CALD Organises WEB 2.0 Workshop To Strengthen Freedom and Democracy

In this day and age, political communication serve as a vital component in connecting people to ideas and issues, and in providing a bridge between organisations and political parties to citizens and constituencies.

The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) recently concluded its 6th communications workshop with the theme “Strengthening Political Communication and Campaigns: Asian Democracies in the Age of Web 2.0” in Hong Kong.

Held on 2-5 September 2009, the event was organised in cooperation with the Democratic Party of Hong Kong (DPHK) and with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF). Dr. Pimrapaat Dusadeeisariyakul, FNF Malaysia project manager, attended the workshop as a representative of the FNF regional office for Southeast and East Asia.

In her opinion, Web 2.0 has transformed and continues to advance the landscape for political communication through the development of web-based communities and applications that encourage the active participation of the user in customising media and technology for their own purposes.

Participants from twelve countries representing CALD member parties and partners attended the event.

Ms. Belinda Winterbourne, resident programme manager of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)---a CALD partner that has worked with CALD on several political party workshops, was also present.

The workshop aimed to understand Web 2.0 and the new technologies shaping political communication and campaign strategies, to assess the capacities of CALD member parties to tap into and use new media more widely and effectively, and to craft clear guidelines for new media, innovative communication strategies that member parties of CALD and CALD as an organisation can adopt and use for party development and campaigns.

During the opening of the workshop, Dr. Albert Ho Chun Yan, chairperson of DPHK, extended his warmest welcome to all participants on behalf of his party and shared a sneak peak of the democratic reforms and struggles they are currently facing in Hong Kong. Mr. Siegfried Herzog, resident representative of FNF office in Manila, also gave his welcome remarks on behalf of the liberal foundation and gave a brief background about FNF and how it is helping CALD and other organisations in promoting the ideals of liberalism and democracy in Asia.

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