·        Principal Secretary of BKKBN;

·        Assistant Director of Bureau of Economic and Functional Cooperation of ASEAN Secretariat;

·        ITP Participants;

·        Facilitators and Organizers;

·        Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good Afternoon,

1.     Before we come to the formal closing of this international training program, by DR. Lalu Sudarmadi, Principal Secretary of BKKBN, let me shortly report to this forum on how this course went on, and to day, comes to the end.

2.     When this international training program was about to be officially opened by H.E. State Minister for Women Empowerment/Chairperson of BKKBN, it was reported by the Deputy for Training and Development that the objective of this international training program is to have contributed to improved effective approaches and implementation of development programs related to poverty alleviation in the context of rural development of ASEAN countries.

3.     In other words, it is hoped that upon returning home from attending this training, every participant will be able to contribute to develop more effective approaches and implementation of development programs related to poverty alleviation in their respective countries.

4.     Of course, contribution to back home program is possible if learning process has taken place during the training. For that, our very basic and simple question is has a learning process occurred during this two-week training? Since learning process is naturally an individual event, so whether the learning process has taken place during this training, can only be answered by each of our distinguished participants.

5.     Related to the learning process, hearing the recommendations and lessons learned that have been presented by every participating countries, I am not cheating, if I report that learning process has taken place during this training, so the objective of this training to some certain extent is achieved.

6.     What is certain is the fact that this training is about to end to day. I personally observe that the way we associate, communicate, and share to each other has changed and improved. Our communication becomes more frequent, intensive, friendly, and qualitative. I have heard some of us have a plan to meet again in the future. In other words, I am right to report that the ASEAN spirit and brotherhood through this training has been enhanced and strengthened, and of course, this is an important result and value added to this training.

7.     And to our side, the organizing committee of this training, we have tried our best to facilitate both the process and every component of this training to make it the most conducive to learning. But then, whether all the agendas that we have gone through have been supportive to learning, much depend on the participant’s individual evaluation and utilization.

8.     As to the lessons learned and back home recommendations that the participants have made, we will consolidate it and incorporate it into our report. So that, we - the government of Indonesia in collaboration with ASEAN Secretariat- can further develop it into proposals for future programs both at the country and regional levels of ASEAN.

9.     Now, let me take this opportunity to extend our thanks and gratitude to ASEAN Secretariat, without your continuos and productive support, this international training program would have been impossible. For Pak Chou, Pak Rahman and Ibu Rimta, your friendly and warm collaboration with us is unforgettable, and honestly appreciated.

10.            Dear participants, We have been together for 12 days. You all have been so tolerant, understanding, and collaborative to the things that sometime were not so friendly to you. We have spent a wonderful time together, especially, when we were in the field, sharing together and trying to consolidate what we have observed for strainlining our understanding. And more so, when went relaxing performing the songs and dances. Those cultural and social events that we have gone through together are integrated parts of our training strategy. We believe that a training program, for adult like us, will be unproductive if there is no entertainment and relaxation. It is an evidence base that Enter-Educate (entertaining and educating) is the most effective approach for adult learning. Now, you are about to leave for home, let me end this report by saying one single message for you : “if you found something good in our program, please convey it to your boss and your colleagues, but if you found something bad, please tell us, and I promise when you come again next time, we will make it better”.

11. Lastly, I would like to kindly request Yth. Bapak Lalu Sudarmadi, the Principal Secretary of BKKBN, to formally close this ASEAN Training Program.

Thank you.