Internships Asia has developed its programs into a valuable resource for its participants, and this would not have been possible without the commitment and dedication of its host partners around the region. Examples of some of those partners are listed below:
Advocacy and Legal Assistance
The Community Legal Education Center, Cambodia: The Community Legal Education Center's Access to Justice Program (AJP), formerly known as the Community Justice Project-Decentralized Dispute Resolution (CJP/DDR) project, seeks to address the reality of the dispute resolution process in Cambodia: the majority of Cambodians are unable to access the formal justice system, and the existing local methods of dispute resolution are not sufficiently standardized, professional or comprehensive to offer viable alternatives. The commencement of the CJP/DDR coincided with the release of the Royal Government of Cambodia's justice sector reform strategy, which recognized the need to build capacity in alternative dispute resolution methods.
Education
Children Village School, Foundation for Children, Thailand: Founded in 1979, Moo Baan Dek, or Children Village School was located on Kwai Noi River (the River Kwai); Tasao Sub-district, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi. It moved to the present location on the bank of Kwai Yai River, Wangdong Sub-district, Muang, Kanchanaburi in 1985. The 80 acres of land was donated by Chinda Iam-Chamriang Foundation, and the construction of initial buildings was funded by Foundation for Children. The school is registered with the Ministry of Education of Thailand; and the school provides education from kindergarten through to sixth grade. The pupils are mostly orphans and children from poor or broken families, ranging from 3 to 20 years old. After sixth grade, the children are encouraged and are supported to pursue high school education with the Informal Education Program of the Ministry of Education, which makes them eligible to take the entrance examinations to study in universities. Apart from this, under the Latya Garden Home Project, students over Grade 6 are also provided with vocational and artistic workshops to give them technical skills, i.e. ceramic moulding, batik and dressmaking, weaving, electronics, etc. After graduation, Moo Baan Dek students go on to do various types of work such as in advertising or furniture companies. Some of them even start their own businesses. Students who wish to pursue higher education have to save up during their stay at Moo Baan Dek to pay university tuition fees. This can be from woodwork and other art work that they sell to visitors.
Community Development
Gawad Kalinga, Philippines: Gawad Kalinga (GK) can be translated into English as “to give care”, and it is an alternative solution to the blatant problem of poverty not just in the Philippines but in the world. What started in 1995 as a daring initiative by Couples for Christ (CFC) to rehabilitate juvenile gang members and help out-of-school youth in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, then the biggest squatters’ relocation area in the Philippines, has now evolved into a movement for nation-building. Together with its partners, Gawad Kalinga is now in the process of transforming poverty-stricken areas with the goal of building 700,000 homes in 7 years (2003-2010).
GK’s vision for the Philippines is a slum-free, squatter-free nation through a simple strategy of providing land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry and as a result providing dignity and peace for every Filipino. Gawad Kalinga is both community building and nation building. This process of transformation rests on building up people, especially the poor.
GK is a process of transformation that puts emphasis on inspiring, motivating and encouraging the poor as key elements to affecting change in people’s lives. It is a long journey towards building a culture of hope, honor, and heroism. GK is not a project. The integrated, holistic and sustainable GK programs are tools to achieve the main objectives of transformation. GK is not just building houses. It is building up people and a united community living in the spirit of working together.
Health and HIV Prevention
Empower Foundation, Chiang Mai, Thailand: Founded in 1994, Soon Pitak Sithi Ying Borrikan means Center for the Protection of Right for Women in the Entertainment Sectors. However, the foundation was not allowed to register by its first name as the office of the National Culture commission suggested that the meaning is not appropriate. Empower Foundation is a non-government organization which advocates the rights of women who work in entertainment sector like bars, brothels, massage parlors, karaoke bars, restaurants and other entertainment venues. It offers computer training, Thai and English literacy classes and Non-Formal Education study and qualifications, counseling, health information, translation and other support for sex workers. Empower is a center where sex workers meet for friendship and to share their daily experiences and ideas about working, dealing with health issues like safer sex, HIV/Aids, personal survival and finding new opportunities. Women exchange thoughts and opinions about their rights, justice and gender issues.
MPLUS Foundation, Chiang Mai, Thailand: MPLUS is a non-profit organization based in Chiang Mai, Thailand which works primarily to improve sexual health for men who have sex with men (MSM). Mplus was founded by UNIAD after the report of an increase of HIV/Aids among the MSM population in Northern Thailand. Although male sex workers are the main group, MPLUS also serves gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities.
Disability Issues
Rajanagarindra Institution for Child Development, Chiang Mai, Thailand: The Rajanagarindra Institution for Child Development is under the Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health. It provides care for children from all over Thailand who suffer from delayed development, mental retardation and behavioral problems. RICD offer medical treatment and diagnosis, development promotion program, rehabilitation and counseling. These services are provided weekdays by a team of pediatric physicians, psychiatrists, and physical and occupational therapists. RICD also provides special services like telephone counseling with therapist; a relaxation clinic for the public, especially for caregivers, to help prevent mental health problems; a genetic counseling clinic, available for pre-marital, pre-pregnancy couples; and infertility counseling for couples.
Environmental Protection
Pesticide Action Network, Asia & the Pacific seeks to assert people’s food sovereignty based on the right to food for all, founded on the right to land and productive resources and the right of communities to decide on our own food and agriculture policies. To do this, PANAP runs campaigns, conducts advocacy and training programs and carries out networking and mobilizing to facilitate the strengthening of movements to truly empower communities for change and advance food sovereignty, ecological sustainability and gender justice. What started as a group of representatives from various citizens groups across the globe in 1982, PANAP now serves as a global coalition of groups located in Senegal, Malaysia, Germany, Peru, and San Franciscisco, USA. PANAP runs major programs focusing on Women in Agriculture; Food Sovereignty and Ecological Acriculture; Pesticide Education; and regional campaigns to develop a society that is “truly democratic, equal, just, culturally diverse, and based on food sovereignty, gender justice and environmental sustainability.”
