The Asia-Pacific Working Group (APWG) held a productive annual meeting on June 25 and 26, 2019 in Ottawa where in total 34 people participated from 17 organizations. The event was followed by a strategic Joint Dialogue with Global Affairs Canada’s Asia Pacific Branch, where 33 government officials also participated in the discussions.

On the first day, APWG members gathered at CCIC to discuss the humanitarian-development nexus with panelists Tess Bayombong (Care Canada), Jesse Augustin (Development and Peace), Dilip Chinnakonda (CECI) and Grace Wiebe (World Renew), moderated by Aislynn Row (Humanitarian Response Network-CCIC). Security, peace and human rights in the Asia-Pacific region were the topics of another debate, with Nikki Richard (Inter Pares) and Rachel Warden (KAIROS Canada), moderated by Andréanne Martel (from the CCIC-CASID Next Generation program).The joint dialogue with GAC had opening remarks by Jess Augustin (Development and Peace), Maggie Zeng (Christian Children’s Fund of Canada), Monika Surma and Sarah Taylor (both from Global Affairs Canada), with a trends overview for Asia-Pacific. Next, participants joined breakout sessions on failed and conflict-affected states and development; humanitarian and development assistance; and human rights and development.

A Joint APWG-GAC Report will be published in the coming weeks summarizing the main points of discussion, key takeaways and recommendations.