On Sept 10th, 2024, Dr. Suphatmet Yunyasit was invited to share her experience as a dialogue facilitator for the topic ‘Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue Build Communities in Preserve Peace: International Context’ at the capacity building workshop entitled Women Leaders in Interreligious Engagement at the Malagos Resort, Davao City, the Philippines. This 3-day workshop was organized by the Southeast Asian women peacebuilder network supported by the International Dialogue Center-KAICIID. It was organized to be a learning and sharing platform for women peacebuilders in Southeast Asia and to equip these women with the knowledge and skills in peacebuilding using interreligious and intercultural dialogue as the key instrument. Throughout the 3-day engagement, 25 women from Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines participated in both indoor and outdoor activities that enhanced their knowledge and skills in many aspects. They learned about Davao women peacebuilder network and how the women have played a prominent role in peacebuilding initiatives as well as challenges they face. The participants discussed peacebuilding strategies, and they concluded that there are 3 cores effective strategies namely 1) to stay connected to their root or community, 2) to work beyond boundaries (be they ethnic, religious or social) and without prejudice and 3) to prioritize issues at hands. The huge obstacles are the lack of funding and being perceived as ‘not neutral’, which is a negative perception and misunderstanding others have towards them.
Later, on Sept 12th-14th, Dr. Suphatmet joined Dialogue Cities workshop. This workshop is organized by the International Dialogue Center-KAICIID to be a second regional meeting after the first meeting organized in Bangkok in March 2023. On Sept 13th Dr. Suphatmet presented the preliminary research findings from the project called Dialogue Cities: Bangkok’s IRD/ICD Landscape and Challenges, in which she worked with Dr. Poldham Chancome and Mr. Wallop Phomara, IHRP researcher. This research project is one of the 5 projects under the Dialogue Cities program supported by KAICIID. The findings are 1) there are only about 10 organizations/institutions that use interreligious and intercultural dialogue (IRD and ICD) in the city of Bangkok. Though observing key principles of dialogues and using techniques like deep listening to build trust and empathy and create safe space, these organizations use different dialogue formats. Their topics for IRD and ICD are also different. Some stress on using IRD and ICD for promoting better understanding between social groups and enhancing interreligious coexistence. Others see IRD and ICD as a transformative tool for some pressing urban issues like waste management and pollution. However, all these 10 organizations feel that dialogue is an effective tool to use for peacebuilding and conflict transformation in Thailand and in a big city like Bangkok.
