PANABO CITY – Davao del Norte State College (DNSC) sent faculty member Sunshine D. Enaguas to the 9th Annual Regional Lecturer Workshop on August 18–21, 2025, at the Mandarin Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. The international gathering convened 20 educators from across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to exchange ideas, sharpen teaching practices, and deepen understanding of the complex intersections of human rights, gender, and migration.
Initiated and supported by the ASEAN University Network – Human Rights Education (AUN-HRE), Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, the Norwegian Center for Human Rights of the University of Oslo, and the Strengthening Human Rights and Peace Research and Education in ASEAN/Southeast Asia program, the four-day workshop served as a platform for transformative learning and collaboration.
On the opening day, Prof. Surya Deva, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development and professor at Macquarie Law School, unpacked the contemporary relevance of the right to development, stressing the urgency of people-centered and rights-based approaches to sustainable progress. His lecture was followed by William Gois, Regional Coordinator of Migrant Forum in Asia, who steered discussions on migration discourse, governance, and its strong links to development.
The second day placed gender at the forefront with Dr. Duanghathai Buranajaroenkij of the Asian Institute of Technology examining power dynamics, knowledge production, and the need to amplify marginalized voices. Lively group activities enabled participants to apply intersectional frameworks to their local contexts, enriching the dialogues on human rights.
Day three introduced innovative teaching methods through transformative pedagogies and the Community of Philosophical Enquiry (CoPE), facilitated by Dr. Vachararutai Boontinand of Mahidol University and Mr. Pii Arporniem. Participants immersed themselves in engaging exercises designed to spark critical thinking and foster deeper classroom discussions on sensitive rights-related topics.
The final day culminated with presentations where participants designed teaching modules rooted in rights-based education. DNSC’s group showcased a course session on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Knowledge, outlining clear learning objectives, activities, and assessments that reflect inclusive and values-driven education.
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