In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

The first Rio Convention on Sustainable Development in 1992 called for businesses to adopt a new blueprint for economic development – to incorporate social, environmental, and economic considerations into business operations. Over the last two decades, some international corporations…

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Asia Foundation Women’s Empowerment Program Director Carol Yost joins Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s delegation for the 2012 APEC Women and the Economy Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia next week. The Summit is one of the premier platforms for the public and private sector to work together to advance women’s economic participation. On July 20, [...]

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In March 2012, a few weeks before Thai New Year which is celebrated every April, a series of explosions rocked a district of Thailand’s Songkla province popular with tourists, and a business district in Yala province.

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It’s been a roller-coaster week for the Filipino-American community as they welcomed Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on his first official visit to Washington, D.C., and at the same time, were shocked by boxing champion Manny Pacquiao’s surprising loss…

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It’s good to have heroes. One of mine is Sakena Yacoobi, the founder of a terrific organization called the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) that provides education and health services to women across Afghanistan. I first met Sakena nearly a decade ago…

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Watch a brand new video, screened for the first time publicly on June 7 at The Asia Foundation’s Lotus Leadership Awards in New York. The film features world-renowned teacher, leader, and advocate Dr. Sakena Yacoobi…

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Nearly 1,500 participants from local communities, government agencies, and the armed forces gathered in late May 2012 for a Peace Festival in Thailand’s conflict-affected Deep South. The Peace Festival is the culmination…

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Although Bangladesh’s national elections in 2008 were generally regarded as among the freest and fairest in the nation’s history, four years later, in 2012, concerns are being raised about the fairness of the upcoming 2013 elections, says Tim Meisburger, The Asia Foundation’s director for Elections and Political Processes, in the just-released report “Strengthening Democracy in [...]

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More than 10 years of grim news from Afghanistan has made it easy to overlook the positive stories from the country – especially when the negative news is overwhelmingly preferred by campaigning politicians and media outlets to garner attention-grabbing headlines. But beyond the sound bites, real progress has been achieved by and for Afghanistan’s women, including broader freedoms, increased access to education, greater economic clout, and improved civic participation. You just have to look beyond front page headlines to see them.

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Ahead of the second annual Lotus Leadership Awards in New York City on June 7, Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Director Carol Yost interviews featured panelist Isobel Coleman, senior fellow and director of the Civil Society, Markets and Democracy Program at Council on Foreign Relations…

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