RENPER Annual International Seminar

Poverty is a complex global problem and the commitment towards eradicating poverty is extremely important. Much have been done around the globe but poverty continues to be an important destructive element to the socio-economic structures of the communities. The issue is how good and how effective the programs on poverty eradication have actually successfully been implemented. Besides the NGOs, private sectors and the government agencies, universities and institutions of higher learning also play significant role in programs related to poverty eradication. Universities have the capacity and expertise that are needed to solve problems related to poverty. With the financial support from the private sectors, the institutions of higher learning will complement the initiatives by the government in poverty eradication.

The first strategy that the universities will take is in the capacity building. The critical mass who will champion poverty eradication at universities is urgent needed. The expertise will be responsible for designing the programs for the targeted groups. The expertise at the universities, especially the scientific communities can be optimally utilized through regional co-operation to address some of the common plights experienced by the agricultural and the rural communities, which can be extended to include urban poverty. The programs that are designed for different target groups under the ambit of education will include motivational and spiritual courses, skill enhancement training, entrepreneurship strategies, initiation of economic activities, financial and management programs.

RENPER is one of the initiatives for internationalization of the participating universities and its establishment is timely considering that poverty is one of the primary concerns in all societies throughout the world, particularly within Asian region. RENPER hopes to act as strong coalition of universities which will realize the importance of academicians in complementing the roles of government and non-government agencies in combating poverty.

Objective of the seminar

• To bring together university/higher education researcher and stakeholder to discuss various aspects in poverty eradication.
• A forum for exchange of ideas and to explore strategies to eradicate poverty through education, research, and development.
• Sharing ideas about the constraint s and challenges of recent Poverty Eradication Efforts.
• Sharing experiences on programs, activities, research, and community service that has been done by institutions of higher education, individuals, community groups, government institutions, and other significant groups
• To determine joint research and development projects/programs/strategies that can be shared by participating countries.
• Strengthen regional cooperation networks among universities/high education institutions in particular and significant stakeholders generally to poverty eradication efforts.
• To identify collaborative programs (training and research) between institutions on issues of poverty eradication, executions of the programs, monitoring of the progress, and identifying impacts and results.
• Identifying research and development in relevant areas such as socio-economic, culture, technical, finance and scientific aspects of poverty eradication.
• Strengthening co-operation among participating universities via international seminars, conferences and forums on the subject of poverty eradication.
• Publication and documentation on regional poverty
• Initiation of collaboration with private agencies, NGOs and the government in complementing the existing strategies/programs on poverty eradication.

Scope of the seminar

• Education
• Social
• Economy
• Agricultural
• Culture
• Environment
• Entrepreneurship
• Training
• Government initiative in poverty eradication

The Participant

The seminar should be of interest to all organizations and individuals concerned with poverty eradication including:

• Academia
• Researchers
• Policy makers and implementers
• NGOs
• Industry personnel
• Students
• General Public

In accordance with the agreement, this network conducts annual international seminars at member universities in turn. At the annual seminar there was also a council meeting to draw up a new network development agreement and host university determination for the following year seminar. The exchange of experiences on poverty research is realized through the annual RENPER International Seminar. The seminar venue is located alternately every year. We have conducted 7 annual seminars. The first seminar, in the year of 2010, was held at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kelantan, Malaysia. The second in 2011, at the University of Battambang, Battambang-Cambodia, the third in 2012 at the University of Bengkulu, Bengkulu-Indonesia, the fourth in 2013 was held at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kelantan-Malaysia, the fifth in 2014 held at the Banking University of Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam Ho Chi Min, the sixth in 2015 was held at Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati-India, and the seventh in 2016 was held at Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

Council Meeting held at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan in April 2016, agreed to change the annual seminar schedule to bi-annual, starting from the eighth seminar period. The 8^th RENPER International Seminar will be held on 24 – 25 October 2018, at San Beda University, Manila, Philippines.

The 1^st RENPER International Seminar, Inaugural Seminar,

Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kelantan, Malaysia, 26-28 October 2010