriarchal attitude of senior friends and staff

· fear of government oppression, reprisals

· lack of religious training/education

· conflict with other Christian organizations

· inefficient systems, procedures and structures; lack of coordination among branches/units

· staff lacks management and administrative skills; some movements do not have staff support

· lack of venues and opportunities to dialogue with senior friends

· non-involvement in church life and work

· unclear identity and direction for some movements beyond what is articulated by the regional office

· lack of funds

Recommended Remedies

· continues awareness raising

· encourage more person-to-person communication

· work with the HR and solidarity contact points/persons

· enable student members to articulate their concerns/ideas about the movement

· encourage more women and men caucuses, leadership training for women

· study the possibility of making organizational and constitutional changes to allow women participation

· provide analyses of cultural influences on relationship issues between and among women and men

· set-up women committees and desks

· increase activities on conscientization and awareness raising on issues and concerns of women/gender

· link-up with other organizations, NGOs

· continue resistance activities and articulation of issues

· conduct educational activities, trainings, and raise awareness about ecumenism

· study the possibilities of conducting joint programs with other Christian groups

· conduct management and administrative skills trainings

· analyze and, if necessary, change the systems, procedures and structures that hinder effective and efficient administration and organization

· there should be a program designed to (consciously) develop 2nd line leaders

· ask assistance from supportive church people (pastors, priests, theologians) for biblical/theological education/training

· conduct activities where senior friends and student members can share experiences and ideas about the movement; have fellowship, fan together

· invite senior friends as resource persons

· conduct well-organized fund raising programs