The 75th class of fellows includes 24 journalists from the United States and abroad. Announcing the class, Nieman Foundation curator Ann Marie Lipinski said, “This is an outstanding group of journalists poised to have a growing influence on their news organizations and on journalism more broadly. They represent a wide range of interests and backgrounds but share an intense commitment to using their year at Harvard to gain new knowledge, strengthen their work and enhance the prospects for journalism overall.”

The Nieman Foundation has hosted more than 1,300 journalists from 92 countries since its founding at Harvard in 1938. The fellowship enables accomplished journalists to spend the academic year at Harvard to pursue a specific project while taking courses. Ms. Lee will focus on countries experiencing rapid economic growth after long periods of colonial rule and military dictatorship.

The Nieman Fellows from Korea are supported by The Asia Foundation, the Sungkok Journalism Foundation, and YBM Inc.

Read more about the Foundation’s programs in Korea. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.

9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Hotel Timor
Rua Mártires da Pátria Apartado 470, Dili, Timor-Leste
To RSVP, please contact: Roselia Pinto at rpinto@asiafound.org or call +670-732-6193.

The Asia Foundation in Timor-Leste and our legal aid partners are pleased to invite you to attend a two-day public seminar on “Community Access to Justice: Providing Legal Aid to Vulnerable Groups in Timor-Leste.” Since 2003, community legal aid organizations such as Fundasaun Edukasaun Comunidade Matebian (ECM), Fundasaun Fatu Sinai Oecusse, LBH-Liberta and Victim Support Service have provided free legal aid service accross the country, reaching over 5,700 individuals and 600-800 clients a year (women comprise 63 percent). These organizations were funded by USAID and The Asia Foundation in 2003, and AusAID and Justice Facility in 2010.

Timor-Leste is in the process of developing a framework for legal aid funding beyond the Public Defenders’ office. In a survey conducted in 2011 by the Asia Foundation, over 77 percent of surveyed clients stated that the presence of a legal aid organization in the community is very important. Over 89 percent of surveyed clients stated that they would seek future assistance from a legal aid organization because they found the lawyers to be very helpful, competent, and professional. This seminar will discuss key findings, challenges, and opportunities in community access to free legal aid in Timor-Leste. Featured speakers include:

• H.E. Dr. Mari Alkatari, former Prime Minister of RDTL
• H.E. Representative of the Minister of Justice of RDTL
• H.E. Fernanda Borges, Member of Parliament of Timor-Leste
• Mr. Deonisio Babo, General Secretary of CNRT

Mr. Kryzer has extensive contacts and networks in Afghanistan and has overseen development programs in the country since 2003. He served as Chief of Party for two Asia Foundation projects –the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) Change Management project and the Support to Center of Government project in Afghanistan.

Most recently, as the Foundation’s MAIL Chief of Party, he helped redesign the Ministry’s organizational structure and functions, and improved its basic management and operational capacities. As the Chief of Party on the Support to Center of Government project, he worked closely with the Office of the President and the Office of Administrative Affairs to enhance organizational effectiveness and operational  capability. He was Program Manager for the Foundation’s Good Governance and Rule of Law program with the Ministry of Justice and designed Foundation programs for the Independent Directorate of Local Governance, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Economy, and High Office of Oversight in Afghanistan.

Mr. Kryzer has worked with numerous agencies in Afghanistan including USAID, where he helped design a capacity building program to assist Afghan institutions in the private, public, NGO, and education sectors; UNDP, where he designed an innovative reform program for the Government of Afghanistan’s Office of Administrative Affairs and Chief of Staff’s office; and the World Bank, as a Project Management and e-Government Advisor to the Ministry of Communications.

Mr. Kryzer is a former Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. He has an MBA in Program Management from the University of St. Thomas and an MA in South Asian Studies from the University of Minnesota. He speaks Dari.

Kuala Lumpur and San Francisco, May 7, 2012 — The Asia Foundation, the School of Business at Monash University Sunway Campus, and RAM Holdings Berhad (RAM) today launched the 2012 Malaysia Business Environment Index, the only diagnostic tool designed  to measure the business-friendliness of local governments in the country. Malaysia aspires to become a progressive and high income nation by 2020. Against this backdrop, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are recognized by the government as an important engine of growth and innovation.

The 2012 Business Environment Index, or BEI, is a Malaysia-specific diagnostic tool to benchmark and rank local business environments that can be influenced by federal, state, and local policies and regulations. The index identifies high- and low-performing districts and reveals the successes and challenges faced by SMEs – experiences critical to a robust and dynamic private sector in Malaysia.

The BEI provides crucial empirical data to all parties interested in Malaysia’s private sector development. Dr Yeah Kim Leng, Group Chief Economist of RAM Holdings Berhad noted that, “Malaysia’s success in overcoming the middle-income trap hinges critically on the ability to unleash its entrepreneurial talents and innovation capabilities. High-level initiatives designed to foster a business-friendly environment like the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) have laid the right track; what is needed now is an enabling environment. We see the BEI as a tool to bridge the remaining gaps in information, perception and performance on the ground.”

In this first-of-its-kind survey in Malaysia, 635 randomly-drawn SMEs in six states and 11 districts were asked to share perceptions of their local business environment.  The 11 districts were then ranked in order of business-friendliness across nine areas of economic governance that are relevant to local economic growth in Malaysia, including entry costs, transparency, informal charges, property rights, and crime and security.

The complete report is available for download here. Explore rankings on the interactive data visualization site.

According to the BEI pilot study, Kemaman in the state of Terengganu ranks the highest in business-friendliness followed by Sepang in the state of Selangor. Ampang Jaya ranks the lowest while Petaling Jaya ranks the second lowest. Both districts are located in the state of Selangor. The BEI is a useful complement to the government’s Star Rating System in which Petaling Jaya and Ampang Jaya both scored among the highest – different from the BEI rankings. A key difference between the two complementary assessments is that the BEI relies on the perceptions of local business people while the Star Rating System focuses on the internal structure of government functions and captures the experiences of internal government officers.

Overseeing the survey’s methodology is Dr. Jane L.Y. Terpstra Tong, Senior Lecturer, Department of Management at Monash University Sunway Campus.  Dr. Tong said, “The 2012 Malaysia pilot BEI identifies good practices and highlights areas for improvement for local governments. The survey provides an economic baseline and strengthens the advocacy capacity of business leaders to engage local government officials.”

Designed by The Asia Foundation, the Malaysia BEI is the latest iteration of the Foundation’s efforts to measure the business-friendliness of local governments through its Economic Governance Index (EGI) initiatives.  The EGIs are already in use in countries across Asia, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and now, Malaysia.

“The Malaysia BEI tells us what is working and what is not,” said Anthea Mulakala, Country Representative for The Asia Foundation in Malaysia. “This diagnostic tool identifies best practices and provides practical steps for success, which can be emulated by other districts. Across Asia, governments have embraced the Foundation’s indices as a sophisticated, empirical tool to measure local reform and business-friendliness.”

Read more about the Foundation’s programs in Malaysia and Economic Governance Index (EGI). For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.

Books for Asia Hosts Vartan Gregorian in NYC, Launches Tech Start-up Fund

Skoll Global Threats Fund to Help Address Water Sharing in Asia

Citi’s Ida Liu to Chair Lotus Awards 2012

Asia Foundation Announces Five New Trustees

Amb. Verveer Meets Experts from Asia Foundation Panel on Women’s Changing Roles in Asia

Briefly Noted

Multimedia

Ashraf Ghani Briefs on Afghan Transition 2014

Henry Luce Foundation Renews China Young Diplomats Program

The Bulletin is also available for download as a PDF.

May 1, 2012 — At a reception on March 29 in New York City, The Asia Foundation and Books for Asia announced a brand-new technology start-up fund, Access4Asia and debuted the film, “Kabul ER: The Power of a Book.” Special guest Dr. Vartan Gregorian, former President of the New York Public Library and current President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, spoke to the crowd of publishers, donors, Asian government representatives, and executives from the philanthropy, education, and technology sectors at The Greenhouse at Scholastic.

The Asia Foundation’s longest-running program, Books for Asia impacts 9 million people each year through book donations to universities, research institutes, and libraries in 18 developing countries. Speaking at the event, Dr. Gregorian shared his personal story of how books changed his life: “as a young boy in Iran, books provided me salvation and imagination. Without books and access to stories, I wouldn’t be here today. I am eternally grateful to The Asia Foundation for taking the power of books around Asia.” Viewers were transfixed by the film, “Kabul ER,”which examines the crisis in Kabul’s public hospitals – frontlines of care for Afghans – and the near total lack of access to current medical textbooks there. Last year Books for Asia donated 4,000 medical textbooks and reference materials to Afghan health institutions.

“There is an information crisis in all the countries we work in,” said Books for Asia’s Naita Saechao. Building on its vast network of Asian partners, Books for Asia’s Access4Asia will support promising technology projects incubated by its in-country staff that further the program’s mission to improve access to information in developing Asia. “We know that an educated population is better equipped to combat poverty and disease, and to promote economic development and stability,” said Asia Foundation President David D. Arnold. Publishers, partners, and donors who attended the New York event included high-level representatives from: Wiley, W. W. Norton, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, LexisNexis, Pearson Foundation, Association of American Publishers, and OOCL. Watch a slideshow of highlights from the event.

May 1, 2012 — Climate change combined with rapid population growth and urbanization is placing intense pressure on South Asia’s most precious resource: water. Per capita water availability in the region has decreased by 70 percent since 1950, according to the Asian Development Bank. South Asia is also home to three of the most densely populated river basins in the world – the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra – which support an estimated 700 million people. The basins straddle national borders, and relations among countries in the region are mired in tension, including around water sharing. As water scarcity intensifies, effective management of these river basins is increasingly critical to long-term peace, stability, and economic development in the region.

A new grant from the Skoll Global Threats Fund will help The Asia Foundation address these challenges in the Teesta River Basin – one of the region’s most contested sub-basins, which straddles the border of India and Bangladesh. With the involvement of civil society partners from both countries, our work will focus on increasing effective cooperation on water governance decisions. The first step involves conducting a stakeholder mapping and political economy analysis to better understand the power dynamics behind decision-making and policy implementation in the basin. The study will provide insights into the realities of water governance, which will help to inform civil society engagement and provide recommendations for further actions. The long-term goals throughout South Asia are to reframe the debate on water governance to include social, human, and environmental perspectives, improve transboundary civil society collaboration, and increase transparency and accountability in water governance.

Ida Liu (left) with Susan Shin (right) at last year's Lotus Leadership Awards.

May 1, 2012 — The Lotus Circle is a community of philanthropists working with The Asia Foundation to empower girls and women across Asia.

Last year, The Lotus Circle and The Asia Foundation honored Dr. David Ho with the first-ever Lotus Leadership Award at a sold-out event in New York City. He was recognized for his contributions to the health and well-being of Chinese women and children through his pioneering HIV/AIDS research.

On June 7, 2012, in the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, the second annual Lotus Leadership Award will be presented to Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, Founder and Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning, for her groundbreaking and visionary work empowering communities to bring education and health services to disenfranchised Afghan women and girls. The Asia Foundation’s decade of partnership with National Geographic Society to provide Afghan girls and women educational opportunities, and to improve devastated girls’ schools in Afghanistan, will also be recognized.

The Lotus Leadership Awards were created by Lotus Circle Advisors Gina Lin Chu, Carol Rattray, Missie Rennie, and Masako Shinn. This year, Lotus Circle Advisor and Head of North America Asian Clients Group at Citi Private Bank, Ida Liu, will chair the awards luncheon.