The adventurous Dutch fashion company G-Star, known for its sustainable denim, is also a force for development in Asia through its GSRD Foundation. GSRD will be honored April 6 with an Asia Foundation Lotus Leadership Award. Read more: https://asiafoundation.org/2022/03/30/lotus-leadership-awards-beyond-a-sustainable-supply-chain/

Cambodia has an outsized need for up-to-date research data to anchor effective policymaking and spur development. But women must become a bigger part of this story.

After months of uncertainty, Nepal has announced the second round of local elections under its historic 2015 constitution. In the face of Covid lockdowns and political paralysis, local governments have been a bright spot on the nation’s rocky road to federalism. Read the full article: https://asiafoundation.org/2022/03/02/nepals-federalism-milestone-five-opportunities-and-a-second-round-of-elections/

The Philippines’ pioneering and embattled digital news site just marked a decade of tenacious reporting. A reporter who was there at the beginning recalls the heady early days and the dedication to journalism that led to last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for founder Maria Ressa. Read the full piece: https://asiafoundation.org/2022/02/16/rappler-at-10-there-at-the-creation/

The same processed foods that have fed obesity and diabetes in the West have triggered an epidemic of dietary disease in the Pacific Islands. Now, a runaway hit TV show is pointing the way back to the region’s healthy, traditional cuisine. Read more about the Pacific Island Food Revolution: https://asiafoundation.org/2022/02/02/in-pacific-island-kitchens-the-revolution-is-being-televised/

A comprehensive new policy from the Philippine Department of Education is set to start dismantling barriers that keep students with disabilities out of the classroom. The new policy has some unmistakable fingerprints from The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change. 

A years-long collaboration that’s been working away in Cambodia’s vital Stung Chinit Watershed has found that solutions to water inequality lie at the crossroads of infrastructure and gender. Project principals Laura Forni of the Stockholm Environment Institute and Paula Uniacke of The Asia Foundation hold down the discussion of a powerful new analytic approach in this week’s podcast. 

Has a decade of growing prosperity tamed intercommunal violence in Asia? 

A comprehensive new report documents declining levels of conflict, but also warns of the destabilizing influence of social media.

Read a comprehensive introduction to the report: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/10/27/podcast-the-state-of-conflict-and-violence-in-asia/

Some much-needed new children’s books from an unlikely team of authors will answer the crying need for kid’s books in Fiji’s native tongues. Read more: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/10/13/stories-for-children-of-the-ocean/

A task force of Asian scholars has developed strategic recommendations for the Biden administration on foreign policy towards Asia. Join us in our discussion with report co-chairs Dr. Kirida  Bhaopichtr of the Thailand Development Research Institute, and Dr. C Raja Mohan of the National University of Singapore, and The Asia Foundation's Senior Director of International Relations, John Brandon.  Read the full report: https://asiafoundation.org/publication/asian-voices-on-the-future-of-u-s-asia-relations/