SDI/Unimas forum to help Penan community in Long Lamai

KUCHING: A forum on ‘ Un i v e r s i t y - C ommu n i t y Partnership for Indigenous Community Resilience’ will be held at Wisma Bapa Malaysia in Petra Jaya today.

Jointly organised by Sarawak Development Institute ( SDI) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas), the halfday forum aims to educate participants on how to build upon research conducted to enhance and strengthen the infrastructural needs of the Penan community in Long Lamai, upper Baram.

It is also to explore the feasibility of developing a Service and Learning Centre to promote lifelong learning and sustainable eco-tourism.

According to a statement from the organiser, this universitycommunity partnership is developed between Long Lamai community members, Unimas’ Institute of Social Informatics and Technological Innovation and Cornell University’s Department of Natural Resources and Public Service Centre.

At the forum, community representatives and the civil society organisations that work with them are expected to learn how university- community partnerships can contribute to their goals.

Besides, government officials will learn about the grassroots’ demand for resilience- oriented development among underserved communities.

For university representatives, they will gain insights into how they can fulfil their obligations for community engagement, how and why to adopt servicelearning for enhanced knowledge, and how to stimulate research that can have real-world impact beyond academia.