The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality aims to increase knowledge and scholarship on the issues of sexuality, sexual health, and sexual well-being in this region. The Resource Centre focuses on sexuality-related work in China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines, and Vietnam. A regional Advisory Committee provides inputs on country-specific needs. Similar centres are located in Africa, Latin America, and the United States. The Centre serves as a space for activists, advocates, practitioners, and researchers to better understand, examine, and expand upon the complex issues surrounding debates on sexuality and develop region-specific strategic interventions.

Among the Centre's various activities, The Visiting Scholars/Practitioners Program is a four week long program in New Delhi, India for nominated Scholars/Practitioners from China, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam to deepen their work and understanding of issues related to sexuality. As a result of this program, we hope Scholars/Practitioners will build their capacity as practitioners, scholars, and activists to further develop and improve upon the work they are doing and share country-level experiences and strategies with each other across the different countries in the region. The visit will provide exposure to a variety of organizations, government agencies, and individuals working in India on sexuality, giving the Scholars/Practitioners an opportunity to share their experiences and apply them to the discourse on sexual health and well-being in the region. As part of the program, the Scholars/Practitioners can pursue ongoing work, writing projects, and research interests.

So far, we have hosted scholars from China, Thailand and The Philippines and therefore particularly encourage applications from Indonesia and Vietnam for this round of the programme.

We are hoping to have the third set of Scholars/Practitioners in Delhi from January 3 - February 2, 2005.

An ideal Scholar/Practitioner is an individual who:

• Is an activist/advocate/practitioner/researcher currently working on issues of sexuality, gender, and reproductive health fields
• Has an established record of working on sexuality-related issues
• Has a sustained interest in working on sexuality-related issues
• Has an excellent level of written and spoken English language fluency
• Is willing to spend four weeks in New Delhi, India
• Is able to work, communicate, and adapt to different cultural contexts easily
• Will contribute to Resource Centre activities

Because of your background and expertise on sexuality-related issues, we are requesting you to nominate individuals that you know would be interested in this program from China, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam. We will conduct phone interviews with short-listed candidates after we have received all the applications. Attached, you will find more information on the Resource Centre, the requirements and expectations of the Visiting Scholars/Practitioners program, and the application form. Please complete the nominator section of the form before forwarding it to nominees.

The application should be turned into TARSHI by December 1, 2004. For the application and if you have any questions or need further information, please contact resourcecentre@tarshi.com.