IMA Asia Pacific in Regional Campaigners Skillshare and Collaboration
Last June 28-29, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and Trina Jarilla of the International Migrants Alliance, Asia Pacific participated in a Regional Campaigners Skillshare and Collaboration Event Erwiana is a migrant rights advocate who campaigns for migrant workers and their families. She is also part of a non-government organization, the Beranda Perempuan in Indonesia. Trina on the other hand is a young migrant rights advocate who is also a member of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants. She is a campaigner based in the Philippines who promotes youth and labor rights. With the common goal of a more peaceful, caring, free, equal, just, and sustainable world, IMA Asia Pacific representatives and a hundred diverse activists and campaigners from different civil society organizations strived to increase their coordination and collaboration.
The first day of the skill share event started with a fun and interactive introduction of the participants. Then, the campaigners were divided into groups to analyze trends in human rights campaigning in Asia-Pacific. Different case studies on effective campaigning were also shared such as labor rights wins, visual tools and impact production for campaigning, and digital campaigning on environmental issues. All participants were encouraged to share their campaign achievements by pinning a material on the wall for a gallery walk. Representatives of IMA Asia Pacific shared their inspiring and ongoing campaigns on Mary Jane Veloso and Erwiana Sulistyaningsih. In the afternoon, parallel small group sessions were done to share knowledge and tools on impactful campaigning and campaigning skills. On the second day, participants were grouped according to topics such as women’s rights, environmental justice, and civic rights. IMA Asia Pacific participated in a group that discussed migrant, refugee, and displaced people’s rights. This enabled everyone to get to know fellow advocates and coordinate their campaigns with each other. Next, participants were encouraged to be grouped according to geopolitics and discuss campaigning needs and possible collaborations. The conference ended with everyone sharing their takeaways, learnings, and collective next steps.
Overall, the event was triumphant in enabling the exchange of skills and learnings on effective and innovative campaigning. It created new and deepened existing partnerships that will increase the collective campaigning impact of Asia Pacific campaigners.
