MMN holding five-day training course in Bangkok

The Mekong Migration Network (MMN) is currently holding a five-day training course, “ASEAN Advocacy Training,” from June 4 to 8 in Bangkok. A total of 17 trainees from Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam have participated in the training. Four trainers and six keynote speakers have engaged with the trainees.

The training course seeks to enable trainees to better understand how to advocate to ASEAN and to stimulate action within MMN. The program is designed to be practical in nature, as it focuses on building the trainees’ advocacy and analysis skills. It also informs trainees with critical information about ASEAN and how ASEAN can be utilized for advocating for migrants’ rights.

The majority of the trainees work with NGOs advocating for migrant rights in their respective countries, and are expected to remain engaged in MMN ASEAN advocacy activities following the training.

The main trainers are Jackie Pollock from ILO (Yangon), Debbie Stothard from the International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR), Pranom Somwong, Brahm Press from the MAP Foundation, and Reiko Harima, the Regional Coordinator of MMN. All of the trainers are highly experienced in advocacy and knowledgeable on issues related to migration in ASEAN.

While the trainers engage with the training in a highly interactive way and encourage the trainees to think more boldly and critically, the external resource persons equip them with crucial information and insightful perspectives on the broader picture of labor migration in relation to ASEAN. The speakers are renowned activists, journalists, scholars, and leaders of NGO and international organizations. The external resource persons include: Yuyun Wahyuningrum (Team Leader of Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Instrument Human Rights Facility), Sukanya Thongthumrong (National Project Officer for the Migration Programme, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific), Sinapan Samydorai (Convenor-Consultant of the Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers), Dr. Rosalia Sciortino Sumaryono (Associate Professor at Mahidol University), Premrudee Daoroung (environment activists and co-chair of the Steering Committee for ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2014), and Achara Ashayagachat (journalist of the Bangkok Post).

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