Education and research are the cornerstones of CVPED. In the
rapidly changing Philippine society, CVPED aims to constantly
adopt its program to the needs and priorities of Isabela State
University and its other partners. The following activities
were initiated in 2004, to strengthen the joint program in the
coming years: (1) the ASEM education hub (2) the
visiting professorship, (3) research fellowships, and (4) the
regional network on indigenous people.
ASEM
Education Hub for Environmental Studies
The Asia Europe Meeting promotes better
mutual understanding and an interactive dialogue process between
Asia and Europe. A key priority fro ASEM is enhancing cross-regional
contacts and exchanges in the field of higher education among
Asian and European countries. For that purpose, ASEM is now
establishing a platform known as the ASEM educational hub. One
of the themes of the education hub will be “environment”.
ISU through CVPED was approached to participate in the ASEM
educational hub for environmental studies. Preparatory talks
were started in 2004, and will culminate in the visit of the
ISU President to Leiden University in April 2005 to formalize
and start this international network.
Visiting
Professorship
CVPED facilitates the exchange of staff
between ISU and Leiden University. Over the past fifteen years,
faculty members of CFEM have visited the Netherlands for training,
networking or writing their dissertation. In 2004, CVPED initiated
a new exchange scheme that will stimulate the research and education
efforts of ISU and Leiden University, and to strengthen the
partnership between the Universities: the visiting professorship.
In 2005, a senior staff member of CML will give a master class
at the graduate school. CVPED aims that this will be a continuing
program, with a variety of Dutch experts teaching in ISU. In
2005, the Visiting Professor will be Dr. Gerard Persoon who
will give a master calls on natural resource management and
indigenous peoples.
Research
Fellowships
Responding
to changing need for Isabela State University to improve the
quality and quantity of research outputs, and the changing faculty
profile of CFEM, CVPED has developed a new program: the research
fellowship. The research fellowship aims to stimulate the publication
of articles with joint Filipino-Dutch authorship. The research
fellowship will support the travel to and stay in the Netherlands
of an ISU faculty member to work together with a staff member
of Leiden University on an article for publication in international
scientific journal.
Regional
Network on Indigenous Peoples (RNIP)
In 2004, CVPED and CML submitted a proposal
for the creation of a Regional Network of Indigenous People
(RNIP) in five Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The Netherlands Government
(DGIS) approved the proposal in October 2004.
The goal of the network is to safeguard,
restore and protect natural livelihood resources for the sake
of poverty alleviation for indigenous people in Southeast Asia.
The RNIP will have a main focus on the transfer of knowledge,
training and capacity building for indigenous peoples civil
society organizations in Southeast Asia. The main activities
include: (1) technical support to civil society groups, (2)
annual workshops and inter-vision meetings, (3) trainings, and
(4) the establishment of a Trustfund for direct poverty reduction
activities.
In the development of the joint program
the RNIP is an important milestone. It will guarantee the financial
sustainability of the coming four years. In the coming years
the RNIP will contribute significantly to the objectives of
CVPED. CVPED will become the central hub of an international
network focused on indigenous peoples rights, environmental
conservation (focused on freshwater, tropical forests and coastal
ecosystems) and poverty alleviation. A program coordination
unit (PCU) will be responsible for the management of the program.
Three additional staff members will be hired for the implementation
of the RNIP.
