Dear Friends and Co-Travelers,

As the new year looks upon us with new hopes, we appreciate all your efforts in bringing APACHA to this stage. The successful completion of 2008 was marked by combined energy, passion and commitments which proves why APACHA is growing as one of the leading advocacy agencies and the only multi-sectoral regional network of Asia. Over the period, we have raised people’s expectations and they come with greater responsibilities on our shoulders.

No network in the world has emerged in a day or two. A process of building an alliance demands commitments, passion, collective dreams and a political will to make change happen. It also demands some organic process of growth. In this sense, all our initiatives are moving towards the right direction. However, this is also the time for us to reflect on our actions and then develop further strategies to move ahead.

For some time, we focused on building our constituencies at the ground level, which for us is the most legitimate strength. Then, we shifted our focus to regional and global levels. At the moment, we can say that we are at a balanced state in alliance building process with a firm belief that we have gained significant visibility at the country, regional and international levels. We can also take an opportunity to say that we are developing ourselves as the "Watch Dog" in the region.

Our country chapters, besides their regular activities and campaigns, are preparing for their next phase of journey. Cambodia is leading many innovative researches, Pakistan is growing as one of the largest networks in Pakistan, Bangladesh is coming up as watch dog along with its policy dialogues, press conference and reality check reports, Vietnam is preparing to develop its well organized systems, India is gearing up for national consultation for wider coverage, Nepal is restructuring its systems to cope up with new challenges; and Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia are beginning their dialogues with other stakeholders to ground their initiatives. We also feel pride that Afghanistan process is successfully moving ahead. The engagements of our country chapters in various on-going broader social movements and campaigns to ensure rights, justice and dignity of people give a sense of satisfaction as well as enlarged responsibilities. This explains why at this time we are in a process of expanding our constituencies in other countries as well.

We are also happy to share that some new and credible national, regional, global organizations and institutions have expressed their interest to work with us. At present, we already have good organizations and networks with us. Nevertheless, we are always cautious when it comes to partnership, as under no pretext, we can compromise the interest of the poor and the most marginalized sections of society. We forge partnership with those who are committed to bringing the poor and the most marginalized to occupy the center stage.

As we move along with 2009, let us feel happy that together we have been able to establish the mission. At the same time, let’s realize that the challenge looming over us is to sustain them and take them forward in the region with combined actions.

We thank all our partners, well-wishers and contributors for making this journey a success. Let's welcome 2009 with more enthusiasm, commitment and passion.

In solidarity, On behalf of APACHA Team,
Prabodh Devkota Asia Coordinator APACHA	Dr. Joe Thomas Chairperson APACHA Executive Committee