Capacity Development Learning Week

The excitement is palpable!

The CD Week starts today. We are already in countdown mode.

The overwhelming response from participants has been encouraging, inspiring.

They are coming in from all parts of the region, and the world. Safe arrivals being reported, from as far afield as Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan – well, mostly…the Afghan colleague heading the Capacity Development Secretariat of the Government of Afghanistan is still in Delhi hoping to get a visa to travel to Bangkok; participants from Cambodia and Laos, recovering from the week long water festival holidays which only ended yesterday, are still confirming travel plans! Even so, participants have alrady managed to arrive from Jo'burg (welcome, Maleye!) and New york (welcome, Terry!) and 100 plus participants at last count already confirmed…

The overwhelming response has also been humbling. Expectations are high. But so are the challenges. The demands being made for capacity development are huge and the questions being posed are complex. And we do not have all the answers. What we do we have is a richness of experiences, a compendium of lessons on what worked and what did not , a deep commitment and open spirit to share and learn, that you bring to this Learning Week. And that is what will help us respond to the challenges and the questions.."not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially" to borrow the famous phrase about Nehru's tryst with destiny!

The secretariat room already feels like an airport lounge - with participants of many nationalities walking in and out, many languages being heard. The check in counter is open and Pranee is supremely efficiently handing out boarding passes (I mean folders and name badges) And my flight has been announced...I have to run to a preparation meeting!

So welcome aboard, and bon voyage!

-Dipa Bagai, CD Advisor

p.s. in fact the CD Week has generated so much enthusiasm that an RCB colleague (who we have solemnly promised not to name) actually arrived at the workshop venue at Amari hotel this morning - and wondered why she was the only one there...she thought she had arrived early. And then she looked at the agenda and discovered that she had arrived early by a full day!