by The Asia Foundation | September 13, 2023 | Events
Critical materials are the foundations of the technologies on which modern life depends. These metals and materials are crucial for a green transition because they are used in everything from electric vehicles to batteries and wind turbines, among other energy-efficient technologies. In June 2023, The Asia Foundation and the Perth USAsia Centre brought together specialists from the Republic of Korea, Australia, and the United States, representing industry, academia, and the think tank communities, to discuss trilateral opportunities to secure future energy resources, collaborative efforts to support the development and supply of critical materials and the challenges and risks of supply chain disruptions. This two-day discussion produced a report, What a Clean Energy Future Demands: Massive Shift in Global Supply Chains, Critical Materials with recommendations on how trilateral cooperation can help build scalable, sustainable, and secure supply chains needed to tackle one of today’s most significant global challenges. Join us for the release of the report.
Featuring
Gordon Flake, founding Chief Executive Officer, Perth USAsia Centre, The University of Western Australia
Dr. Adam Simon, Arthur F. Thurnau, Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan.
Dr. Kyungjin Song, Executive Director, Innovative Economy Forum
Stanford’s Amb. Scot Marciel, former Ambassador to Myanmar and Indonesia, will discuss prospects of a “new Cold War” and how to avert it with The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Thailand Thomas Parks. A long-time resident in Thailand, Parks will present themes from his brand-new book, Southeast Asia’s Multipolar Future: Averting a New Cold War, including the role of Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations in a world where US-China competition dominates news headlines.
Featuring
Thomas Parks, Country Representative, Thailand, and ASEAN program manager, The Asia Foundation Ambassador Scot Marciel, Oksenberg-Rohlen Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, US Ambassador to Indonesia from 2010 to 2013, and Myanmar from 2016 to 2020.
Strengthening Care Policies and Intersectional Movements for Care Justice
In recent years, ongoing conflicts and crises have spurred the urgent need for action and political will to support a resilient care economy. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility, inadequacy, and injustice of the global childcare, eldercare, and disability care infrastructure. This has been exacerbated by more frequent climate emergencies and conflicts. Women’s disproportionate share of unpaid care responsibilities increased significantly due to school and daycare closures, heightened eldercare and disability care needs, lockdowns, and other disruptions. As a result, women were forced to reduce their work hours or drop out of the labor force entirely to meet their care demands. Many girls have not returned to school due to increased caregiving and domestic responsibilities, and early marriage. Despite these ongoing challenges, the care economy remains underinvested and understudied, particularly among resource-constrained countries.
Building on the Bali Care Economy Dialogue in November 2022 and recent regional and global convenings focused on care, the pre-conference will elevate regional perspectives on care while specifically focusing on concrete, tangible actions for change and lifting up intersectional movements for care justice.
The Women Deliver 2023 Pre-Conference on the Care Economy is a collaboration across a consortium of partners. It is co-organized by Women Deliver, The Asia Foundation, the Center for Global Development, WeProsper Coalition, and the International Labour Organization, in partnership with the Cadmus Group, the Early Childhood Development Action Network, Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice, FEMNET, the Global Alliance for Care, the Hilton Foundation, the International Development Research Centre, the International Rescue Committee, Municipality of Bogota, Moving Minds Alliance, Pro Mujer, Sonke Gender Justice, and the UN Women Asia-Pacific Regional Office.
The Asia Foundation Convenes Pioneering Panel on Connectivity for Vulnerable Groups
Trust and safety professionals worldwide are anticipating TrustCon 2023, a global conference focused on the safety of online platforms and communities. This year, The Asia Foundation is hosting a panel on July 11, 2023, entitled “Reducing Misinformation and Other Harms: A Conversation with Global South Non-profit Organizations” to provide an important dimension in understanding the complexities of the threat landscape.
Effective prevention of online harm requires collaboration and partnership among a diverse group of companies, governments, and organizations. Working on the front lines of digital safety, nonprofits – often operating under challenging political conditions – have played a crucial role in bridging gaps to address online harms. Providing the perspective from different corners of the Global South, the panel features four distinguished experts, including:
Jonathan Ong is an associate professor of Global Digital Media at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst and a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center. His research focuses on global media ethics, digital politics, and the anthropology of humanitarianism. He has authored three books and over 25 journal articles, utilizing ethnography to understand the social identities and work arrangements of “paid trolls” and political public relations strategists in disinformation studies. Jonathan is renowned for his collaboration with humanitarian and human rights organizations, and his popular podcast, “Catch Me If You Can,” gained recognition as one of Spotify’s Top 5% Most Followed Podcasts globally in 2022.
Tilak Prasad Pathak is the executive director of the Center for Media Research Nepal (CMR Nepal), a research-oriented think tank with a strong commitment to freedom of expression and ethical media practices. Working closely with The Asia Foundation, as a partner organization in Nepal, CMR is one of the implementers for USAID’s Civil Society and Media Activity (CSM) in Nepal. Mr. Pathak has also been involved in research on Provincial Misinformation Monitoring and the Nepal Misinformation Landscape. He has co-authored several books/research reports, including Press and Civic Freedom Index (2022), Shrinking Media Space (2022), and Media Coverage of Nepali Labor Migrants During Covid-19 Pandemic (2020).
Mochamad Mustafa is the program director for Democracy and Governance at The Asia Foundation in Indonesia, with over 15 years of development experience. As the program director, he leads a portfolio of programs that promote tolerance, peace, freedom of religion and beliefs, democratic resilience, inclusive democracy, and digital literacy for micro and small enterprises. Most recently, he spearheaded a program to train influencers in vulnerable communities to act as citizen journalists and counter-message misinformation directly in their community. Mustafa’s expertise extends to critical areas such as gender equality, women’s empowerment, local governance, sociopolitical issues, regulatory reform, counter-violence extremism, freedom of religion and beliefs, and tolerance promotion.
Prihesh Ratnayake, the head of Social Media Analysis at Hashtag Generation, collaborates closely with The Asia Foundation as a partner organization in Sri Lanka. Leading a passionate team of socially conscious Sri Lankans, Prihesh drives Hashtag Generation’s movement for meaningful civic and political engagement, with a particular focus on empowering youth. Leveraging the power of social and new media tools, they raise awareness and foster dialogue on critical social issues and pioneered efforts to develop a comprehensive approach for analyzing harmful speech online. Their impactful initiatives encompass promoting youth participation in decision-making, strengthening women’s civic and political engagement, and combating cyber threats such as misinformation and online hate speech.
Amelinda Pandu Kusumaningtyas is a research coordinator at the Center for Digital Society at Universitas Gadjah Mada, specializing in studying misinformation, disinformation, social changes, challenges in the digital era, and everyday feminism. She holds vast expertise in combatting misinformation prevalent in Indonesia. Her project portfolio encompasses a range of significant endeavors, such as Social Media 4 Peace and Social Media Content Moderation in Indonesia, Public Perception on Covid-19 Vaccine, Teenage-related Cyberbullying Cases in Indonesia, and Integrity of Election Ads and Campaigns on Social Media.
The panel is organized by The Asia Foundation’s Digital Technology, Policy, and Innovation team. To learn more about our work, please contact Toni Friedman at [email protected].
The Asia Foundation recently released a publication—On the Right Tack—which highlights six stories on using coalitions to achieve reform in different contexts. The publication captures stories from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Thailand, highlighting how diverse groups and stakeholders came together to work and address critical social issues in the region.
The launch brought together coalition leaders from Nepal, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines who shared their experiences and learnings about working in coalitions.
Featured Rehana Akter Ruma, Head of Projects and Program, Bangladesh Tanners Association Melisha Ghimire, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Shequal Foundation, Nepal Robert Y. Siy, Transport and Planning Expert Samitha Aluwihare, CEO, East Timor Trading Group
With conflict risks on the rise across Asia and the Pacific and geopolitical tensions mounting, the region has witnessed rising authoritarianism and receding democratic norms in recent years. Numerous political leaders have looked to bypass checks and balances on power, while identity-based campaigning has fomented chauvinist violence. Adding to an already difficult situation, the costs and consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and recent inflation have fueled mass frustrations with apparent economic inequalities, while the complicated impacts of online media and the growing effects of climate change further fuel volatility.
Despite these destabilizing trends, data presented in The Asia Foundation’s 2021 State of Conflict and Violence in Asia report shows that fatalities from civil wars and organized violence have declined significantly in recent decades. Given the rapid development of the region, governments have become more capable of ensuring security and stabilizing internal unrest. These gains have largely been achieved domestically, given limited international intervention and a minimal UN peacebuilding presence. At the same time, violence reduction through imposed security comes at a cost. Where underlying tensions simmer, the risk of future conflict remains.
Please join this in-person event hosted by The Asia Foundation, which supports local efforts to improve engagement between governments and citizens, for a discussion of these trends, featuring experts from Pakistan, the Philippines, and respected regional analysts—including specialists from the Foundation’s regional Conflict and Fragility team.
Featuring Sidney Jones, Senior Adviser, Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, Indonesia; Adjunct Associate Professor, New York University Azeema Cheema, Founding Director, Verso Consulting, Pakistan Adam Burke, Senior Director, Conflict and Fragility, The Asia Foundation Kathline Tolosa, Senior Program Officer, Peace and Stability, The Asia Foundation, Philippines
Moderator Kim McQuay, Managing Director, Program Specialists Group, The Asia Foundation
As Asia and the Pacific emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, the combined effects of economic disruption, health consequences, rising incidence of gender-based violence, increased unpaid caregiving responsibilities, and the additional burdens of conflict and climate change continue to fall disproportionately on women, girls, and disadvantaged populations. Senior Director for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Jane Sloane, discusses trends, promising approaches, and imperatives regarding women’s rights, opportunities, and security. She focuses on girls’ and women’s climate leadership, advancing the women, peace, and security agenda, combating trafficking and GBV, strengthening girls’ leadership and educational attainment, fostering women’s labor force participation, and applying a gender equality and social inclusion lens to closing gender gaps, through a focus on the care economy.
Featuring Jane Sloane, Senior Director of the Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Program, The Asia Foundation Kim McQuay, Managing Director, Program Specialists Group, The Asia Foundation
Between 2001 and 2021, Indonesia lost over 28 million hectares (69 million acres) of forest—an area larger than New Zealand, according to Global Forest Watch. This impacts traditional communities and falls particularly hard on women, who suffer disproportionately from displacement, disempowerment, and loss of land and livelihoods. As the largest country in Southeast Asia, Indonesia’s forests and peatlands store enormous quantities of carbon, critical to global efforts to combat climate change.
Fostering women’s climate leadership is critical to addressing the climate crisis. Given that women are at the front lines of the impact of deforestation, they are also best placed to respond with strategies and solutions. Especially at the local level, empowering and enabling women climate leaders to thrive increases the likelihood of better resource management and conservation outcomes. Women often have different relationships and networks than men that can further the work of slowing climate change. Including women in climate change processes has resulted in more stringent emissions policies at the national level.
The Asia Foundation’s environmental governance program in Indonesia promotes regulatory and law enforcement reforms to protect communities whose livelihoods heavily depend on traditional forest resources. The program invests in providing women with the tools and resources to assume forest defender roles traditionally given to men and facilitating communities’ governance and protection of their forests. This commitment has resulted in more women environmental leaders in these communities who have the knowledge, skills, and expertise to protect the forest from illegal miners, poachers, and loggers and to increase sustainable livelihoods for women. Join us to discuss environmental governance, social forestry, and the Foundation’s work in Indonesia with local partners, HAkA, and the Aceh Women Forest Defenders Movement.
Featuring Ambassador Robert Blake, Senior Director, McLarty Associates, and former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Rahpriyanto Alam Surya Putra, Program Director, Environmental Governance, The Asia Foundation, Indonesia Farwiza Farhan, Co-founder and Director, HAkA; Siumini, Head, LPHD Damaran Baru, Aceh Women Forest Defenders Movement Jane Sloane, (moderator) Senior Director, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, The Asia Foundation
This virtual event with author Ambassador Scot Marciel will discuss his newly released book, Imperfect Partners: The United States and Southeast Asia.
Imperfect Partners is a unique hybrid—part memoir, part foreign policy study of U.S. relations with Southeast Asia, a critically important region that has become the central arena in the global U.S.-China competition. From the People Power revolt in the Philippines to the opening of diplomatic relations with Vietnam, from building a partnership with newly democratic Indonesia to responding to genocide in Myanmar and coups in Thailand, Scot Marciel was present and involved. His direct involvement and deep knowledge of the region, along with his extensive policymaking work in Washington, allows him to bring to life the complexities and realities of key events and U.S. responses, along with rare insights into U.S. foreign policy decision-making and the work of American diplomats in the field.
On Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital
6 PM to 8 PM PT
DPR Construction, 945 Front St, San Francisco, CA
Join The Asia Foundation as we welcome author and journalist Elise Hu to celebrate the release of her non-fiction debut, Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital. Elise will be joined by Jane Sloane, senior director for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality at The Asia Foundation. They will examine how gender inequality erodes opportunities for social, political, cultural, and economic advancement. Jane will also discuss the Foundation’s work supporting women entrepreneurs in South Korea. The conversation will be moderated by Mina Kim, host of KQED’s The Forum.
The book is a journalistic exploration of the global rise of Korean beauty (skincare, cosmetics, surgery) alongside the cultural spread of Hallyu, the Korean cultural wave. It raises questions about the enduring power of standardized beauty, how that intersects with commercial imperatives, and where we go from here when technology is making our exteriors so vital. As an Asian-American woman with a background in geopolitical reporting, Elise highlights the voices and insights from the hundreds of Korean women she interviewed to change what empowerment looks and feels like. Mina Kim will talk with Elise about the book and how we can change appearance expectations and claim a more inclusive, intersectional, and community-centered ethic around “self-care.”
Buy the book and get it signed by Elise at the event! Our local bookstore partner, Sausalito Books by the Bay, will be on hand with hardcover copies available for signing.
