IPPS in last year
IPPS in 2011

In respond to our 2011 plan, IPPS held a total of 19 activities to pursue our two major objectives: political education and policy advocacy. One activity was postponed to 2012 according to the mega flood in the country and another activity’s topic was changed to suit the flooding consequence, the others were accomplished and they were divided into 3 main categories:
  1. POLITICAL EDUCATION
  2. DEMOCRATIC VALUES
  3. MEDIA


Those activities are as follow:

POLITICAL EDUCATION

  1. “Promotion of Political Education in Schools” program was held and 2011 was the second year. Though we organized programs on similar two target groups, teachers and students, all were new and first-time participants. The programs on teachers and students have different objectives and used different methods but correlated and promoting each other. They were divided into 7 sub-programs.

    For teachers, we held 3 training workshops, each with a two-day period, for teachers from public secondary schools in the provinces. The program objectives are to stimulate the teachers to re-think and re-set their perception that democracy is a way of life and should be taught outside the class-room. Lectures and open discussions were used to encourage participants to share their views and experiences. They were asked to submit students’ project proposals before 31 December, 2011. Selected proposals will be each granted with a seed money of 10,000 Baht for implementation in 2012. They were:
    BM-IPPS-11-002 on 10-11 March, 2011.
    BM-IPPS-11-003 on 24-25 March, 2011.
    BM-IPPS-11-004 on 29-30 June, 2011.

    For students, we visited 6 schools whose student projects were chosen in 2010 for implementation in 2011. At each school, we met students who were going to do the projects and their teachers/advisors. A lecture method was used to educate the students about democratic society and its practices. These are sub-programs for students:
    BM-IPPS-11-005 on 22-23 March, 2011.
    BM-IPPS-11-006 on 23 May, 2011.
    BM-IPPS-11-007 on 27-28 June, 2011

    The final event for the 2011“Promotion of Political Education in Schools” program was a congress which 5 representatives; 4 students and 1 teacher, from all 7 teams from 6 schools came to present their projects in Bangkok. The 3-day program was held to accomplish our goal- promoting democracy in school through doing project. Lecture, workshop and field study methods were used to complete the students‘ practical experiences and it was an opportunity for students and teachers of different schools to share experiences with other. This sub-program was:
    BM-IPPS-11-008 on 3-5 October, 2011.

  2. “Education for Democratic Citizen“ program aims to strengthen citizenship’s roles in a democratic society and introduce them to use dialog to solve political and societal conflict. Lecture and workshop method were used with target group in 3 different provinces. We noted from the first two activities, held with a target group of local administrators that many were unable to attend the whole program, therefore, a social science teachers were selected for our third activity and it was a decision since we received a very good feedback either from their evaluation and observation. Every participant actively responded to all activities until the end and some even stayed longer to express their positive comments personally. The 3 sub-programs were:
    BM-IPPS-11-009 on 5 April, 2011.
    BM-IPPS-11-010 on 28 July, 2011.
    BM-IPPS-11-011 on 20 December, 2011.

    DEMOCRATIC VALUES
  3. “IPPS Annual Meeting” was held in the beginning of 2011 with scholars, bureaucrats and elites who are resourceful contributors to our activities. The activity was held in a round table discussion and every one shared their views on political, social, environment and economic issues. We also received useful comments and recommendations from these participants. The activity number is :
    BM-IPPS-11-001 on 15 January, 2011.

  4. “Freedom of Assembly” continued from our research and dialogue program in 2010 but in 2011, 2 dialogues were held with three new different target groups; academics, local stakeholders, and business sector. Their opinions and comments were summarized in the research. The two dialogues were:
    BM-IPPS-11-012 on 22 February, 2011.
    BM-IPPS-11-013 on 29 August, 2011.

    Another activity associated to the freedom of public assembly was held to reveal the Federal Republic of Germany Law on Public Assembly and its experiences. We are pleased to have Mr. Clausepeter Hill as KAS representative to Thailand and he shared his knowledge on the Law and its consequences. The activity was:
    BM-IPPS-11-019 on 30 September, 2011.

    A study on “Solutions to the Legislation of Public Assembly” by Mr. Sophon Jingjit was completed in 2011 under the activity numbers:
    BM-IPPS-11-014.

  5. “Discover the Truth about Thailand Flood 2011: Problems and Solutions” was a symposium’s title replaced the previous one; Thailand Scenario. The mega flooding in 2011 swept across 62 provinces in the northern, northeastern and central regions caused enormous lost to Thai social and economy. This activity aimed to find some answers and solutions particularly on the legal rights of the citizen against the responsible public agencies. The activity was:
    BM-IPPS-11-020.

    MEDIA
  6. Two books launched are “Freedom of Assembly” by Sophon Jingjit from his study on solutions to the legalization of public assembly bill, and “Civic Education for Thai Model” by Tippaporn Tantisunthorn. They are under the activity number:
    BM-IPPS-11-018.

  7. IPPS Newsletter publishes monthly and distributed to our subscribers and academic libraries nationwide. Every publish was digitized in our website,. The contents are: IPPS’s activities, monthly news summary Democracy Monitoring, the Editor’s Message and articles by staff and readers. Democracy Monitoring and IPPS’s activities are also translated into English.

    They are under the activity number:
    BM-IPPS-11-015.

  8. IPPS’s publications were digitized and presented on our website. The activity number is:
    BM-IPPS-11-016.

    Lastly, it is noted that the activity BM-IPPS-11-017 was cancelled due to the King Prachatipok Institute postponed its event because of the 2011 flood. IPPS previously planned to exhibit our work under a title “Citizenship: The Future of Thai Democracy” at the UN Building in Bangkok between 3-5 November, 2011. The event was postponed to 22-24 March, 2012 and IPPS will hold an exhibition on that occasion.



From : http://www.fpps.or.th