As the demand for water for household consumption, agriculture, industries, and hydropower generation in South Asia grows, water is increasingly a driver of tension and potential conflict in the region. Despite numerous bilateral agreements and treaties, a lack of quality data and data sharing has resulted in poor decision making with limited consideration of social, ecological, or stakeholder perspectives from across the region.

This project builds on a grant made by the Skoll Global Threats Fund to The Asia Foundation in 2012, under which the Foundation conducted a political economy analysis of the Teesta River Basin, one of South Asia’s most contested sub-basins straddling the border of India and Bangladesh. In collaboration with its local partners, The Asia Foundation identified and mapped key actors and stakeholders in the Teesta Basin, their incentives, relative interests, and their ability to influence water governance decisions in the basin. Based on field work on either side of the India-Bangladesh border, the analysis identified the drivers of change for reforming state-centered approaches to water governance in the Teesta Basin, and provided recommendations to inform future actions of the governments of India and Bangladesh, civil society actors in both countries, and donors.

A greater exchange of information among co-riparian countries related to the use and management of transboundary rivers is critical to long-term cooperation and effective management of shared resources. The Asia Foundation is grateful to the Skoll Global Threats Fund for providing this generous support. The Skoll Global Threats Fund was created in 2009 by Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Jeff Skoll to confront global threats imperiling humanity by seeking solution, strengthening alliances, and spurring actions needed to safeguard the future. For details, visit Skoll Global Threats Fund online.

Read more about the Foundation’s Corporate and Foundation Partners, its Environment Program, and its work in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.

The goal of the ESEC program was to advance responsible resource use and environmental conservation by engaging stakeholders—government, mining companies, and citizens—in the development of Mongolia’s mineral sector contributing to sustained prosperity for all Mongolians. The program had two main objectives: (i) Facilitate positive negotiations between local communities, mining communities, artisanal miners and local government at the soum level and (ii) Achieve positive changes in environmental behavior at the soum level. In the 45 soums (counties) of 14 aimags (provinces) out of a total of 21 in Mongolia in which the program has been implemented, it has worked with government agencies, local citizens, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and mining companies to promote responsible mining practices, to mitigate negative environmental impacts, and to reduce conflicts between stakeholders.

Key results of the ESEC program

Key results of the program include the establishment and institutionalization of 31 local Multi-stakeholders Councils consisting of mining companies, selected artisanal miners, local governments and communities in 14 aimags (provinces) as a successful mechanism to facilitate dialogue at local level on responsible mining practices, mitigation of negative environmental impacts and reducing the potential for conflicts between stakeholders; the implementation of a model land reclamation project on two hectares of an abandoned artisanal mining site in collaboration with local artisanal miners, the local government and a local environment NGO; the implementation of an agricultural alternative income generation project for single mothers working in artisanal mining; and improved environmental protection through the establishment of local environmental monitoring groups in 34 soums of 13 aimags using simple, low-cost water and soil quality monitoring scientific methods to monitor river water and soil quality.

Environmental program continuation and future directions

Since June 2013, in partnership with UNICEF, the Foundation is implementing the 1.5 years “Environmental Protection and School and Household Level Water Treatment and Safe Storage” project in Khuvsgul aimag. The project builds on the water quality monitoring work of the ESEC program and aims to reduce the incidence of water borne diseases by building the capacity of local institutions and partners, and to monitor water quality at the point of source and point of use. The Foundation is planning to continue its environmental work under a potential second phase of the ESEC program focusing more specifically on environmentally responsible sustainable artisanal mining. For more information on the ESEC program, click here [Mongolian language website].

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

New York, June 6, 2013 — Today, The Asia Foundation and The Lotus Circle, a community of individuals working with The Asia Foundation to empower women and girls in Asia, honor Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mr. Chong-Moon Lee at the third annual Lotus Leadership Awards in New York City. Mr. Lee, a native of Korea, has funded a multi-year, multi-country initiative to combat the trafficking of women and girls in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, and will receive a Lotus Leadership Award for his contributions to the health and well-being of women and girls in Asia. Luncheon co-chairs Masako Shinn, a trustee of The Asia Foundation; and Ida Liu, managing director and head of North America Asian Clients Group at Citi Private Bank, will make opening remarks. The Asia Foundation, with its unparalleled networks of local Asian government ministries and local Asian NGOs, is a recognized pioneer in the fight against human trafficking and forced labor.

To raise awareness of the crime of human trafficking, Lynn Sherr, who has reported on women’s issues for thirty years as an ABC News correspondent, will interview U.S. Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, Director of the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons as part of a panel discussion.

“Mr. Lee is committed to improving the lives of women and girls in Asia,” said Carol Yost, senior director of the Women’s Empowerment Program at The Asia Foundation.

In 2012, Mr. Lee and The Asia Foundation embarked together on an effort to address the issue of Cambodian and Laotian women and girls who annually migrate for income but are lured into terrible situations by false promises of jobs or marriage, and then forced into prostitution or labor exploitation. Pilot projects featuring a public awareness campaign and intensive vocational training scholarships to survivors of human trafficking and those at risk will now be expanded upon, along with a new initiative in Myanmar. Yost continued: “We are grateful to Mr. Lee for his generous support and his partnership to give vulnerable women the chance for a better life. He and the members of The Lotus Circle make it possible for us to reach girls and women in Asia to ‘Tell Her She Can.’”

The Honorable Sapana Pradhan Malla, a lawyer, advocate of Nepal’s Supreme Court, and leading women’s rights activist, will also receive a Lotus Leadership Award for her contributions to the protection of women and girls. Ms. Malla is a former member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly and helped pass the country’s landmark Human Trafficking Act, now a model for the region.

In Nepal, nearly half of the population lives below the poverty line and the unemployment rate stands at a staggering 46 percent. Labor migration has become an economic necessity for women, but the risk of exploitation and trafficking is high. The Asia Foundation recently completed a research project to understand the decisions and routes South Asian women migrants choose and how to promote more informed and safer migration, “Identifying Gaps and Challenges of Existing Policies and Practices that Influence the Process of Labour Migration in Nepal and Bangladesh.”

Said Yost: “Ms. Malla is a long-time Asia Foundation partner and a catalyst for path-breaking progress on women’s rights and protections. She typifies the Foundation’s history, since the 1950s, of working side by side with local partners to accelerate progress on women’s full participation in social, economic, and political life.”

The Lotus Leadership Awards Luncheon was created by a group of committed philanthropists who share The Asia Foundation’s goal of helping women and girls in Asia reach their full potential and “Tell Her She Can.” Proceeds will be used to fund cutting-edge projects to empower disadvantaged women and girls in the region.

Chevron and The Estee Lauder Companies are premier luncheon sponsors. Vista Equity Partners, Citi Private Bank, and Kirkland and Ellis are also generous sponsors.

Human Trafficking is a priority issue for The Asia Foundation

The Asia Foundation brings unique strengths to combating human trafficking by directly addressing the governance issues that surround the problem, and by promoting multi-faceted, integrated approaches to respond to it. Asia Foundation programs empower the vulnerable to better protect themselves, both with safe migration and legal rights education, and through interventions to improve their economic opportunities. In Cambodia, the Foundation was instrumental in the adoption of first-ever national minimum standards of care for the treatment of victims, and the establishment of anti-trafficking training for judges, police, and front-line social service providers; local Foundation staff also launched a national prevention and awareness campaign using positive images based on Khmer values to reduce societal acceptance of trafficking and prostitution.

The Asia Foundation and Myanmar

The Asia Foundation announced recently that it has reestablished a resident office in Myanmar. The Foundation has worked with virtually every Asian country that has undergone a democratic transition and is well positioned to make an important contribution.

Read In Asia, The Asia Foundation’s noted blog, for interviews with Nandita Baruah of The Asia Foundation on the urgency to combat human trafficking and forced labor in Nepal and with Lotus Founding Member and Advisor Masako Shinn, who blogs on her passion for The Lotus Circle.

Learn more and follow updates on Facebook, on Twitter at: @Asia_Foundation, and on Instagram at: @theasiafoundation

Watch Lotus Circle 2013 and Preventing Human Trafficking in Asia: Chong-Moon Lee and Sapana Pradhan Malla, online films created by The Asia Foundation.

Read more about the Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment program. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.

6:00 PM
Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church
6601 Bradley Blvd, Bethesda, MD 20817
Make reservations by June 6 in person at BHPC or email Endowment.HEA@gmail.com to RSVP.

WEP Director Carol Yost will appear in addition to the Ewha Women’s University Chorus at the “Transforming Families, Communities & Societies in Asia, One Girl at a Time” dinner in Bethesda, MD.

Visit here for more info.

6:00pm – 7:30pm
Asia Society
Bechtel Conference Room
500 Washington St. San Francisco

Click here to register at the $10 discounted rate for friends of The Asia Foundation

The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. And the battles of tomorrow may be over water. Nowhere is the danger greater than in Asia. Drought, urbanization, pollution, and inadequate infrastructure have made Asia the world’s most water-scarce continent on a per-capita basis. Many of its water sources cross national boundaries, creating the potential for international conflict as supplies dwindle. Now global warming is raising the stakes further, causing rising sea levels, more severe floods and droughts, and the melting of the glaciers in the Tibetan plateau.

The water security challenges facing China and India in particular have consequences not just for the two rising powers, but for Asia as a whole. They threaten to reduce economic growth across the region, exacerbate ongoing territorial disputes, and impose further hardships on Asia’s poor. Asia Society Northern California is pleased to host national security expert Brahma Chellaney, water expert Peter Gleick, and futurist Peter Schwartz to discuss what is becoming Asia’s defining crisis of the 21st century.

Copies of Water: Asia’s New Battleground and Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis will be available for purchase and signing at a post-event reception.

Co-sponsored with The Asia Society (host), East Meets West, Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley, Japan Policy Research Institute, Pacific Institute, Sierra Club, US China Green Energy Council, World Affairs Council.

Findings challenge aid community to re-think assumptions on how aid contributes to peace

Bangkok, June 2, 2013 — A new study by The Asia Foundation has found that subnational conflict, or armed conflict over control of a territory in a sovereign state, is now the most deadly, widespread, and enduring form of violent conflict in Asia. The report states that more people have died in subnational conflicts than all other forms of armed conflict during the past decade in Asia, including conflicts in fragile states. Since 1992, the region has had 26 major subnational conflicts, affecting an estimated 1.76 million square kilometers of South and Southeast Asia, roughly the size of Indonesia, and more than 131 million people. The findings also state that these types of conflicts are among the world’s longest running armed struggles, lasting more than 45 years on average.

“The international development field is undergoing a shift in thinking on how aid can help end violent conflict, and this study provides solid evidence and practical recommendations on how aid organizations should work differently in a conflict zones,” said Thomas Parks, a report author and The Asia Foundation’s regional director for conflict and governance, based in Thailand. “While aid organizations have become more savvy on the problems of fragile and conflict-affected states, some of the commonly held assumptions about how aid contributes to peace does not reflect reality in subnational areas.” Parks added: “Increasing economic growth, strengthening government capacity, improving service delivery, and encouraging democratization does not necessarily help to reduce or end subnational conflicts. If aid agencies don’t understand the local context, aid projects promoting these ideals can exacerbate the drivers of conflict.”

The study includes a framework for distinguishing between the strategies needed to end subnational conflicts and traditional approaches used by international development agencies. Findings are based on extensive perception surveys, and first-hand village-level ethnographic fieldwork, including interviews with insurgents, in areas often inaccessible to traditional aid practitioners. Key factors necessary for aid to be successful in subnational conflict areas and promising approaches to date are highlighted.

Parks continued: “There are opportunities for aid organizations to have a positive impact if they can support a locally-owned political transition. The international community is beginning to develop new ways of working in these regions that respond to local conflicts and political dynamics more effectively, and this report highlights the successes and failures of aid to these extremely challenging environments.”

Among the additional findings:

• More than 131 million people in Asia are living in these areas of protracted conflict.
• Subnational conflict areas are different from fragile states and present the international community with a distinct set of challenges.
• Mainstream development assistance models, including those designed for fragile states, are not well suited for subnational conflict areas.
• Aid to subnational conflict areas has the greatest impact when it supports a political transition from conflict to durable peace.

The Asia Foundation has a long history of programs in conflict-affected and fragile regions of Asia, including in Afghanistan, Mindanao (Philippines), Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Aceh (Indonesia), Southern Thailand, and Timor-Leste. The Foundation’s long-term presence and extensive networks with local leaders, government, and organizations allows our staff to interact with key actors and support programs in highly challenging and sensitive environments.

The report is supported by funding from the State and Peacebuilding Fund, administered by the World Bank, and the UK Aid from the UK Government.

Read the report and other information here. Interact with us on Facebook or follow @Asia_Foundation on Twitter. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.

9:00 am – 11:00 am
The Cosmos Club
Powell Room
2121 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008

Registration will open at 8:30 am. Remarks will begin promptly at 9:00 am.

On June 13 in Washington, DC, The Asia Foundation will host a presentation of the findings of a major new study on subnational conflict, The Contested Corners of Asia: Subnational Conflict and International Development Assistance.

Subnational conflict is the most widespread, enduring, and deadly form of violent conflict in Asia, with more than 131 million people living in areas of protracted conflict. Subnational conflict areas differ from fragile states, with the majority of these conflicts taking place in middle-income countries with relatively strong states, regular elections, and capable security forces. As a result, subnational conflict in Asia challenges much of the conventional wisdom about the causes of armed conflict and its relationship to state capacity and development, and presents Asian governments and the international community with a distinct set of challenges. While the international community has provided nearly US$6 billion in official development assistance to subnational conflict areas in Asia over the past decade, the overall impact of international assistance on subnational conflict is unclear.

The recently-released study, co-financed by the State and Peacebuilding Fund (SPF) of The World Bank, and UK Aid from the UK Government, includes in-depth examinations of the cases of Mindanao, Aceh, and Southern Thailand, based upon extensive mixed-method research, including village-level ethnographic field work, perception surveys, and interviews with key stakeholders ranging from international donors to insurgents. Drawing on these cases, the study identifies the most critical contextual factors and program characteristics needed for aid programs to be successful, illustrates some of the more promising approaches used to date, and concludes with policy recommendations on how aid programs can contribute meaningfully towards resolving long-running conflicts.

The panel discussion will feature:

Dr. Nat Colletta, Lead Expert

Ms. Judith Dunbar, Regional Senior Conflict Advisor, Office of Conflict Management & Mitigation, USAID

Dr. Bruce Jones, Director, Center on International Cooperation, New York University

Mr. Thomas Parks, The Asia Foundation’s Regional Director for Conflict and Governance

Mr. Ingo Wiederhofer, The World Bank, Senior Operations Officer, East Asia and Pacific Region

Please contact dalvord@asiafound-dc.org for more information about this event.

Following this event, The Asia Foundation’s Regional Director for Conflict and Governance Mr. Thomas Parks will present study findings in a June 17 panel discussion at World Affairs Council in San Francisco. See full event details here.

Luce Foundation president Michael Gilligan addressed a special gathering in New York to celebrate 40 years of partnership between The Asia Foundation and The Henry Luce Foundation for the Luce Scholars Program.

San Francisco, May 29, 2013 — On Sunday, May 19 in New York, The Asia Foundation and Henry Luce Foundation marked 40 years of partnership in providing life-changing experiences in Asia for young leaders. The organizational placements arranged by The Asia Foundation for each Scholar on the basis of their career interests are at the heart of the program’s success. Nearly 700 Luce Scholars have been placed, many of whom have gone on to demonstrate extraordinary leadership, including: Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal editor Paul Gigot; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; Dr. Diana Farmer, the world’s first female fetal surgeon; and Terry Adamson, executive vice president of National Geographic Society. Former Luce Scholars addressed the special gathering, as did Luce Foundation president Michael Gilligan.

The range of organizations that have hosted Luce Scholars over the years reflects the extraordinary dynamism and rich diversity of Asia, and is as broad as the scope of talents and interests of the Scholars themselves. Placement institutions have included the Academy of Performing Arts in Bali; the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in Seoul; CCTV International in Beijing; the Lao Bar Association in Vientiane; the Eastern Steppe Biodiversity Project in Ulaanbaatar; and, the Vietnam Institute of Archeology in Hanoi.

Read more about the Foundation’s Luce Scholars Program. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.

Asia Foundation President David D. Arnold and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar H.E. U Zin Yaw join members of the Foundation and MOFA delegations for Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony in Nay Pyi Taw. Photo: Aung Kyaw Moe (New Image)

Nay Pyi Taw, May 14, 2013 — In a ceremony today, H.E. U Zin Yaw, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and David D. Arnold, President of The Asia Foundation, signed a memorandum of understanding to advance their shared development goals. Last year, The Asia Foundation conducted nearly a dozen in-depth consultations on the country’s long-term development needs with a range of political, academic, and civil society leaders in Myanmar, including a special delegation to meet the President, the Honorable U Thein Sein. The Foundation has worked with virtually every Asian country that has undergone a democratic transition, and is well positioned to make a contribution in Myanmar. “The Asia Foundation’s reconnection with Myanmar comes at an opportune time,” stated the Deputy Minister in his opening remarks. “The Asia Foundation is honored to help support Myanmar/Burma’s democratic transition and long-term development needs,” said Mr. Arnold. “The extraordinary social, political, and economic reforms being undertaken are inspiring, and we are pleased to support the process by expanding our program of development assistance.” The Asia Foundation maintained a resident mission and country program in the Union of Burma from 1958 to 1962, and since 2007 the Foundation has made annual shipments of new English-language books to the country, through which 150 government, non-governmental, and academic institutions throughout the country have received nearly 80,000 books.

Asia Foundation President David D. Arnold and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar H.E. U Zin Yaw sign a memorandum of understanding to advance shared development goals. Photo: Aung Kyaw Moe (New Image)

The Asia Foundation also announced today that it had appointed Dr. Kim N. B. Ninh to the position of Country Representative for Myanmar. Dr. Ninh is currently the Foundation’s Country Representative in Vietnam, a position she has held for nearly eight years.

Dr. Ninh has served in several key leadership positions at the Foundation, including assistant director of the Governance, Law, and Civil Society Programs, and director of Conflict Management Programs. Prior to joining The Asia Foundation, Dr. Ninh held research and teaching appointments at Australian National University, the East-West Center, and the University of California, Berkeley. She spent two years in Vietnam for her dissertation research and was previously a research associate at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. She holds a B.A. in political science and English from the University of California, Berkeley; M.A. in international relations and Ph.D. in political science from Yale University.

Dr. Ninh has traveled extensively to Myanmar and was part of the delegation that accompanied Mr. Arnold for meetings with President Thein Sein and members of his cabinet October, 2012.  Dr. Ninh was also in Nay Pyi Taw for today’s signing ceremony. Read more about the Foundation’s work in Burma/Myanmar. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.