REGIONAL CONFERENCE - ASIA PACIFIC REGION - DUKE OF EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL AWARD

'Transforming the Award'

A three-day conference of the 15 NAAs of the Asia Pacific region of the IAF was held in Bangkok, Oct 26-28. There were delegates from:

• IAF -- John May, Secretary General; Steve De Wint, Chief Operating Officer; Ellie Rocks, Fundraising; Laura Thakray, Communications; Mike Heath, Head Technology
• APR -- Sue Walker, Regional Director; Rob Oliphant, Regional Manager; Kathleen Hewitt, Regional Coordinator
• India were represented by Himmat Kalsia (National Chairman), Dr Sanat Kaul (Managing Trustee), Kapil Bhalla (National Director)
• IC Youth Representative - Mr Ravichandran Balasubramaniam

The annual conference was a follow up to the conference held at Malta in Nov 2012 (coinciding with the International Forum) and the theme "Transforming the Award" was a focus of the workshop sessions and presentations.

The sessions kicked off with a presentation by Secretary General John May, laying out the focus of future directions post the Forum on "Transforming the Award", that the Award is the premier Youth Service & Development organisation in the world.

There were interactive sessions by:

• Laura Thakray -- Communications & Branding updates, with examples of India using the 'Endorsement route to branding; using the India specific Award logo and the International Logo
• Ellie Rocks -- Fund raising & Corporate Relationship avenues for raising resources; India has a successful relationship with JCB Ltd for sponsorship and with HSBC for implementing the Award in Corporate entities
• Mike Heath -- Progress of the Online Record Book, to be launched in Asia by April 2014. It is a powerful data management and operations review tool and India is keenly looking forward to its launch and implementation.
• Rob Oliphant -- Training Framework and the New Learning Hub, will ensure that all training and branding material is available online to ensure best practices are shared and available to all NAAs and Award Operators.

Under the new Licensing policy, all 15 NAAs have signed new licenses with the International Award Foundation. This meant upgrading systems and new levels of governance. The license validation process commenced in 2013 and India is one of the 5 countries in APR that have successfully concluded validation visits from the International team. The new Branding guidelines and governance structures were reinforced and welcomed by all participants as they will make the administration of the Award a stronger force in the Youth Development field.  click for pictures