Page 8 - 5th APA Conference Program Book Final

shift it to this virtual conference. The fifth APA conference becomes the first APA virtual

conference. It was not easy to make a decision to have a virtual conference. We were

in a very uncertain time. We did not know when the pandemic will be over. Everything

was new. At that time, there was no example of how to conduct a virtual conference.

Budget was a very challenging issue for us too, amidst the resulting economic crisis

in Indonesia and everywhere in the world. People’s purchasing power may have

been dwindling. The registration fee has been much below the one during in-person

conference, and therefore the fee is too small to help the implementation of the

conference. Some participants were not interested as there was no tourist attraction.

Private companies were not interested to support as they had their own financial

challenges. Moreover, the Government of Indonesia’s budget for conference was

shifted to cope with the pandemic. Therefore, financial issue haunted us in planning

the virtual conference.

Fortunately, we later learned that the Government of Indonesia, through BKKBN

(National Population and Family Planning Board) provided funding for the operation

of the virtual conference from Jakarta. Then, Ministry of Tourism and Creative

Economy, Republic of Indonesia, also contributed to the funding for the operation

from Jakarta. We are also happy that UNFPA APRO remains committed to APA,

helping us in funding the operation of the conference from Bangkok, the location of

the APA secretariat.

All of us miss the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful Yogyakarta. However, I am sure

that all of participants continued enjoying the academic discussion in this virtual

conference. Our appreciation for all of you, the dedicated participants, who joined the

conference, though missing the beauty of Yogyakarta.

This virtual conference has eight parallel sessions, each having four breakout

rooms. Each breakout room has four sessions, except parallel sessions 7 and 8. Equally

important, we have many posters and pre-recorded video presentations, which can be

enjoyed anytime during the conference, and will be available at the Asian Population

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