Re: 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum:

It's great to hear that 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive

and Sexual Health and Rights is being held in India from October 29-31, 2007 in

Hyderabad.

It is also great to know that the Conference Organizing Committee consists of

some of the prominent organizations working on HIV/AIDS prevention and care in

India.

However, what disappoints me is extremely high Registration Fee, which is 12,900

INR considering that the Conference is being organized in a developing country;

it is " Asia Pacific " Conference in which majority of the countries belong to the

low income category; and considering that there is no separate fee structure for

Student from various universities.

Though the Conference boasts to offer 220 full scholarships, the " Recommendation

Clause " in the application form is something peculiar. To be eligible to apply

for a scholarship, one must have a Recommending person from outside one's own

organization.

Does the possibility of getting a scholarship then depends on how strong the

recommendation is? Or how well-known the Referee is?

Since almost all the organizations in the Conference Organizing

Committee are a part of this e-Forum, I would greatly appreciate if it

is explained why university students will not have a separate registration fee

structure for attending this Conference?

Sincerely

Subir Kole

e-mail: <subirkole@...>

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Re: /message/7594

The 4thAPCRSH will award a total of 800 scholarships out of a total of 1200

expected participants and they will be awarded to different categories:

1. Presenting authors of the abstracts that have been selected for

the Conference

2. participants to the Asia Pacific Village

3. NGOs which are active in the field of sexual and reproductive health and

rights

4. Special category in which the delegates are requested to specify their status

as applicants.

If it is true that the candidates have to provide the name of a

Reccommending person, they are also requested to present a statement of purpose

(SOP).

The Reccomending clause in itself it is not a major criteria for the

selection of the candidates, where the SOP will play a much bigger role.

Besides this I would like to bring to your attention that the 4thAPCRSH does not

have a policy of special registration fee because of the presence of 800

scholarships. Students are very much invited to apply under the 'special

category' group.

The deadline for scholarship application form submission is July 31, 2007 and I

would like to invite everyone to start preparing their SOP and to apply in time

as there will be no extension.

Regards,

Francesca Barolo

Coordinator 4thAPCRSH

email: 4thapcrsh@...