In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

Last month, Afghan president Hamid Karzai announced a series of reforms aimed at addressing the nation’s corruption concerns. In this new paper, one of a series of analytical occasional papers on The Asia Foundation’s “Survey of the Afghan People,” Yama Torabi, founder and director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, examines Afghan opinions about corruption, the challenges [...]

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Although we may not always agree on the specifics – or the application of the concept given its political sensitivities – there is a degree of consensus on the general traits of state fragility.

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Just yesterday, on November 15 in Kabul and Washington, D.C., The Asia Foundation released the results of its 2011 Survey of the Afghan People. The annual Survey of the Afghan People is the most comprehensive and credible nationwide poll of public opinion on topics related to national mood, governance, security, and development in Afghanistan. In 2011, the survey polled over 6,300 respondents from all 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

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In Asia‘s editor, Alma Freeman, interviewed 2011 Survey of the Afghan People co-author and former Asia Foundation program director for Law, Human Rights, and Women’s Empowerment in Kabul, Najla Ayubi, for her reaction to the findings of The Asia Foundation’s 2011 Survey and what they might mean for women’s rights, peace talks, and more. Ayubi is currently the Afghanistan country director for the Open Society Foundation.

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Religious leaders received the highest vote of confidence and optimism of the Afghan people among local governance institutions, according to The Asia Foundation’s 2011 Survey of the Afghan People. Seventy percent of respondents say that there should be regular consultation with religious leaders about problems in their area, while 74 percent rank religious leaders…

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For the first time since 2007, respondents in The Asia Foundation’s 2011 Survey of the Afghan People cited reconstruction and rebuilding as the most important reason for optimism. The level of optimism for reconstruction and rebuilding…

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In September, my colleague William Cole and I wrote about a revolution in data analytics that is affecting how many of us in the development field manage and analyze information. In that blog post, we expressed support for the growing open data movement that is an integral part of this transformational moment.

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On November 15, The Asia Foundation will release findings from “Afghanistan in 2011: A Survey of the Afghan People” – the broadest and most comprehensive public opinion poll in the country covering all 34 provinces. Candid, first-hand data was gleaned from face-to-face interviews with more than 6,300 Afghan citizens…

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