ISTR
Asia-Pacific Regional Group - Minutes
of Meeting held in Bali, November 2011
Convenors: ISTR Board Members Sami, Naoto and Wendy
Welcome: Wendy Earles, ISTR President-elect, welcomed current and new ISTR
members to the regional meeting.
Item
1: ISTR Asia-Pacific Conference Sites 2013 and beyond
Members thanked the Bali organisers for the
very interesting conference program and great hospitality for 2011.
Board members recapped the process for
expressions of interest (EOI) for future conferences: discussion at the
preceding regional conference; an open EOI process early in the following year;
discussions between board members and potential bidders; presentations by
bidders at the regional meeting at the international conference in July; and a
show of by the regional membership at that meeting.
Some background was provided on the
experience in selecting the site for 2011. Indonesia, Australia, South Korea and
Hong Kong had expressed preliminary interest for 2011. Australia decided to support
Bali’s bid in the Expression of Interest process. South Korea and Hong Kong did
not proceed with formal bids.
Some wider background was shared in
relation to the desire to rotate the conference around the region between South
Asia, SE Asia and East Asia.
Ideas were elicited from the membership:
-Bangladesh members indicated
they had discussed the idea and may be interested for 2015.
-Members asked if the timing
could be changed to July (in Autumn not Summer) and it was noted that airfares
may be higher in July.
-It was noted that the regional
conference had not been held in the Pacific and that this would be supported by
New Zealand members.
-Members raised the question of
who is not here for the Bali conference and yet may be possible future sites
with assistance, such as Vietnam (East Asia) though Visa requirements were
noted as a possible issue. Heather Douglas noted that RMIT in Australia had
links to a centre in Vietnam with a focus on building a research agenda on
responsible business.
-Prof Tek Nath Dhakal asked
members if they would support a conference in Nepal and there was a show of
support for this. He offered to take our interest back to his colleagues.
-Ongoing interest from South
Korea was affirmed by Naoto and Sami.
-The possible inclusion of
Western Asia was raised.
-The possibility of support from
cross-national friendship associations was noted, for example, the
Australia-Nepal Friendship Society.
-Having possible sites for 2015
and beyond rather than just focusing on the next site was considered desirable
to allow a greater lead time to support convenors.
Action: The formal request for EOIs will be called by the board in early
2012.
Item
2: Annual support from ISTR for regional activity
The ISTR Board has allocated $5,000US per region
per annum to assist active regions such as Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin
America and the Caribbean. This support is for maintaining a wider regional
data base, communication, networking and possible a newsletter. In each of
Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean one third sector research centre is
providing this secretariat role.
Members were asked for reflections and
ideas for Asia-Pacific:
-Members noted the previous
regional website APPIN with country profiles which was not active anymore and
expressed a desire to reactivate it as a database. Brenda Gainer, President of
ISTR, provided information on the new ISTR website to be launched in early 2012
and its potential to have a regional capacity for uploading such information
(Free). It was considered that such a project would need a coordinator however.
-Members reflected that the
Asia-Pacific region had been lucky in that it had many active scholars who had
initiated a number of collaborative research projects across the region and
this had created a strong network of scholars who maintained communication and
networking.
-Some members felt it was
potentially dangerous to set up one centre as the secretariat for the region
and that the success of the network approach was that it had been inclusive as
each new conference site took up the mantel to maintain communication and
ensure the continuity of the network (e.g. sharing of conference participants
list with next site for mail-outs about the upcoming conference).
-It was noted that travel was an
issue in the region and the provision of scholarships was a priority.
-It was suggested that between
conferences webcasts might be an option depending on members’ access to the
technology.
Overall there was a sense that perhaps the
resource from ISTR could be used differently in Asia-Pacific from the other two
active regions.
Action: Board members from the
region will raise this with the executive and the wider Board in their next
meetings.
Item
3. Regional Publishing
Members discussed regional publishing
options and issues:
-It was noted that publishing
academic articles regionally was an issue as there was limited infrastructure
in any one centre and no regional journal.
-The potential value of regional
conferences for generating regional publications was championed by Naoto
through such mechanisms as a published proceedings or working papers on the
ISTR Website.
-Members noted the presence of
and presentation from Bernard Enjolas, Editor of Voluntas at the Bali
conference and supported such active involvement with the region. Exploring the
possibility of a special issue of Voluntas focusing on Asia-Pacific was
supported by members.
-The availability of the Cosmopolitan Civil Society e-journal was
noted by members especially its open access; that it was not limited to
Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific; that it has a wider mandate than the
third sector but encourages third sector submissions; its willingness to engage
with alternate styles of presentation beyond traditional formats; and its focus
on quality and rigour within distinct paradigms. Some members called for a
matching journal at the international level for innovative content and method.
Action:
Board members to relay ideas to the executive and
wider Board and to discuss with Bernard.
Next
Meeting: July 2012 in Siena, Italy during the ISTR International Conference.
The 7th
ISTR Asia-Pacific Regional Conference: A Challenge and An Opportunity
By Maria R. Nindita Radyati and
Widyamurti Paramita, Center for Entrepreneurship, Change, and Third Sector,
Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia.
The 7th
ISTR Asia-Pacific Regional Conference was held in Denpasar, Bali- Indonesia, on
24 - 26 November 2011 hosted by the CECT (Center for Entrepreneurship, Change,
and Third Sector), Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia. The Conference Call-for-Papers
was received with great enthusiasm and attracted 116 individual paper proposals
and five panel proposals from 22 countries. After the double blind-review
process, ninety papers and three panels from eighteen countries were selected. At
the end, the local scholars and enthusiasts were joined at the Conference by
about seventy scholars from thirteen countries.
For the
first time, an ISTR regional conference was graced both by the President
(Brenda Gainer) and President-elect (Wendy Earles). Three other board members
of the ISTR, Bernard Enjolras (Editor, Voluntas),
Naoto Yamauchi (member of the Program Committee), and Sami Hasan (Program
Committee co-chair) were also present. In addition, four other members of the International
Program Committee (Jenny Onyx, Program Committee co-chair, Yashavantha Dongre,
Shih-Jung Hsu, and M.S. Moodhitaya) also actively participated in the
Conference. Unfortunately, the Chair of the local Host Committee (member of the
Program Committee), the President of Trisakti University, could not attend
because of unavoidable circumstances at the institution he heads and had to
send his apology.
A
technical session ‘Getting Published in Scientific Journals’ by the editor of Voluntas (Bernard Enjolras) and a plenary
panel (‘Third Sector Scholarship around the World: Present and Future
Challenges’) by ISTR board members (Brenda Gainer, Wendy Earles, Naoto
Yamauchi, and Bernard Enjolras) were two welcome additions in this
Conference. The other plenary panel was
on ‘CSR and the Third Sector: Indonesian Experiences’ to highlight the theme related
to the Conference (‘Business Social Responsibility and the Third Sector’) from
three different perspectives--the private sector, the NGO sector, and academia.
There were
eighteen breakout sessions with fifty-six presentations authored by ninety
scholars from forty-nine universities in the region. The breakout sessions
dealt with important areas of research including: accountability, governance,
and leadership; advocacy, social justice, and legal issues; business/corporate
responsibility; civil society organizations and social development; dimensions
and measurement of social capital; education, employment, and training in the
third sector; microfinance and microenterprise; philanthropy and volunteering;
growth diversity, and recent experiences in the third sector; social
entrepreneurship and social enterprise, etc.
The
Conference organizers endeavored to showcase a variety of local culture and
artifacts and offered entertainment through dances, a field trip, and a cultural
tour. The opening ceremony included dances by local artists performing a
Balinese welcome dance, and the ‘hitting’ of a traditional Balinese Gong (by the
representatives of the Program and the Host committees). The conference dinner was
adorned by professional performers offering the ‘Sekar-Jagat’ dance from Bali; ‘Saman’
dance from Aceh; ‘Dayak-Papua’ dance (a combination of dances from Kalimantan
and Papua islands); and ‘Janger-Jaipong’ dance--a mix of Betawi and Bali dances.
The Host
organised a field trip to an NGO, Telapak, (in Serangan Village) involved in coral
rehabilitation as well as sustainable fish breeding programs (through organic
food feeding). The participants of the field trip made generous donations to
adopt corals, and went by a boat to plant the ‘adopted corals’ in the sea. The
‘adopted corals’ is named ‘ISTR Bali’ on a label attached to the corals.
The
cultural tour that followed was to a famous hill-top temple in Uluwatu where
the participants enjoyed the breathtaking views of the
nature, the beauty of the sunset, and the performances of Balinese ‘Kecak’ dance.
The
organization of the Conference was a big challenge, but the successful holding
of the Conference was possible due to financial contributions of the Trisakti
University and the CECT (Center for Entrepreneurship, Change, and Third Sector),
and of the PT. Gajah Tunggal Tbk; PT. Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk, and
PT. International Nickel Indonesia, Tbk.
The CECT
team, under the coordination of its director, Maria R. Nindita Radyati, is
delighted to have hosted the Conference which included many important scholars
in the field. The CECT is a research Center in Trisakti University, with core
activities in research and the provision of consulting services in the area of
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and social enterprise. The CECT, a major think-tank
in Indonesia, has recently introduced two master degree programs with
specialization in CSR and Social Enterprise. The opportunity of organizing the
Conference and the networking avenues it brought is of great significance to
the CECT which is likely to be helpful in furthering the CECT’s mission and
programs within and beyond Indonesia.
NEWS FROM THE 9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY July 2010
During the regional meeting in Istanbul, attended by some 35 attendees from the Asia-Pacific region, we determined that the 7th ISTR Regional Conference which will be held in 2011, should be held in Indonesia. The host will be CECT (Center for Entrepreneurship, Change and Third Sector) which is a research center under an umbrella organisation of Post Graduate Study at Trisakti University. That university is the oldest and largest private university in Indonesia. Dr Sami Hasan and Professor Jenny Onyx will be the academic co-chairs, while Dr. Maria Radyati will lead the host committee. We hope that this regional conference will be as successful as our previous regional conference, held in 2009 in Taiwan. The conference themes will be
broad based
inclusive of the entrepreneurship focus of the hosting centre
focus on social justice, responsibility and change
include service delivery, advocacy and constituencies as strands
A call for papers will be sent in the next few months.
Notes from the ISTR Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting, July 2010
Item 1: Welcome ISTR Board member Wendy Earles welcomed the members from Asia-Pacific to the meeting on behalf of fellow board members Naoto, Krishna and Mark.
Item 2: Vote of Thanks to Taiwan for 2009 Conference The meeting offered a resounding thank you to Prof Hsu and the Taiwanese host committee and the conference academic committee for the fabulous conference in 2009 in Taipei.
Item 3: Expression of Interest from Indonesia for 2011 Conference Prof Maria Radyati gave a short presentation including a video on the possible conference venue, host committee, funding options and theme. The Center for Entrepreneurship, Change and the Third Sector has been working to identify a host committee with a membership from universities and foundations. Meeting participants offered further suggestions to Maria. The Centre has nominated the ISTR International Asia-Pacific Conference as its international conference for the next two years. A letter of support was tabled from Prof Dr Thoby Mutis, Rector of the Universitas Trosakti as the host organisation for the conference. The meeting accepted the offer from Indonesia to host the conference and thanked other countries that had expressed early interest for their support of the 2011 expression of interest from Indonesia including Australia and Hong Kong. The conference was tentatively scheduled for early November 2011, possible 3-7 November.
Item 4: 2011 Conference pre-planning Samiul Hasan and Jenny Onyx expressed interest in the position of academic co-chairs for the 2011 conference. The meeting accepted their offers. They will work to establish an academic committee and develop a call for papers. Two offers of support for the academic committee were noted (from countries interested in the 2011 conference that had supported the Indonesian bid namely Eliza Lee in Hong Kong and Les Hems in Australia). Meeting participants requested that the conference theme be
broad base
inclusive of the entrepreneurship focus of the hosting centre
focus on social justice, responsibility and change
include service delivery, advocacy and constituencies as strands
The two possible venues, Jakarta and Bali were noted, and there was support for both, though the pictures from Bali created some excitement. Considerations for the host committee were
the possibilities of site visits to projects
the additional cost for some countries of flying on to Bali
the possible difficulties of movement in Jakarta
the availability of a range of accommodation options (price)
the preferences of funders
All members were asked to consider funding options for scholarships from their countries for increasing attendance of PhD students and early career researchers in Indonesia in 2011.
Item 5: Links between region and ISTR International The ISTR board members present outlined the financial situation of ISTR and the need to consider reciprocal links between the regional conferences and the international association. At present the conferences use the ISTR brand but there are very few additional memberships generated. There is still considerable support from the ISTR Board for regional development activities. The members present considered that there were many regional scholars who would not engage above the regional meetings and for whom ISTR membership was not relevant. However it was noted that the conferences did provide a pathway for engagement at the international level for those few scholars who could find funds to travel to international conferences on a regular basis. There was support for continuing to use the ISTR membership database for the Asia-Pacific network and possibly starting to use central conference registration and abstract submission processes for regional conferences. It was recognised that this would require a fee for service arrangement from the regional conference to ISTR. The 2011 regional conference co-chairs and host committee would work with ISTR board members to develop such an arrangement. This could involve a registration fee with discount linked to ISTR membership, a direct payment for services or other possible pairings of membership and registration.
Item 6: Open Space for developments within the region Members provided the following news items
an ISTR national association would be launched in October in Taiwan
the biennial conference of the ANZTSR association is scheduled for November 2010 in Sydney
The Sixth ISTR Asia and Pacific Regional Conference will take place on November 2-4, 2009, in Taipei, Taiwan, hosted by the Center for the Third Sector, National Chengchi University.
The Asia Pacific members meeting in Barcelona included researchers from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the USA. Shih-Jung Hsu from the Center for the Third Sector at National Chengchi University presented a preliminary pamphlet promoting the conference. Academic themes and the committee composition were discussed. Shih-Jung Hsu, National Chengchi University, Taiwan (srshiu@nccu.edu.tw) and Wendy Earles, ISTR Board, Treasurer, James Cook University, Australia (wendy.earles@jcu.edu.au) will serve as the conference co-chairs.
Articles from Inside ISTR
Fourth ISTR Asia and Pacific Regional Conference 2005, Vol. 13/4, 2005
Third ISTR Asia and Pacific Regional Conference 2003, Vol. 11/4, 2003
Second ISTR Asia and Pacific Regional Conference, Vol. 9/4, 2001
Asia Third Sector Researchers Meet in Dublin, Vol. 8/3, 2000
Inaugural Conference of Asian Third Sector Researchers, Vol. 7/4, 1999
Asian Third Sector Research Network Formed, Vol. 6/2, 1998
Print to Page
