For ALL Women and Girls: Yanin Supasa on How Creating Safe and Inclusive Spaces Empower Women and Advances Peace and Resilient Communities
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Author: Phurinat Tinnam
#ForAllWomenandGirls is a rallying call for action on the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Yanin Supasa, president of the Salaloi community, is leading the establishment of the newest Women's Empowerment Centre in Surin Province, Thailand—a border province with Cambodia, 428 kilometers northeast of Bangkok—dedicated to uplifting and supporting women in the community. As a key figure behind the launch of the new UN Women centre, Yanin is creating spaces where women can connect, learn, and grow.
Strength in Community: How Women within a Community Are Coming Together to Learn, Share, and Thrive
Yanin lives in the Salaloi community in Surin Province, where every Friday, a group of women gathers to share knowledge and engage in activities that enrich their lives, fostering intergenerational dialogue with younger women in the community. Experts, including government representatives, are often invited to provide valuable insights on various topics, such as cybersecurity and technology literacy training.
“When women come together, we don’t just share space—we share wisdom. That’s how we grow,” says Yanin. This powerful belief is the driving force behind the new Women's Empowerment Centre in Surin—an inspiring initiative dedicated to providing a permanent, inclusive space where women can gather, collaborate, and uplift one another.
Creating Safe and Enabling Spaces: The Key to Empowering Women, Fostering Inclusion, and Advancing Peace and Resilient Communities
For Yanin, true empowerment goes beyond occasional gatherings—it’s about building something lasting.
“It’s not just about meeting up; it’s about having a place we can call our own—a space where women can create, contribute, and be heard,” she explains.
The new Women's Empowerment Centre is bringing this vision to life. It serves as a critical convening space for the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) network, providing a platform to discuss pressing WPS issues, foster meaningful dialogue, and strengthen collective advocacy efforts. Additionally, the center offers a permanent hub where women can take ownership of their growth and economic opportunities. More than just a meeting space, it has become a thriving hub for entrepreneurship, where women sell handcrafted products and tailored fabrics and even offer showering services to community members.
By creating a space that nurtures both community and opportunity, Yanin and the center’s members are fostering long-term inclusion and empowerment—ensuring that women are not just participants, but key drivers of change.
The Women’s Empowerment Centre in Surin was officially launched on March 3, 2025, in partnership with the Government of Thailand and civil society organizations. The centre exemplifies strong and impactful collaboration, with the government identifying and providing the location, while UN Women, NET Foundation, and civil society organizations revitalized and transformed it into a thriving, sustainable, and multipurpose hub for women’s empowerment.
The Surin Centre is one of six UN Women-supported centres, operating in Chiang Rai, Pattani, and Yala provinces. These centres have been funded and strengthened through contributions from the governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Korea under the project ‘Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace in ASEAN’. Similarly, the Government of Australia has supported the establishment of these centres through the ‘Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies in Asia and the Pacific’.
Starting with 20 members, the centre envisions expanding its network beyond Surin Province, connecting with communities in other northeastern border provinces to foster collaboration, enhance social cohesion, create economic opportunities, and build a broader movement of women supporting women in advancing peace and resilience.
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