Participants 2008
Mr. Shawrabh Kumar Barua from Bangladesh, completed his Masters in Commerce (Accounting) from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. At present Shawrabh works as a Lecturer in Accounting, at the Gachhbaria Govt. College, Chittagong, Bangladesh. At the same time he also works as a Secretary for BSC Alumni Society, Bangladesh, a Publicity Secretary for Bangladesh Buddha Kristi Prachar Sangha Youth (World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth, Bangladesh Regional Centre), a Service Director of the Apex Club of Agrabad, The National association of Apex club of Bangladesh (Member of World Council of Service Clubs) and a Assistant General Secretary of the Teacher’s Council, Gachhbaria Government College.
So Thero Nuon Country: Cambodia Mr. Nuon So Thero from Cambodia, having completed his high school in 1991, volunteered to work for the Catholic Office for Emergency Refugee Relief as an Interpreter. In early 1992, he worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees whose task was to register refugees who were willing to repatriate voluntarily into Cambodia under the Paris Peace Accord. He returned to Cambodia in July 1992, and in September he worked for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia as an Interpreter/Assistant to Chief of Water Section until December 1993. In March 1994, he joined Japan Relief for Cambodia & American Assistance for Cambodia and The Cambodia Daily Newspaper
Mr. Bikramaditya Kumar Choudhary from India, completed his M. Phil on the topic ‘Solid Waste Management: A Case Study of Waste-pickers in Delhi’. He later went on to do his Ph.D. Thesis: ‘Political Ecology of Disease in India: A Study of Tuberculosis in an Historical Perspective’. Bikramaditya has been awarded the 2007- ISRO sponsored NNRMS course on Remote Sensing in Urban and Regional Planning from IIRS (Indian Institute of Remote Sensing), Dehradun and the 2002- Certificate course on Thematic Cartography from National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO), Kolkata.
Ms. Manisha Singh from India, is currently pursuing her Doctorates on “Child Health and Household Gender Dynamics: A Case Study of Lucknow”. She completed her Masters degree in geography from the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, majoring in social geography, and M.Phil. in the area of emergent geopolitical patterns, and concomitant geo-strategic significance, of the South China Sea – the largest and most contested sea space on the globe.
Mr. Nameirakpam Bijen Meetei from India, is presently pursuing his Ph.D at JNU. He worked as a Visiting Fellow at Uppsala University, Sweden, under the Fellows Mobility Programme of Sasakawa young leaders fellowship fund of Tokyo Foundation, Japan. He was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Young Leaders Fellowship under the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) of The Nippon Foundation and Tokyo Foundation, Japan, 2005. He worked as the Convener of the Seminar Committee of Manipur Research Forum, Delhi in 2005. Currently he is the Editorial Board member of Eastern Quarterly, a research journal Published by MRFD, New Delhi. He had two years Research Experience on Rethinking Multiculturalism: Examining Issues of the Ethnic Diversity with Special Reference to Manipur.
Ms. Payoshni Mitra from India, is currently working on a doctoral thesis on gender issues in sports in India from School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She has worked in the development sector before. She has also worked for the Women’s Sports Foundation, New York as an intern in their Education and research department. She has previously worked for Child in Need Institute as a Research Associate in their Adolescent Resource centre mainly focusing on reproductive health. She was the Founder-President of Right Now, a youth organization that worked for children and youth. I have been involved in the peace movement between India and Pakistan for several years and has been the Youth Committee Convener of the West Bengal Chapter of Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy. Payoshni was also National Committee Member of the organization and has visited Pakistan twice in 2003 and 2005. In 2004, she was invited to attend the Oxfam International youth parliament in Sydney, Australia and has since been their Action Partner.
Ms. Debora Eflina Purba from Indonesia, received her bachelor degree from the Library and Information Science Department, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia in 1996. She worked as the head of librarians at a private school in Jakarta for about five years before she decided back to school again in 2000. Debora graduated from the Master of Science in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Indonesia in 2003. She is also a graduated fellow of SYLFF. After completing her study, she worked as a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Indonesia, from February 2004. Besides teaching, she currently serves as a Program Coordinator of Master’s of Applied Psychology in Human Resource & Knowledge Management at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Indonesia. She is also a researcher at the Psychological Research Institute, Faculty of Psychology UI since 2005.
Mr. Yuli Nugroho, an Indonesian I am a forester and social developer by training. He has been involved in several studies related to rural and regional development throughout Indonesia. His topics of interest are: poverty alleviation, rural development, local institutions, and community forestry. He joined several research centers, such as: (1) Research Center for Rural and Regional Development Studies of Gadjah Mada University (1992-1994); (2) Agro Ekonomika Foundation (1994-1995); (3) Reforestation project in South Kalimantan (1995-1996); and (4) Damar Foundation (1998 – present). In 2005 he was awarded Nippon Foundation fellowship by Asian Public Intellectual – to conduct a study about decentralization and devolution of forest management in Philippine and Thailand and in 2007 he was awarded the Asian Scholarship Foundation fellowship to conduct a research on legislation and social movement in India.
Ms. Tomoko Momiyama originally from Japan, graduated from Stanford University with B.A. in Music and B.A. in Human Biology in 2001. Since then, she has been internationally active as a music composer, performer, and producer of multi-disciplinary and community-based art events and performances. Her works have been performed throughout Japan, as well as in China, Indonesia and the U.S.A. She approaches the role of a composer as a medium of communication and creator of space, where music can be born organically from relationships between people, cultures, and environments. Through creative dialogues in the experimental processes of artistic expression, she engages with the issues of identity from multiple perspectives. By challenging the pre-existing social frameworks and personal boundaries, she hopes to promote social activism in the arts. Commissions include invitations by the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Asia-Europe Foundation, Yokohama Arts Foundation, Bandung Center for New Media Arts, Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festival, and New York Millay Colony for the Arts. Winner of The Nippon Foundation Fellowships for Asian Public Intellectuals, and the Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company Social Welfare grant program “Able Art on Stage.”
Mr. Wataru Fujita, from Japan has been researching about the relationship between the local people and the environment. He has also expanded his scope to other areas in Southeast Asia, such as, East and Central Kalimantan in Indonesia and Sarawak in Malaysia. As the API Fellowship activity, he did comparative research of community forestry in Thailand and East Kalimantan in Indonesia during 2003-2004. At present, Wataru is carrying out a series of dialogues among those with multiple background engaged in sustainable forest management in Sarawak and East Kalimantan.
Ms. Maeum Han, from Korea has been working as a program manager at the Center for Asia-pacific Studies, Kyung Hee University. He has managed programs to train public officials and NGO delegations of developing countries (Mongolia, Iraq, Vietnam, Congo and Sri Lanka). He completed his Bachelors in International Business from Kyung Hee University. He participated as a member to go to Singapore in the Study Tour under the auspices of Graduate School of Education(KHU) in June, 2005. He did volunteer work in Conservation of Australia in Jan, 2005. Maeum also participated as a member to go to China in the Study Visiting Tour under the auspices of College of International Business(KHU) in June, 2002.
Mr. Bold Nergui from Mongolia has been working as a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Public Administration and Public Policy (Environmental issues), Academy of Management in Mongolia. Bold Nergui completed his master’s degree (MPA) in Modernization of Public Administration, Speyer Public Administration University, Germany. He is member of Steering committee of Mongolian SYLFF Association and participated FMP/SYLFF as a visiting researcher in WASEDA University, Japan on topics: Comparing Public Administration reform Mongolia, Japan and East Asian countries (April, 2007)
Ms. Kyi Kyi Seinn from Myanmar. got her MBA from Yangon Institute of Economics. She completed her Degree is BA.BM (Business Management) and is now working as a Programme Associate-Trafficking In Persons Unit, World Vision Myanmar. At the same time, Kyi Kyi is also doing her research with Sasakawa Peace Foundation funded, Young Myanmar Researchers Group;(Industrial Development Group). She is a member of Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs’ Association (MWEA, local NGO) since 2002. She was chosen to participate in ASEAN+3 Young Leaders Forum, Bejing 2005. Before entering the NGO world, she worked as a Sales and Marketing manager in a private sector for a while, and as a freelance Tourist Guide (English Language).
Mr. Aguirre Alwin Chavez is currently Assistant Professor at the College of Arts and Letters in the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He handles courses in Popular Culture and Philippine Literature; and Gender, Sexuality and Literature. He obtained his MA from the same institution with a degree in Philippine Studies majoring in Philippine Literature and Women’s Studies. He also writes fiction. His short fiction and futuristic fiction have been recognized by the foremost literary award giving body in the country—the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards and by the Cultural Center of the Daily Shimbun. Alwin was a junior fellow in the Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowships 2006. His research with the title The History of Tomorrow: the Discourse of Science and the Imagination of the Future in Asian Science Fictions was a study of different science fiction texts in Asia particularly in Japan and Indonesia.
Ms. Kokaew Wongphan from Thailand, is a freelance journalist. She attained her Bachelors in Business Administration from Ramkhamhaeng University. She has over 10 years of experience on media printing in Bangkok and 3 years on local newspaper in the South of Thailand. She received the API award to research on local media issue in the Philippines and Indonesia for 11 months in 2004-2005. Currently, she writes for alternative website www.prachatai.com, research on building peace in the border provinces south of Thailand for the peace direct organization in London and the contribution of Burmese worker after tsunami in Phang-nga. She is also enrolled in the Master degree Programme in Cultural Studies at Walailak University.
Ms. Sirichinda Thongchinda from Thailand, completed her B.A., and M.A from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Chiang Mai University. At present she works as a Professor at the Payap University in Faculty of Social Sciences and since 2006 she has been a member of Women’s Studies Project at Payap University, 2007 SYLFF Fellow at Jadavpur. University, Kolkata.
Toan Van Bui Country: Vietnam Mr. Bui Van Toan from Vietnam, has been with Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH), an international development NGO over the past 13 years. As a current country director of this organization, he is directing projects in Vietnam and Lao PDR aimed at improving the livelihood of the marginalized groups and policies affecting them. In addition, he leads projects that supporting governments and others to promote the growing of local civil society organizations (CSO), including making enabling legal framework for CSO. Their efforts have significantly contributed toward increased access to services and better rights and inclusion of millions of the disabled, as well as the development of local CSO in the two countries. Prior to this, he worked for a Japanese trading firm. He holds BA degrees in Business Administration and Linguistics.
Ms. Latdavanh Songvilay from Laos, is currently working as an Assistant Researcher, at the Macroeconomic Research Division, National Economic Research Institute (NERI), Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR. In 2006, she Co-authored the Sasakawa Peace Foundation project to study the situation of commercial production in Lao PDR. In 2007, she Co-authored the Sasakawa Peace Foundation project to study the saving behavior in Lao PDR. Latdavanh has also worked as administrator for Strengthening Economic Research and Monitoring in Lao PDR project, supported by Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
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