As demand for water for the 700 million people living in the world’s most densely-populated river basins – the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra – rises, new tensions are surfacing that threaten South Asia’s stability. To respond, The Asia Foundation just announced an expansion of its partnership with the Skoll Global Threats Fund, to strengthen access to information on transboundary issues and foster a regional dialogue between stakeholders on the critical issue of international water sharing. 
Posts By Laurel MacLaren
Indonesia Makes Strides in Budget Transparency Despite Political Patronage
January 30, 2013
Two new publications showing very different profiles of the quality of governance in Indonesia landed on my desk this week, prompting debate and consternation. The just-launched International Budget Partnership’s “2012 Open Budget Survey” painted an encouraging picture…
Topics: Corruption | Governance | International Development | Transparency | Washington DC
Countries: Indonesia
Indonesia’s Women Parliamentarians are Ready to Lead
April 25, 2012
A high-energy buzz filled the room as hundreds of women in fancy traditional dress from across the Indonesian archipelago chatted, laughed, and took photos with one another. Some 400 women legislators were gathered in this elegant ballroom on April 21…
Topics: Economic Development | Governance | Women's Empowerment
Countries: Indonesia
Books Help Transform Indonesia’s Poorest Elementary Schools
April 27, 2011
A year ago, the Leuwiranji Elementary School in West Java was falling down. Located in a remote corner of the district of Bogor, the school’s 177 students come from poor families who are mostly employed in the sand-and-rock harvesting business that supplies a booming construction industry in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta.
Topics: Books for Asia | Education
Countries: Indonesia
[SLIDESHOW] Election Watch: Voters Take to the Polls in Indonesia
September 8, 2010
In 2010, an estimated 70 million Indonesians will vote in more than 250 local elections being held across the archipelago. For only the second time in the nation’s democratic history, citizens are now voting on a rolling basis for district-level executives. The importance of local elections is directly linked to decentralized governance, with local governments [...]
Indonesia Stunned as Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Leaves to Join World Bank
May 12, 2010
Last week, Indonesia was stunned by the World Bank’s announcement that Indonesia’s Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani, has been appointed to one of the Bank’s most senior positions. Of immediate concern for investors in Indonesia is how the country will manage to retain the hard-won progress in economic reforms made under Mulyani’s leadership. More broadly, her [...]
Topics: Economic Development
Countries: Indonesia
From Indonesia: Survey Examines Decentralization’s Impact on Local Governance
February 10, 2010
The transformation of Indonesia’s political system in the past decade has included a radical overhaul of the country’s governance structure. What some have dubbed the “Big Bang,” responsible for decentralizing a range of public services to the country’s 500 plus regions, has made Indonesia one of the most decentralized countries in the world. Nine years [...]
Topics: Governance
Countries: Indonesia
What Progress is Indonesia Really Making to Improve Maternal Health?
April 1, 2009
A decade ago, when Indonesia launched an ambitious program to place a midwife in every one of Indonesia’s 70,000 villages, the country got international recognition for its bold programming move. But how quickly is Indonesia making progress on health, particularly as related to its commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce [...]
Topics: Economic Development | Governance | Women's Empowerment
Countries: Indonesia