The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality
The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality, hosted by TARSHI from 2004 to 2009, aimed at increasing knowledge and scholarship on issues of sexuality, sexual health and sexual well being in the region.
The Resource Centre specifically focused on sexuality related work in China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Philippines, and Vietnam. It was supported by The Ford Foundation and was part of its global initiative to enhance sexual health and wellbeing. Its goals were to develop and build on the scholarship and capacity in the field of sexuality in the South and Southeast Asian region with a view to transform theory into practice, enhance the conceptual understanding of the fields of sexuality, gender and rights, and of their inter-linkages with socio-cultural issues and to increase and consolidate the knowledge base and resources available on issues of sexuality and sexual well-being region.
The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre worked on issues of sexuality from three broad programmatic strands:
Enhancing Capacity
This initiative focused on building scholarship and capacity on sexuality through the region. It included conducting Regional Institutes to strengthen the conceptual understanding of issues of sexuality, society, and culture, as well as two intensive Applied Study Programmes that built on the practical implications of working on sexuality with a rights-affirming approach.
Disseminating Knowledge
This initiative strengthened knowledge dissemination through the region by collecting, identifying, collating and disseminating relevant information through appropriate channels (e.g. website, electronic bulletins, etc). It sought to make available knowledge in English more accessible in countries where English is not the first language, and created knowledge through publications on cutting-edge topics.
Furthering Dialogue and Debate
This initiative promoted a structured debate and dialogue amongst a variety of participants from across the region on issues of sexuality that have far-reaching impact at many levels. Annual seminars and consultations were convened on relevant themes.
A regional Advisory Committee provided inputs on country specific needs till March, 2008. Similar regional centres were located in Africa, Latin America, and the United States. We worked closely with our Regional Partners in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.