The UP Diliman College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) conducted a five-day seminar on area development studies for Japanese students where they were able to experience the life and realities of Philippine communities.
A delegation from the Nihon Fukushi University (NFU) Graduate School of International Social Development participated in the Philippine Seminar on Area Development Studies 2024 (SADS 2024) with the theme Climate Justice: Conversations, Community Actions, and Future Directions. The seminar, according to the CSWCD, “aims to contribute to the formation of social development professionals who are committed to people-centered and just sustainable development.”
The seminar provided the participants: an overview of the social development issues in the country and how they relate to global socio-economic and political conditions; an introduction to key concepts, principles, and methods of social development, as well as concrete experiences in planning, implementing, and managing social development programs; and an opportunity to interact and learn from local communities and organizations by way of field visits.
On the seminar’s fifth day, Edge Francis Uyanguren, university extension specialist at the CSWCD, facilitated the participants’ final activity which gave them an opportunity to “collectively and creatively reflect on and share their insights and what they learned from their field visits,” states the CSWCD.
Collectively, the participants said the field visits were an “eye opening experience” and allowed them to understand more about the Philippines’ socio-economic and political situation.
At the seminar’s final activity, CSWCD Dean Lenore Polotan-Dela Cruz offered the participants some pointers about social development.
“In social development, it is very important to always go back to universal principles and values. That is why nations need to agree on what is justice, what is just, what is fair, [and] what is human rights, so that these become our reference points on how just or unjust a situation is and how power controls all of these things,” Polotan-Dela Cruz said. “We always need to refer to universal principles that make us live in harmony, because otherwise we will fail to advance this notion of social development that serves everyone, especially the most vulnerable and those who have the least opportunities and rights.”
Teruhiko Yoshimura, PhD, NFU faculty adviser, summed up their five-day seminar as an interaction with a “united people, with unlimited potential,” and experiencing “universal principles and ultimate perspectives for unbelievable pride.”
For his part, College Secretary Paul Edward Muego said the seminar enabled “voices [to be] shared.”
“We’ve dealt with a lot of questions, a lot of tensions. We also talked about struggles and development not being easy, [and] of perspectives. This is something we all embarked on… We will continue to embark on building relationships, having more conversations and dialogues, [and] creating more spaces,” he said.
Muego in closing the seminar thanked everyone who participated, and encouraged each to “go to the field, let’s continue to work, let’s continue to journey, and we hope to journey with you.”
SADS 2024 was held from August 19 to 23, one of the many activities during CSWCD’s 60th founding anniversary.
