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What does international development really mean? Hosts John Rieger and Tracie Yang take us on a journey to meet the people on the ground shaping Asia’s future.
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3 days ago
Dancing on the Line between Art and Activism
Meet two political activists who have secret literary lives—or is it the other way around? We talk to our 2023 Asia Foundation Development Fellows Shazia Uzman and Jan Mikael de Lara Co.
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Nov 1, 2023
Welcome to Woopie Town
The irrepressible disability activist, Tanzila Khan, tries her hand at board game design. We take the game out for a spin.
You can learn more and purchase the board game: Woopie Town – Mayor of Woopie Town
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Sep 27, 2023
The Last Nomads
In a world grappling with climate challenges, Mongolia's nomadic herders have a unique perspective to offer. Join us for an engaging interview with Asia Foundation Development Fellow alum Badruun Gardi as we explore the enduring relevance of nomadism in Mongolia and its valuable insights for addressing today's climate crisis.
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Sep 13, 2023
Looking Forward in Indonesia
The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Indonesia, Hana Satriyo, is a veteran advocate for women’s and minority rights and a champion against disinformation who’s worked tirelessly with government ministries, civil society, and local governments across the Indonesian archipelago.
Dive into our impactful initiatives in Indonesia with Hana.
Learn more about our work in Indonesia.
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Aug 30, 2023
Transformative Lessons from the LeadNext Global Leaders’ Summit
Young in experience, but passionate in their commitments: a six-month fellowship invests in young leaders from Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. We sit down with 2023 LeadNext fellow, Temuulen Enkhbat, to talk about her experience this year.
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Aug 9, 2023
Southeast Asia’s Multipolar Future
Delving into geopolitical dynamics: navigating the rise of rivalries in Southeast Asia. Could the escalating U.S.-China tensions potentially lead to the emergence of a modern cold war divide in the region?
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Jul 26, 2023
To Save the Philippines’ Forests, He Sued for Future Generations
This July marks the 30th anniversary of a legal decision in the Philippines that has reverberated far beyond those shores. In 1993, a young attorney named Antonio Oposa sued the Philippine Department of the Environment and Natural Resources and its secretary, “Jun” Factoran, to halt logging in the nation’s vanishing old-growth forests. The remarkable aspect of the case is that he sued on behalf of generations as yet unborn.
The key holding of Minors Oposa vs. Factoran is now known as the Oposa Doctrine. It grants current generations legal standing to bring actions on behalf of future generations with respect to environmental rights.
Joining John and Tracie to talk about his famous case is lawyer and environmentalist Antonio Oposa. Also joining us is his longtime friend Erik Jensen, formerly with The Asia Foundation in Manila and now at Stanford Law School, who had a first-hand view of the event.
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Jul 12, 2023
Catching Up with the Young Asian Diplomats
Much work—and some play—on a U.S. study tour for 15 mid-career Asian diplomats.
We caught up with two of the group in San Francisco, just as they were packing for home, to hear a few thoughts about their U.S. visit. Ms. Sujana Aryal is a protocol officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, and Mr. Nguyen Dong Anh is vice-dean of faculty at the International Communications-and-Culture Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Jun 28, 2023
APEC in 2023, a Conversation with Matt Murray
It’s the United States’ year to host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, whose 21 members reach from Russia to the Pacific and from South America to China. U.S. Senior Official for APEC Matt Murray joins us to talk about how the big job is coming along.
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May 17, 2023
Flawless: Lessons from the Capital of K-Beauty
Elise Hu spent four years as NPR’s first bureau chief in Seoul. She joins us to talk about her new book, a deeply reported and deeply reflective account of Korea’s world-challenging beauty industry.
Order a copy of her book Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital.
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May 3, 2023
Religious Freedom Gets an Early Warning System in Bangladesh
In the restless Rajshahi district of Bangladesh, a five-year experiment built a community warning system for religious freedom violations.
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Apr 19, 2023
Understanding the “Care Economy”
If all the world’s care workers were one national economy, it would be among the largest, in hours worked, in the world. It would also consist mostly of women, and they would be mostly unpaid.
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Mar 29, 2023
No Happiness without the Trees: Bhutan’s Trailblazing Environmental Law
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Mar 8, 2023
Indonesia’s Women Forest Defenders
“You can’t protect what you don’t love, and you can’t love what you don’t know.” Indonesian women harness the local power of social forestry.
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Feb 22, 2023
Exit Interview: The Asia Foundation’s David Arnold
As president and CEO, David Arnold steered The Asia Foundation through 12 momentous years.
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Feb 8, 2023
Sri Lanka’s 75th Year of Independence Marred by Economic, Political Woes
Sri Lanka’s 75th anniversary arrives at a moment of peril and, perhaps, possibility for this nation of about 21 million in the Indian Ocean.
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Jan 25, 2023
What Path Forward? Afghanistan Continues to Haunt and Perplex.
A year and a half after the Taliban’s return to power, the hardships of daily life in Afghanistan are becoming dire. Yet, the government’s restrictive policies threaten to block even basic humanitarian aid. What is the way forward?
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Nov 7, 2022
Hope over Fate: the Story of BRAC
A new book tells the story of Fazlé Hasan Abed, the “mild-mannered accountant” who helped lift Bangladesh from the ashes of its violent birth and reimagined international development.
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Oct 26, 2022
The Heady Early Days of Rappler
Last week, The Asia Foundation presented our Chang Lin Tien Distinguished Leadership Award to the pioneering Philippine news site Rappler and its founding team, Maria Ressa, Glenda Gloria, Chay Hofileña, and Beth Frondoso, for their courageous online journalism. Once a scrappy startup, Rappler at 10 years old has become a political lightning rod with an average of 40 million page views a month and a history of discomfiting the powerful.
Founded in 2012 by a team of veteran journalists, Rappler’s impact reverberated far beyond the Philippines as it modeled a style of fast-paced, online journalism that upended established newsrooms. It was also a canary in the coalmine of social media, as a tool that once seemed like a new voice for democracy took a darker turn towards online attacks and disinformation.
John and Tracie sat down in San Francisco with two of Rappler’s founders, Executive Editor Glenda Gloria and CEO and President Maria Ressa, to talk about their careers, what it’s…
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Sep 27, 2022
A Conversation with Abbas Hussain
How a two-year program helped vulnerable communities in South Asia protect themselves from Covid-19 and the “fake-news pandemic.”
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Sep 14, 2022
LeadNext Fellows: Citizens of the World
Meet twenty young leaders from the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific, the first graduates of The Asia Foundation’s LeadNext Fellowship program. Read the full blog about the LeadNext fellows.
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Aug 31, 2022
South Korea: The Paradox on the Han River
After beating a path to postwar prosperity that’s been the envy of Asia and the world, South Korea suddenly finds itself in a profound malaise, with plummeting birthrates and a generation of disaffected youth who call their country “hell.” Read the full blog by our Country Representative Kwang Kim.
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Aug 24, 2022
Nothing Is Impossible: Full Interview with Ambassador Ted Osius
In this special episode we present an unabridged version of last week’s conversation with former ambassador Ted Osius about the improbable reconciliation of America and Vietnam.
In our last episode, we spoke with former U.S. ambassador Ted Osius about his latest book, Nothing Is Impossible: America’s Reconciliation with Vietnam, which chronicles* *the 25-year journey of Vietnam and the United States from implacable foes to friends and partners.
In this extended version of that conversation, Ambassador Osius expands further on his views of U.S.-Vietnam friendship, the founding of an American-style university in Hanoi, and his regret at the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and he reflects on his experience—in conservative Vietnam and an equally conservative State Department—as the father of two in a same-sex, interracial marriage.
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Aug 17, 2022
Nothing is Impossible: America's Reconciliation with Vietnam
This week, former ambassador Ted Osius discusses the remarkable journey of America and Vietnam from bitter adversaries to friends and partners.
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Jul 20, 2022
Amid Commerce and Conflict, Some Border Towns Endure
The market town of Torkham stands on the Old Silk Road, with one foot on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. As Islamabad seeks to secure its frontier, Torkham illustrates the tension between trade and security in conflict-affected border towns. Read the full blog post and report.
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Jun 22, 2022
Protecting Domestic Workers with the Blockchain
In Vietnam, rural women drawn to the booming cities for domestic work are often unprepared and undocumented. A technology that made its public debut with cryptocurrencies offers a solution. Read the full InAsia blog.
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Jun 8, 2022
Transforming the Food Supply Chain, One Refrigerator at a Time
A marathon coding competition in Bangkok hatches a winning app that could transform the food supply chain—and your relationship with your refrigerator. Read the full blog now!
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May 24, 2022
A Push Factor for Trafficking: Gender-Based Violence
One can lure victims into brothels and across international borders. The other is often hidden in the home. But their tangled relationship holds a key to detection, enforcement, and rehabilitation. Read the full article on the InAsia blog:
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May 10, 2022
Nepal Elections: Why Can’t the Mayor Be a Woman?
Fourteen thousand women won political office in Nepal’s first local elections in 2017. With the 2022 elections now just days away, our guest, Sumina Karki, asks why so few women ran at the top of the ticket.
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Apr 27, 2022
A New Generation Takes the Driver’s Seat in Bangsamoro
This week, we talk to the BARMM's Attorney Abdel Jamal Disangcopan on how his parliamentary staff is part of a new generation of young professionals building peace in the Bangsamoro. Read the the full blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2022/04/27/a-new-generation-takes-the-drivers-seat-in-bangsamoro/
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Apr 13, 2022
A Path Forward in Afghanistan: Data for Humanitarian Assistance
As poverty and starvation stalk Afghanistan, must the West turn away from a new government whose policies it cannot condone? Read the full blog post written by Tabasum Akseer: https://asiafoundation.org/2022/04/13/a-path-forward-in-afghanistan-data-for-humanitarian-assistance/
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Mar 29, 2022
Beyond a Sustainable Supply Chain
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/
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Mar 16, 2022
Cambodia's SheThinks Network
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.
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Mar 2, 2022
Nepal’s Federalism Milestone: Five Opportunities and a Second Round of Elections
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/
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Feb 16, 2022
Rappler at 10: There at the Creation
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/
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Feb 2, 2022
In Pacific Island Kitchens, the Revolution Is Being Televised
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/
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Dec 8, 2021
Ensuring Accessible and Inclusive Infrastructure for Persons with Disabilities
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.
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Nov 10, 2021
Water, Gender, and Poverty Collide in Cambodian Watershed
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.
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Oct 27, 2021
The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia
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/
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Oct 13, 2021
Stories for Children of the Ocean
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/
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Sep 29, 2021
Rethinking America’s Role in Asia
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/
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Sep 1, 2021
Our Stories: Lessons from the Lives of Our Elders
In diverse and often divided Sri Lanka, where memory still lingers of the long and bitter civil war, the “Our Stories” project—part art, part oral history—is working to build a more empathetic future.
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Aug 4, 2021
The Pursuit of Democratic Resilience
With the spread of illiberalism and identity politics, it’s been a rocky decade for democracy in much of the world. A project in Indonesia is working on a playbook to stem the antidemocratic tide. Read the full article on our InAsia blog.
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Jul 21, 2021
Political Unrest Unsettles Myanmar’s Borderlands
When the Myanmar military reclaimed power in February after a decade of democratic government, it disrupted the delicate peace process with Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations, and the situation is still unfolding. https://asiafoundation.org/2021/07/21/podcast-political-unrest-unsettles-myanmars-borderlands/
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Jun 23, 2021
Survey of the Nepali People: A Barometer for Federalism?
In 2017, the people of Nepal held their first local elections in 20 years under a new federal system meant to end decades of political unrest. Is it working? A new survey gives us some tantalizing hints. https://asiafoundation.org/2021/06/23/podcast-survey-of-the-nepali-people-a-barometer-for-federalism/
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May 26, 2021
A Data-Driven Peace Dividend for the Bangsamoro
It’s been four years since the terrorist siege of Marawi. It’s been just two years since the president’s pen ratified the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Now, some young data enthusiasts have offered a tantalizing glimpse of a brighter future in the southern Philippines.
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Apr 28, 2021
Back-to-Back Spikes of Covid Wrack India, Nepal
In the three years before the pandemic, South Asia registered the world’s highest rate of economic growth. Now, as a ruinous second wave of Covid-19 sweeps through the region, all of that appears to be undone.
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Apr 14, 2021
Fighting the Good Fight: The Case of the Philippine Rice Sector
For decades a Philippine price-support regime caused mounting public debt and the highest rice prices in Southeast Asia, but replacing a system with so many vested interests was too high a hurdle—until now.
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Mar 31, 2021
Resilience in the Time of Covid
A five-nation initiative to blunt the impact of Covid-19 in South Asia combines international scope, local partnerships, and a question: how to prepare the most vulnerable for the next crisis.
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Mar 17, 2021
The Future of Work for Women in the Pacific Islands
Working women in the Pacific Islands face a trifecta of challenges from Covid-19, climate change, and disruptive technology. A new report from The Asia Foundation takes a hard look at the path to a better future.
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Mar 3, 2021
For International Women's Day, Conversations with Some Remarkable Women
In honor of International Women’s Day, our hosts John Rieger and Tracie Yang celebrate some of the remarkable women we’ve met in the past year on the InAsia podcast.
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Feb 17, 2021
China’s Development White Paper Is Big News
A major white paper has laid out China’s new vision for its global role and responsibilities in international development. In this week’s podcast, our analysts discern a China that is poised to become this century's most prominent development actor. Read the full blog piece: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/02/17/insights-on-chinas-2021-white-paper-on-international-development-cooperation/
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Feb 3, 2021
Pioneering Program Addresses Trauma Head-On
For a decade, the Victims of Trauma Treatment Program has worked with Sri Lanka to heal the psychic wounds of war and natural disaster. When Covid-19 arrived, the pieces were in place to tackle the trauma of lockdowns. Read the InAsia blog piece: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/02/03/pioneering-program-addresses-trauma-head-on/
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Dec 9, 2020
How’s Business? We Have a Benchmark for That
The Myanmar Business Environment Index is a piece of statistical legerdemain that starts as a public perceptions survey and ends as a powerful tool to mobilize both government and the private sector to push for change. Read more: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/12/09/hows-business-we-have-a-benchmark-for-that/
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Nov 11, 2020
Herizal Hazri to Lead Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies
The new head of the Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) is a long-time Asia Foundation hand in Malaysia. As he prepares for his new post, Country Representative Herizal Hazri shares his thoughts on a decade and a half of development.
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Oct 28, 2020
How to Sell an Avocado on Facebook
The InAsia Podcast takes a field trip to northwestern Thailand, where a small farmer far from the big city learns about online marketing and how to tell the story of her unique avocados.
Read the full blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/10/28/how-to-sell-an-avocado-on-facebook/
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Sep 30, 2020
The Crisis and the Cracks—Pakistan’s Covid-19 Experience at Taftaan
When a Karachi student returning from Iran became Pakistan’s first documented case of Covid-19, the government quickly moved to quarantine thousands of Shia pilgrims at the remote outpost of Taftaan on the Iran-Pakistan border. But Pakistan’s pandemic response soon stumbled in the resource-poor periphery of the borderland. Read the InAsia blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/09/30/podcast-the-crisis-and-the-cracks-pakistans-covid-19-experience-at-taftaan/
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Sep 16, 2020
A Woman Attorney General for the Bangsamoro
She’s part of the new face of leadership in her long-troubled homeland of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Attorney General Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba sits down with InAsia to talk about the past, the future, and her vision for the Bangsamoro.
Read more about her story: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/09/16/podcast-a-woman-attorney-general-for-the-bangsamoro/
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Sep 2, 2020
Bulldozing ASEAN’s Digital Divide
Southeast Asia may be mad for social media, but peek behind the smartphone mania and the skills to get a job in the new economy or take a small business online are still in short supply. As the pandemic turns up the pressure to go digital, a new project from The Asia Foundation and Google.org is about to change that. (Read our companion blog piece: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/09/02/podcast-bulldozing-aseans-digital-divide/)
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Aug 19, 2020
Covid Lays Bare The Flaws in Asia's Megacities
After 20 years of dazzling growth, Asia is now home to nearly half of the world’s urban population. But this breakneck growth has often bypassed critical investments in public infrastructure. Now, the Covid-19 pandemic is exposing pervasive failures of urban governance that are already starting to exact serious costs. But like pandemics past, the coronavirus crisis is also an opportunity to rethink and reshape Asian cities. Read our most recent blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/08/19/covid-lays-bare-the-flaws-in-asias-booming-megacities/
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Jul 22, 2020
Thinking and Working Politically
Since early 2012, The Asia Foundation’s Coalitions for Change in the Philippines has been pursuing the emerging discipline of “thinking and working politically,” which is…what, exactly? Jaime Faustino, coauthor of a new book on the subject, answers that question with a tale of unexpected obstacles, surprising solutions, and thinking like an entrepreneur. Learn more about the new book: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/07/22/thinking-and-working-politically-a-conversation-with-jaime-faustino/
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Jul 8, 2020
Funding Women Entrepreneurs on Mongolia’s Covid Front Line
Mongolia has been a Covid-19 success story, but the early lockdown that kept the virus at bay has also battered the economy, and no one has felt it more than Mongolia’s small businesswomen. We talk to Soomin Jun and Saranzaya Gerelt-Od from The Asia Foundation's Women's Business Center. Read their InAsia blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/07/08/funding-women-entrepreneurs-on-mongolias-covid-front-line/
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Jun 10, 2020
Opportunity in Crisis: Making Green Energy the New Normal
Some of the most indelible images of the pandemic have been the brilliant skies that replaced toxic smog as the world stayed home and fossil-fuel use plunged. With renewables now cheaper than coal, green energy’s time has come. We sit down with Anindya Uphadyay, senior technical consultant to The Asia Foundation’s Sustainable Development Investment Program in New Delhi, to discuss the stark choice that the pandemic has revealed. Read her InAsia blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/04/29/will-we-seize-the-chance-for-a-green-post-virus-future/
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May 27, 2020
In Bangladesh, Tanneries in Trouble
A two-decade push by Bangladesh to reform its leather tanning industry was supposed to clean up pollution and end worker exploitation. So far, it hasn’t quite worked out as planned. We interview Md. Sadat S. Shibli about the industries progress and shortcomings. Read the full blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/05/27/in-bangladesh-tanneries-in-trouble/
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