Dinesh Gajendran as Asia Pacific Regional Intern

It is an honour to introduce Gold Holder Dinesh Gajendran as the Second Asia Pacific Regional Intern for the Peter Cruddas Initiative. Year two of the Peter Cruddas Initiative will build on the success of Year One, widening the scope to focus on youth engagement. Dinesh was recognised as a Social Innovator in Year One of the Peter Cruddas Social Innovation Initiative for introducing the Award Programme in Madurai Kamaraj University and actively engaging in the India Special Projects with Olcott Memorial School in Chennai and Vellore Rural project in . He also represented the International Award Association at the 2010 Beyond Sport Summit held in Chicago, USA.

With experience in teaching Marketing and Advertising Subjects to MBA aspirants in Dept of Management Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University for the last 1.5 years; active engagement with Rural youth and local community by introducing and sustaining Kho-Kho as a sport since 2006; and Serving as a Manager/Coach & Technical official/Umpire for Taminadu State Kho-Kho Association and Kho-Kho Federation of India (KKFI)for two years; Dinesh is a self-made leader.

Dinesh believes that doing the Gold Award taught him the necessary leadership, networking and organizing skills to become self condient in becoming a Social entrepreneur.

His Project Rural Challengers was selected for the Peter Cruddas Social Innovations Initiative (PCSII) and recognized as Social Innovator by The International Award Association (IAA) for promoting Award to underprivileged areas of Tamilnadu.

Congratulations Dinesh! and Good Luck

Connecting Award Strategy at the Asia Pacific Regional Board Meeting 2011

The Regional Board Meeting (RBM), to be held in India from 5th-9th April, will feature key sessions on Connecting Award Strategy to National/Global Agendas and Award Governance in Practice.

The International Award Association Strategic Directions Overview will feature presentations by One Award Alliance Project Director-Stephen De-Wint; an Overview of the 12 Strategic Projects 2011/12 and Beyond; details of the Capacity Building Project by Head of Operations, Tim Smith; need for Advocacy and Profiling, research and data collection by the IAA Programme Team; and the 2011-12 Regional Plan by the Asia Pacific Regional Team.

Peter Kaye, Honorary Advisor will facilitate the National Strategic Directions that will include sharing of key goals/strategies, connecting the Award strategy of the region and Award Governance in practice in addition to Funding/Pricing Models that need to/can be adopted.

The focus will be on digital directions through adopting online Award management systems, E-learning and training for best possible youth engagement and development. The Youth Engagement Project and the highlight on the upcoming International Gold Event 2011 scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, the importance of youth representatives in the International Council reflects the importance to give young people charge in governance.

The NAA Status Summary Reports in the National Directors Strategic Alliance Forum with presentations by respective national directors addressing need for partnerships, strategy and performance, leader training, nation building and fund raising will allow for impressive strategy making and best practice sharing for consistent Award development.

Download the programme and agenda from the IAA website.

The Regional Training Workshop (RTW 2009)

The Regional Training Workshop (RTW 2009) will focus on the Award actively engaging with and being embraced as a tool by the numerous organisations that have a commitment to youth policy and/or youth development.

RTW will incorporate group work, case studies, presentations and subject matter experts - on how to best engage these six sectors:

• education/academic
• local community
• youth
• Government
• NGO/international sector
• industry

The theme of the RTW to be held at the India Habitat Centre and USI is: Define The Future.

Asia Pacific Regional Training Programme Define The Future: The Award and National Development Hosted by: IAYP, India Type: Meetings - Convention Where: Habitat Center When: 23 November at 09:00 until 29 November at 12:00