Roundtable Project

In a meeting held on 12 February 2009, the PFSA board decided to convene a series of roundtable sessions on 5 major topics. Each session will have 4 to 6 Fulbrighters, plus another Fulbrighter as moderator. Each session will last for at least one hour and at most two hours.

The objective of each session is to come up with a few concrete and specific ideas for doable actions to solve some of the problems involved in the topic. The topics are: the financial crisis, education, culture, corruption, and constitution change.

Each session will be taped. To allow for participation by Fulbrighters outside Manila or the Philippines, we will set up teleconferencing facilities (using Skype). After editing, the transcripts will be posted on our blog and other appropriate sites on the web; they will also be sent in soft copy form to concerned government and/or private sector entities that can implement the ideas generated.

PFSA is in a unique position to hold these sessions, because we have members in government and in the private sector. We have members that are pro-administration and anti-administration, young and not-so-young, scientists and artists, and so on. We have members in the media that can help disseminate the results of the project. We also have some of the best minds in the country and the world today. The project will cost very little on the part of PFSA (just food, transcription and editing costs); this is the reason for using the Web and soft copies.

If you wish to volunteer for any of the sessions, please do so on or before the end of February. We will start inviting participants in March, and we will hold the sessions in April and May.