Although, most civil society organization (CSO) in the Lower Mekong Basin region have enough technical capacities in various areas of their work, innovative approaches, such as the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) to engage multi-sectors, are still yet to be harnessed.
On 13-15 August 2015, 19 CSO representatives from Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Thailand participated in an innovation training workshop held in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand. The training workshop tackled capacity issues of CSOs, organized a platform for knowledge exchange among countries, and integrated project management learnings towards innovation of practice.
Prof. Dr. Buaphun Promphakping, Director, and Mr. Ratthaphon, Chief of Party, both from the Center for Civil Society and Nonprofit Management (CSNM) Project, opened the event. Central to their message is a call for participants to learn from each other, to be able to form a strong CSO network in the region.
SUPA71, Co., Ltd., headed by its director, Dr. Kanokwan Suwannarong, led a team of experts on ICT4Development, project management, and social media, and gave CSO representatives an overview on human centered design and curriculum development for e-Learning, with a refresher course on project management.
Dr. Denpong Soodphakdee, expert on eLearning from University of Khon Kaen shared basics on e-Learning for development.
“I would like to take part on another training, because I want to learn more on using HCD and eLearning to be able to bring it in my workplace,” a Cambodian participant shared after the session.
Some participants also expressed need for further training relevant for their colleagues in their organization.
“Project monitoring and evaluation is what we need because we did (have) not do(done) that yet. We need to develop our strategy planning for the next five years,” expressed a participant from Lao PDR.
The training was organized by the CSNM, a project largely supported by the USAID-funded Civil Society Partnerships Project (CSPP) and being implemented by Khon Kaen University.
USAID representative, CSNM key personnel, Participants and SUPA71 trainers at Khon Kaen Province, Thailand on August 13 – 15, 2015