By Kim McQuay

There is an instant before the start of a large event when, with logistical arrangements set and the agenda fine tuned, attention shifts to participants. One draws a breath and wonders what the chemistry of personalities, perspectives, and experience will yield. So I reflected at the start of last week’s regional conference on the role of leaders of influence in national development efforts in Dhaka. Over 80 participants representing 14 South, Southeast, and Central Asian nations sat in country teams, a human landscape of traditional white and saffron robes, capes, and headscarves, elegant saris and shalwar kameez, colorful batiks, and jackets and ties. Microphones crackled to life from the podium, and the session began.

Convened by The Asia Foundation and USAID, the conference provided a forum where those gathered could share views and experience drawn from different country contexts and working environments.
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Upon their return from the Leaders of Influence (LOI) regional conference in Dhaka March 21-24 that convened over 80 participants from 14 countries, In Asia spoke with Rosita MacDonald, program officer for The Asia Foundation’s Governance, Law, and Civil Society program, and Russell Pepe, chief of party for the LOI program in Bangladesh, on what they heard.

Q: Was there a sense from conference participants that progress has been made since U.S. President Obama’s much-heralded Cairo speech last year in which he declared the U.S.’s commitment to reengage with the Muslim community?

Rosita MacDonald: There was a lot of talk from the U.S. delegation about the shift to enhanced engagement with the Muslim community as well as with other religious communities. This point was acknowledged by several of the delegates, but they also made the point that the U.S. needs to be more effective in its public diplomacy efforts in Asia and to highlight tangible examples of engagement with, and support for, the Muslim world. There is optimism to be sure, but still a lot of uncertainty as to what this “engagement” actually involves and how deep it runs.

Russell Pepe: Participants were encouraged by President Obama’s speech, but several also expressed a need to see more concrete actions. LOI was cited as a very good example of how the U.S. can support a wider engagement with the Muslim community, and can effectively build bridges between different faiths and secular groups.
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By Faria Naz Hossain

I had the privilege of being a part of the Leaders of Influence (LOI) program implemented by The Asia Foundation at the very beginning in 2004.

I clearly remember the day when I went to the Imam Training Academy (ITA) in Dhaka during the early days of the LOI program. Upon entering the room, I could see 50 faces tighten as they realized they were expected to interact on issues like HIV/AIDS prevention and maternity health awareness, issues then considered taboo to discuss in an open forum, especially with a woman around. On one occasion, the imams refused to have a woman LOI trainer during their orientation program.
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By Lee Kyung-sook

In early March, the Cambodian government imposed a provisional ban on international marriages to Korean nationals. The purpose – as reported in a formal document to the Korean Embassy – was “to prevent the trafficking of Cambodian women.”

The business of Korean international marriage brokers boomed in the last decade. In 2005, marriages to foreigners accounted for 14 percent of all marriages in South Korea. Marrying women from developing countries, such as Cambodia, became increasingly popular in Korea as more Korean women from rural areas moved to cities to pursue work opportunities, making it more difficult for the remaining rural male population to find marriageable Korean women. In March 2008, the Cambodian government, citing fears of human trafficking due to falsely brokered marriages, banned marriage-brokering all together, allowing only “love matches.”
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By Silas Everett

Last week, Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Justice released an initial draft law on state financial legal assistance, signaling a bold new initiative for the government. The law outlines a mechanism through which private lawyers can be paid by the state for their legal services in a court process, either criminal or civil, when representing clients unable to afford such services on their own. The law foresees private lawyers submitting applications to the presiding judge for payment of their fees.

The Ministry of Justice’s move to finance legal assistance runs contrary to criticisms often levied at international assistance programs; chiefly, that such aid breeds dependency and erodes local initiative. Instead, we have here a case where although donor funds were initially used to build the legal aid sector, the government’s recent moves demonstrate its resolve to support its side of the development partnership.
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By Jill Kosch O’Donnell

The recent news from Korea that the country is stepping up cooperation with Denmark on energy efficient and renewable technologies marked the latest triumph in President Lee Myung-bak’s push to build international support for his green growth vision. In Seoul, Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen said that Korea’s green growth plan can serve as a model for the world. The announcement was emblematic of the Lee administration’s growing global posture. Korea is aiming to be the first “me” in what Lee has called the “me first” approach to climate change, referring to the need for nations to take the initiative instead of waiting for others to act first.

President Lee has described his National Strategy for Green Growth as a “new national development paradigm that creates new growth engines and jobs through green technology and clean energy.” The underlying premise of his approach is that economic growth and environmental protection are compatible, and even mutually reinforcing.
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By Scott Snyder

The government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has adopted the catchphrase “Global Korea” to signify its desire to play a more assertive role as a contributor to the international community. The same aspiration is reflected in South Korea’s emerging approach to global security issues as reflected in its 2008 Defense White Paper, which states that in addition to maintaining stability on the Korean peninsula and building the foundations for national security and prosperity, a core national security objective is “enhancing competence and status internationally.” This widening outlook is particularly striking to those who are accustomed to Korea’s longstanding political and security focus only on things Korean.

Read the full article that originally appeared on World Politics Review.

Scott Snyder directs The Asia Foundation’s Center for U.S.-Korea Policy. He can be reached at ssnyder@asiafound-dc.org.

When President Obama declared in his Cairo speech last year “Americans are ready to join with citizens and governments, community organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim communities around the world to help our people pursue a better life,” a new sense of optimism charged those dedicated to building bridges between the two communities.

In direct response to President Obama’s call for greater engagement and his Global Engagement Initiative in which the United States has committed to work with Muslim-majority countries to advance democracy and development, USAID and The Asia Foundation convened a regional conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, March 21-24 that attracted nearly 70 religious and traditional leaders from 14 countries to candidly exchange views and ideas on the critical role that “leaders of influence” play in promoting positive change in their communities and the power they have to affect national development.
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By Pauline Tweedie

Last week, I found myself sitting in a cramped room on the top floor of a hired shop-house in a northern suburb of Bangkok, Thailand. The faded curtains drawn across the windows were no match for the blistering hot sun – the room was warm and airless. Some 40 people had crowded into the small space and were seated on plastic chairs, patiently listening to the speeches for the opening of the new Labor Crisis Center in Bangkok.

The chairs were filled with determined labor union leaders, esteemed professors of labor law, lawyers overseeing labor cases, and staff from labor-related civil society groups. There was a stony-faced union leader from Rayong province who was fighting for the rights of scores of factory workers being penalized and fined by an international automobile factory. On the other side of the room was a timid-looking woman who spoke passionately for hundreds of workers from her factory.
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Early this month, The Asia Foundation’s Digital Media team traveled to Khishig-Undur Soum Village, 200 miles northwest of Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, to meet this fourth-grade class and to deliver books donated by Books for Asia. Vote for your favorite children’s book in the video, and a copy of the winning book will be delivered to each student of Khishig-Undur.