Association for the Promotiom of the Status of Women

under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Soamsawali

"Indicator of civilized Society is THE STATUS OF WOMEN"

Programs/Activities
Emergency Home
Women 's Education training
Youth Center
Research Institute (GDRI)
 Wetrain Intenational House

Nun's Collage

Annual Report
Press release
APSW Awards
WEB BOARD
Fund raising

Women's Articles

APSW movements
Web Links

Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women (APSW)


2005 was another exciting year for APSW.

Many signs for positive gains for women children were witnessed during 2005 and APSW was a part of those efforts.

The highlight of the year was in November 2005 when Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsawali graciously presided over the event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Emergency Home at the Siam City Hotel in Bangkok.

The event was organized to express appreciation to supporters of the Emergency Home and to present the awards for selected individuals / groups who have been the role models in successfully fighting their life crisis as well as in serving as inspiration to women.

The awardess included the followings :

Thanpuying Sumalee Chartikavanich
A devotee for the cause of women

Ms Chamaiporn Sangkrachang
A quality novelist who has reflected women’s issues through her novels

Mr Cheewin Kosiyapong
A song writer whose song lyrics are inspirational to those who are unhappy

Ms Thitinart Na Patthalung
A woman who successfully survived the life crisis and has been inspirational to many women

Dr Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan
A medical doctor who devoted herself in the Tsunami incidence

Ms Patravadi Sae So
A movie star who stands up successfully as a single mum

Koo Sang Koo Som Magazine
A magazine which portrays family life crisis and solutions

JSL Company
The Program “Chaw Jai” produced by JSL reflects realities in life of many disadvantaged groups in the society

TV Channel 3
The TV Channel which have many programs for women
The event also highlighted two talk shows. The first was by the famous 4 women anchorpersons, Ms Pimolwan Supayang, Ms Meesuk Changmeesuk, Ms Kulnadda Pachimsawad and Ms Pacharasee Benjamas who presented issues related to discriminatory laws and violence against women. The second talk was the sharing by two of the awardees, Ms Thitinart Na Pattalung and Ms Patravadi Sae So on how they survived the life crisis. In between the talks was the singing of a few inspirational songs by the renowned socialite, Ms Kamala Sukosol.

Another important event was the launching of the Childhood-APSW Project (Teens for Teens Project) in Tsunami affected area in Takua Pa District, Pangnga Province. The project forms one component of the program of the Learning for Healing Center which is catered for children and youth affected by Tsunami, targeting at teenagers from 13-18 years of age. The launching of the project was presided over by Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden and HRH Princess Soamsawali on 18 February 2005.

The project period is set at two years for the initial build up of the local youth working teams and youth leaders; thereafter providing long term teen establishments in the areas. The short-term objectives of this project were to provide immediate assistance to teenagers affected by the tsunami. The project, in its longer term perspective, seeks for sustainability of youth activities and hence, has placed a great emphasis on establishing youth groups and youth leaders.

The process started after the school started in June 2005. Working with 10 schools where selected students are trained as youth leaders in a series of training ensures that teen issues reach out to the targeted youth. It could be expected that future risks of drug abuse, teen prostitution and pregnancy as well as teen violence are diminished through constructive activities and supportive environment.

Setting the main purpose of changing the crisis into opportunities for youth affected by tsunami, the project is expected to have opened up a larger range of options for youth and to set the stage for local youth groups to actively play leading roles for youth and serve as role models for others in the nearby communities.

Teens Convention, another important activity received much publicity. The event was organized on 29 – 30 August 2005 at the auditorium of the Medical Council of Thailand, with the World Childhood Foundation as the main supporter. APSW was the main focal organizer, working in collaboration with the Supporters of Teenagers Network, comprising 14 organizations/groups. It was well attended by over 1,000 teenagers and teachers. The focus was on reproductive health and rights where group activities and plenary sessions were held, enabling wide exchanges. The teenagers submitted their requests to the Bangkok Governor who was chairing the closing of the event.

EMERGENCY HOME


The Emergency Home, through its social workers and psychologists, provides temporary shelter, food, physical and mental rehabilitation, counseling, and life skills for women and children. Hot line services for consultation on women’s reproductive health problems and others are also offered The Emergency operates 24 hours each day.

On any given day, there are about 150 women and children sheltering at the Emergency Home.

Programs and Activities in 2005

1. Number of women and children seeking help

The Emergency Home served 2,642 women and children in 2005. Among these, 662 cases sought shelter, 59 came only for counseling and 1,980 persons received hotline counseling services.

2. Profile of women and children at the Emergency Home

Unwanted pregnancy
Assistance was given to 149 pregnant women. Of these, 30 were below 18 years old. The main reasons for unwanted pregnancy were abandonment by their partner, followed by rapes mostly by acquaintances or those known to them.

HIV/ AIDS cases
There were 27 women seeking help during 2005. The majority contracted it from their partners. Fifteen women received retroviral medicine.

Domestic Violence
Domestic violence cases numbered 68.

Rape cases
Thirty nine victims sought help from our Kanitnaree Center or the Rape Crisis Rehabilitation Center, 20 were students aged 8 – 18.

3. Problems consulted through hotline services

The problems consulted through telephone services centered around unwanted pregnancy, abortion and extramarital affairs problems.

4. Other services / activities provided to the women and children

Apart from the main services offered which include accommodation and food, health care, psychological and emotional rehabilitation ,individual and group counseling, the Emergency Home also conducted a number of awareness raising and training sessions for its members. These included :

• Skill building on emotional handling
• Strengthening understanding on reproductive health
• Awareness raising on women’s legal rights

5. Follow-ups

Follow-up was made to 181 cases who had left the Emergency Home to ensure that they adapt appropriately and to determine if they can stand on their own feet and to further assist if required.


CHILDREN’S HOME

The Children’s Home looks after the children aged 2 – 6, who accompany their mothers sheltered at the Emergency Home as well as those who are victims of violence and abandonment.

In 2005, there were 60 children, 30 boys and 30 girls, who received care from Children’s Home. On average, each day there were about 15 – 20 children under care.


NURSERY

Nursery provides temporary care for infants of the Emergency Home members which can be classified into two categories. The first group consists of infants whose mothers decide to raise them on their own but need some help at the initial stage while they are settling in their job and their life. The second group are infants whose mothers decide to put them up for adoption. The Nursery takes care of these children at the initial stage of adoption process.

In 2005, there were 137 infants taken care by the Nursery. Thirty two were sent to the adoption center while the remaining stayed temporarily.


Support of the World Childood Foundtion

Assistance to the under eighteen years old members of the Emergency Home was specially provided by the World Childhood Foundation.


WOMEN’S EDUCATION AND TRAINING CENTER


Women’s Education and Training Center offers opportunities for enrollment in the non-formal education programs at elementary and secondary levels, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. Vocational skills training in different fields is offered all through the year. All these services are for both the Emergency Home members and for the general public.

The special feature of the programs offered by the Center is that information regarding women’s issues is integrated in all the programs. The purpose is to raise their awareness on the problems women face and what the APSW does to lessen them.


Programs / Activities in 2005

1. Short term vocational training

Vocational training courses that were offered lasted from 15 – 200 hours. There were altogether 20 courses including hairdressing, dressmaking, massage, computer, baking and cooking among others. Among 898 trainees, 158 were from the Emergency Home. The remaining were interested people from the communities mainly within the vicinity. The training which was exclusively for the Emergency Home members and continually supported by the Norwegian Women and Family Association was Nurse Aid for Child Care.

2. Adult education programs

The Center collaborates with the Non-formal Education Department of the Ministry of Education and provides adult education programs for adults over 16 years old. The programs were at primary and secondary school levels, with 10 and 111 students enrolled respectively.

3. Community services by vocational training students

For hairdressing and barber courses, the students provided free haircutting services to different communities in the vicinity. There were altogether 7,571 people, 2,101 women and 5,470 men receiving free haircut.

4. Follow-up on vocational training students

Follow-ups were conducted on students completed the training and it was found that 80 percent of those completed the training were able to apply the skills in their jobs. Those undergoing training on Nurse Aids for Child Care were offered jobs soon after their completion. There were 15 hairdressing students opening their own salon.


YOUTH CENTER


Youth Center is another major activity of the APSW. Established almost a decade ago, the Center caters for activities for youth in the vicinity of the APSW as a means to instill in them proper attitudes towards gender equality, social responsibility and abstinence from drugs and alcohol. Among the APSW youth activities that have been organized include youth camps and training youth leaders in the area of reproductive health and rights through working with schools in Bangkok.

The latest youth program that has been launched since 2002 is the provision of reproductive health information and reproductive rights awareness raising activities as well as counseling in reproductive health matters through Teen House, the Resource Center for Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights among adolescents. The Teen House is situated in the downtown area of Bangkok.


Project : Informed Choices on Reproductive Health for Adolescents

The Youth Center completed the last year of the three year Project on supported by the World Population Foundation. The activities carried out in 2005 were as follows:

1. Pi Chuay Nong (Helping the Younger Ones) Activities

The training of the peer educators had already been completed in 2004 and the year saw awareness raising activities conducted by peer educators in the remaining 6 schools, with 441 students participating. Pi Chuay Nong were activities conducted by students leaders to raise an awareness on one selected reproductive health issue such as HIV/AIDS.

2. Support to schools in reproductive health matters

Support was given to schools participating in the project to set up facilities within the school for awareness raising and counseling on reproductive health supervised by school counselor.


Project : The World Starts with Me

The project was a continuation from the Project on Informed Choices on Reproductive Health for Adolescents supported by the World Population Foundation. The evaluation and feedback from the 60 schools that APSW was working with showed that one of the main obstacles in sex education are the lack of teaching materials as well as the methods of teaching. The project was conceived out of such findings. The computer base curriculum “ The World Starts with Me”, developed for Uganda teenagers by the World Population Foundation has been adopted. The modification to suit the Thai context was carried out by a team of teachers and students from 6 schools under the jurisdiction of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. The launching of the program in pilot schools was aimed for the year 2006.
Project : Teens for teens (project in Tsunami affected area)

The youth team had a busy schedule for the year as the Teens for Teens Project in the South took shape. The project under the support of the World Childhood Foundation worked with 10 schools and the focus was on sexual and reproductive health and rights, modeled after the project carried out in Bangkok schools. The Unilever Australasia Foundation also was keen in supporting youth activities and supported the construction of the Youth Center, which started in September 2005. The Youth Center is a multipurpose building and is located in the compound of Bangmuang Subdistrict Organization. The completion was expected in early 2006.

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH INSTITUTE


Gender and Development Research Institute (GDRI) is the research arm of the APSW. Established 15 years ago, the Gender and Development Research Institute carries out action research on policy issues including advocacy to advance the status of women and to promote gender equality


Programs / Activities in 2005

1. International Women’s Week Event
The event, organized on 3 March 2005, comprised two parts.
The first part was the award presentation ceremony in which 10 outstanding women and two outstanding organizations received the Prime Ministers’ plaques for their outstanding contribution to the national development and for women’s cause. These awardees later shared their experiences in discussion sessions. The second part covered two activities. The first was to congratulate women who had won in the national election in February 2005. The second entitled Strategies to improve the status of women featured panel discussions. The event was participated by about 1,400 government officials, NGO representatives, academics and women leaders, women and men from communities in Bangkok and different regions of the country and the media.

2. Continuing with the gender responsive documentation system on violence against women and children.
The year saw the continuing effort on the establishing a systematic documentation center on violence cases, as requested by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. A seminar was organized with the network on the documentation system and procedures. The data compiled are expected to be utilized for further research and study on violence, awareness raising as well as public policy formulation. Presentation of data and information on violence against women can be viewed on the GDRI website. (www. gdrif.org)


3. Access to justice seminar
The Gender and Development Research Institute, as a member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) organized a seminar on Access to justice in domestic violence problem on 7 October 2005. The seminar was attended by about 100 participants from different organizations and offered a rare opportunity for an exchange with Dr Yakin Ertuk, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women.

4. Following the footsteps of outstanding women Project
With the support of UNICEF, the Gender and Development Research Institute organized a series of activities to enable school students to learn from outstanding women on how they have become successful. Field visits to the site where outstanding women were stationed were also made. The activities were organized from 30 July to 20 September 2005, participated by 2,048 students, 651 boys and 1,397 girls form schools in the four regions .


PUBLIC RELATIONS AND FUND RAISING

Public Relations

Dissemination of news and information on the activities of the APSW to the media was carried out regularly. Case studies from the Emergency Home were sent to 14 popular magazines to provide lessons learned to the readers. Exhibitions were also organized on numerous occasions e.g.; International Women’s Day, Stop Violence Month Campaign, Mother’s Day, and other specially organized functions.


Fund Raising

1. Donation boxes

There were 964 donation boxes placed at different places in Bangkok and some provinces. These include banks, which account for about one third of the boxes, government offices, hospitals and corporate/business enterprises. The remaining were boxes installed in state enterprises, educational institutions and hotels.

2. Postal campaigns

There were two main target groups in the postal campaigns. One group included organizations in the corporate and business sector. The other were those whose birthdays are known to us. In this latter case, birthday greetings would be sent to them and suggestions on ways to celebrate birthdays at the APSW were made. Returns from these postal campaigns on average was about 4 percent and the revenue representing about 3 percent of the total donation received.

3. Charitable activities /fund-raising by donors

Funds were raised by many organizations for APSW. Among those included Cosmopolitan Magazine who launched a special event to commemorate their 100 th issue where proceeds were given to the Emergency Home. Many organizations such as the Government Savings Bank and a popular publisher, Yai Mai, also organized activities to the members of the Emergency Home and provided donation to APSW. Proceeds from such events were given to the APSW.

VISITS AND SUPPORT TO THE APSW


1. Visits

Visits to the APSW by interested parties included 91 groups of 3,452 persons which can be classified as follows:

Categories Number of groups Number of persons

Students (Thai)
Non-students (Thai)
Non-students (Foreign)

56
22
13
2,659
644
149
Total 91 3,452


1. Media Coverage

Different media covered the activities of APSW. Twenty four interview sessions were featured both in TV and radio programs and in magazines.

2. Assistance and Support

As a charitable organization, APSW received assistance and support from many organizations in both the public and the private sectors. Among these included the followings:

Organizations in the public sector

• Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Ministry of Public Health and the Medical Office of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration provided support for selected programs of APSW to provide assistance to women and children, accounting for about 6.7 percent of the revenue of the APSW.

• Health Center 60, Bamrasnaradoon Hospital, Nopparatrajathani Hospital, Bhumibol Hospital, Vajira Hospital and Sritanya Hospital provided services to women and children seeking medical assistance. This was in-kind support, worth about Bht 1,000,000.

Private sector

Many private/business organizations provided cash support including Siam Cement, Volvo, The Body Shop, Srifuengfoong Foundation, Ladies Mission Group, Oriflame Cosmetics among others.

Organizations in foreign countries which provided financial support for activities included :


World Childhood Foundation
Norwegian Women and family Association
World Population Foundation
UNICEF

In-kind contribution was received from different organizations such as Nestle, Premier Marketing, Poh Teck Tung Foundation, UnileverThailand Group, Packfood among others.

Donation from the general public

Generous support was received from the public. A wide range of contribution including cash, non-cash items, used clothing, books, food items was received throughout the year.

Special contribution for Teens for Teens Project in Tsunami affected area

The APSW received very kind contribution from World Childhood Foundation and Unilever Australasia Foundation for working with the youth in Tsunami affected area and the construction of the YouthCenter in Takua Pa District in Pangnga Province.


CONCLUDING REMARK

The overall effort of the APSW in 2005, whether it was on a welfare or proactive end, was successful through the good cooperation rendered by various organizations both in the public and the private sectors. Equally
important was the trust and faith the public gave to the APSW to pursue its activities to assist disadvantaged women and children.

For the days ahead, the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women still adheres to its mandate to advance the status of women and will remain a part of the effort to build a non-violent and equitable society for Thai women and men.

Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women (APSW)
under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Soamsawali


APSW Committee Members 2006 – 2009


1. Dr Suteera Vichitranonda President
President, Gender and Development Research Institute

2. Associate Professor Wimolsiri Jamnarnwej Vice President
Dean, faculty of Law, Saint John’s University

3. Khunying Nathanon Thavisin Vice President
Former Permanent Secretary, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

4. Dr Yuwat Vudhimethi Vice President
Election Commissioner, Ayudhya Province

5. Professor Emeritus Dr Pensri Bhichaisanit Secretary-General
President, Promoting Women’s Health Foundation

6. Miss Pranee Niemsakul Treasurer
Finance Manager, Women’s Friends Company

7. Miss Jaruwan Kasemsup Assistant Treasurer
Business Enterpreneur / Owner

8. Miss Prapapan Poovachensathit Registrar
Managing Director, Brain Asia Company Limited

9. Police Major-General Pojanee Sunthornket Member
Assistant Director of Health, Royal Thai Police

10. Mr. Arj Wichiencharoen Member
Managing Director, Progress Information Company Ltd

11. Mrs. Nitaya Chanruang Mahabhol Member
Committee member, Engineering Council of Thailand

12. Mr. Sumit Mekraksa Member
President, Sam Por Concrete Company Limited

13. Mrs. Reunkaew Kuiyakanon Brandt Member
Former President of the National Women’s Council of Thailand

14. Mrs. Anik Amarananda Member
Former Senior Executive from Royal Dutch Shell Group

15. Mr. Lek Yambuppha Member
President, International Law Consulting

16. Mr. Wasant Pheemuechang Member
Managing Director, Wasant Law Firm

17. Police Major Pimol Punwilai Member
Lecturer Nursing College,, Police Royal Thai Police

18. Mrs. Pongtip Phutesa Member
Director, Corporate Relations
UNILEVER Thailand

___________________


Ms Maytinee Bhongsvej Secretary to the APSW
APSW Executive Director Committee


Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women
501/1 Dechatungka Road
Donmuang
Bangkok 10210

Tel: 02 929 2301–5
Fax: 02 929 2856, 566 3481 press 0
Email : admin@apsw-thailand.org
Homepage: www. apsw-thailand.org


Kanitnaree Rape Crisis Center
Tel. 00 662 929-2222

Brief report on clients during August 1980 – April 2006

Donation for Women and Chirldren


501/1 Dechatungka Rd. Sikan Donmuang Bangkok 10210 Thailand Tel. 00 662 929-2301-07
www.apsw-thailand.org      E-mail : admin@apsw-thailand.org