ASTANA www.asianngo.org issue #7 | MAY-JUN 2014
Funds | Partnerships | Learning
47TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
T o p S tor i es ADB HQ switches to full RE supply page 3 The downsides of green growth page 4 The Rise of Asia’s Southern Providers in East Asia page 6 Inclusive growth urgently needed for sustainable development page 7 Rockefeller Foundation: towards a hundred more years and beyond page 10 Market your NGO online—effectively page 11 NGO gets fund for Cambodia mine-detection project page 12 For more information on grants and events useful for your NGO, turn to page 14-16 or visit www.asianngo.org.
Young, free and ready to engage: Central Asian civil society Still reeling from the collapse of the Soviet Union over two decades ago, the peoples of Central Asia face immense challenges in building an effective civil society and achieving greater freedom and democracy. Many of them, in fact, believe the initial hopes for democracy have faded since 1991, with [civil society] being generally shut out of the political process. But NGOs in and outside of the region are seeing—actually, driving—changes in this situation. (Cover image: Eric Lafforgue/Flickr) Cont. page 12
Featured ORGANISATION
Connecting a region: how .ngo brings NGOs in Asia together One of the biggest questions asked about the .ngo|.ong initiative in Asia is how this new technology can bring together so many different NGOs from all over Asia. After all, the region is a wide array of languages and cultures, spread out over a vast space: from eastern Turkey to the islands of Indonesia, organisations often have difficulty overcoming barriers to communication and coordination. Travel is expensive and time-consuming; while most small organisations are not very focused on the Internet or lack capacity to run their own website. The .ngo|.ong initiative is thus designed with these challenges in mind: to help overcome them and bring the NGO community together.
FE ATU R E D G R ANT
USAID grant for disaster preparedness for Myanmar, Indonesia
C OU N T RY F E AT U R E
Leaving the comfort zone: Kazkah civil society’s way forward
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FEATURED EVENT
How do you change the world in 5 minutes?
(Image: Earth Day Network/Flickr)
Project Inspire calls on the 18-35 year olds from across the globe who has a platform to pitch their inspired and inspiring ideas, for a chance to win a USD25,000 grant and realise the goals their NGOs or social enterprises have for their communities. The competition is open to non-profit and nongovernment organisations, and social entrepreneurs benefitting women and girls in Asia, the Middle East or Africa.
The United States Agency for International Development calls on non-government organisations, civil society groups, local government agencies and private institutions to apply for a grant for a project to improving disaster preparedness and management capacities in Myanmar and Indonesia. The grant is valued at USD11 mn, and deadline for application is 26 July 2014.
Ten finalists will be flown in August to Singapore, where they will spend three days preparing to make their five-minute pitch to the judging panel for the chance to win a US$25,000 grant.
Myanmar’s government’s Relief and Resettlement Department (RRD), under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, intends to develop and deliver a core set of DRR-
In the years that followed the 1991 fall of communism, Kazakhstan already had in place mechanisms for an active civil society. Barely half a decade on, international NGOs have had works prodding local non-state groups promoting access to information and freedom of expression, with particular focus on developing strategies to engage youth on social issues and human rights. Over 400 NGOs were the established by 1995, mostly involved in human rights work; with succeeding years characterised by a growth in the diversity and quality of NGO activity. In turn, the terms civil society and non-government organisation became prominent with the influx of donor support in that decade. (Image: Kaisu Raasakka/Flickr)
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Editorial Commentary
Why civil society needs to be empowered; and what’s at stake The economic rise of Asia in the past few decades have often been cited as a development success story, yet a closer examination of the region reveals a deficit in civil society empowerment. Though many Asians contribute hard labour to build their countries’ economies, many still do not have full participation in their countries’ development. Decision-making and policy discussions are still the realm of those who govern and do not fully belong to the public. There are countries where governments have taken positive steps to provide transparency and engage civil society to play an active role in participatory governance such as Indonesia, The Philippines, and India that have taken to electronic tools in reaching out to citizens and share information. But overall as a region, Asia has more work to do to empower its civil society; in many countries, Asian voices are yet to be heard. Moving forward, why and how should Asian civil society be empowered to contribute to their countries’ development?
Haidy Ear-Dupuy hedupuy@adb.org
The why is a simple economic answer that can be addressed looking at the foundation of economic resources. For decades now, Asia’s economic success has been built on the hard work of its people and now must find a way to harness the knowledge of its people. Human resources include not just physical assets; but the mental capacity to also develop and innovate. As citizens become more educated, governments need to create a space for them to contribute ideas. Skills and innovation in Asian civil society can help countries meet the challenges of building the new economy. Empowering citizens to think, innovate, and create can enable a country build a knowledgebased economy. Middle-income economies will now have to find a way to balance its development, ensuring it is progressing both economically and socially. Creating space for civil society participation in policy discussions and expanding channels of can strengthen governance and foster trust. Social inclusion of the civil society in matters of governance is good for environmental sustainability. It provides checks and balances in places where there could be excessive exploitation, such as green movements by environmental groups to call attention to the flight of threatened wildlife, groups that work to protect clean air, the forest, sea and biodiversity. Demands from civil society for more environmentally responsible investment will help to support cleaner economic models.
Asia’s future needs the contribution of its civil society. While some works to support governments in meeting its objectives, others work to help governments avoid the negative effects of unchecked development. The ADB’s publication Asia 2050 (2011) outlined two scenarios for the region: either it is able to overcome many challenges like climate change and governance to succeed into a fully developed region; or stagnate in the middle-income trap, where economies are stuck in a no-growth zone and workers stuck in low-paying wages. Good governance is highlighted as one of the important element of advancing the economy forward, and a wellempowered civil society can help a country monitor on ensuring that public services are delivered to the people. The ADB’s Asian Development Outlook 2013, for example, analysed the links between governance and development and concluded that strengthening voice and accountability helps support more efficient public services. It also describes civic empowerment as a way to help governments deliver effective public services that provide people the “freedom to decide on matters that affect their lives and the right to participate in development, empowering them by expanding their assets and capabilities.” Some of the positive steps already taken by governments to support civil society empowerment include the use of ICT to provide access to information to the general public. Some governments activate their technology-driven youth population to help tap into the power of social media to reach the overall public. Others have set up hotlines and mobile messaging system to enable people report on public service delivery. For instance, Indonesia’s Lapor system provides citizen a way to send a text message to the government to report on issues of its service delivery. India’s civil society initiative I Paid a Bribe helped both the government and the people see where public services can be improved. Initiatives like the Check My School in the Philippines (a program of ANSA) provide young people and their parents to help schools receive the resources needed to improve education; and the Open Government Partnership,
Editorial
No other way but forward for Asian NGOs, civil society
It’s been a year! Our goal to reach out to the non-profit sector, especially small NGOs in Asia, has not only taken us across continents; we’ve also received an unprecedented response from partners who are not just eager to know more about what we do. They are also very pro-active and generous in contributing resources that are most beneficial to the overall NGO and civil society in the region.
Most recently we’ve Mike Saycon collaborated with MDF Asia-Pacific, Blackbaud mike@asianngo.org International, TechSoup Global, Claro KC, The Asia Foundation and, in the next issues, we will be working with AM Global and the Public Interest Registry. Not only are these organisations enablers of the NGO community; both their global reach and local knowledge are also very strategic in empowering the region’s civil society with bestpractices, opportunities for partnerships, further learning and development. But we don’t stop there. This issue launches a sub-magazine featuring a collection of Asia’s new or recently completed CSR initiatives, local and international donors and aid agencies, locally-driven PPP profiles and corporations with strong CSR drive in their communities—all aimed for NGOs and CSOs. This is to give our friends and partners in the private sector and multi-lateral agencies the space to engage potential recipients of their contribution back to the communities they work in. The regular Tools and Resources section, too, is undergoing
an overhaul: beginning this issue, we are enriching the section with literature reviews, and more full-features of events and grants. The last page, modified to give you a flip-page of grants calendar and a part of the Learning Series, is ideally to be cut out and kept for your reference. It serves dual-purpose: you are reminded of the available grants and their respective deadlines to help you in your own search for grants; and the Learning content forms part of a series of handy guides for your day-today operations. This issue also tackles the imminent talks of regional cooperation—but we rather shifted our focus on Central Asia, one of the more under-served areas in matters of international development. As Kazakhstan—this issue’s country feature to coincide with its hosting of the ADB’s Annual Meeting in Astana—is taking baby-steps to democracy, so are the challenges and opportunities for partnerships ripe in the rest of Central Asia. While Kazakhstan arguably is the best-positioned civil society in Central Asia, the rest of the ‘stans’ can and must take the direction of fully engaging an active and empowered civil society. Sure, the ideals of democracy and free-market
in which both Indonesian and the Philippine governments are founding members, creates a venue for civil society and governments to communicate and work together. Empowering civil society is a process. There are both the push and pull factors constantly at play: governments need to work closely with stakeholders to ensure information are shared; and civil society continues to hold government to account for the services to be delivered to the public. This process requires action from both the state and the civil society, with the latter exerting independence but engaging constructively. Ultimately, the process of civil society empowering is an important part of nation building, and it takes all stakeholders to build a strong and inclusive Asia. Haidy Ear-Dupuy is the Social Development Specialist for Civil Society and Participation in the NGO and Civil Society Center of the ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department, supporting and monitoring civil society participation in ADB-financed projects. She provides coordination and support to ADB’s civil society focal points in the South Asia region to strengthen civil society participation. Before joining the ADB, Ear-Dupuy worked with World Vision International as Senior Policy Advisor on macro-economic issues in Washington, D.C., managing relations with multilateral institutions and the coalitions of NGOs working to promote the advancement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She also led WVI’s coordination in lobbying G8 and G20 governments to support Food Security and Maternal and Child Health; and coordinated the WVI’s partnerships advocacy network on economic justice and developed the partnership’s work on aid, debt, and trade. She contributed to the World Vision’s publication, Global Futures and has written on citizen empowerment, gender, and the role of the international financial institutions. She also served as Director of Advocacy and Communications for World Vision Cambodia, where she provided leadership and strategic management of the advocacy and communications department. Prior to World Vision, Ear-Dupuy worked with Oxfam America, as Sustainable Livelihoods Officer, where she developed a river-basin development strategy to support communities living along the Mekong River. She holds a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics (2001) and a Master’s degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development (1998) from the University of Wisconsin, USA; and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a focus on Development Economics from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, USA (1993)
were Western imports; but undeniably, international NGOs and corporate foundations were not alone to have laid the cornerstone of an independent civil society in Central Asia. For now it is easier to assume the opinion of an outsider, again mainly by Western standards and those dissidents who left for the West, looking inwards. One feature (The development of Central Asian civil society) highlights that although Western NGOs have been actively driving civil society in the sub-region since 1991, real work still belongs to local groups who logically would have a better understanding of their needs. Thus, beyond providing funds and at times manpower or technical expertise, local NGOs and civil society in general will need to flourish on their own—particularly with an optimistic young population. As young as the notion of democratic, independent civil society is in Central Asia, it is visibly the youth organisations most active in bringing freedom- and rights-driven trainings to citizens, especially low-income and marginalised groups. Ultimately, still perceived as having not yet outgrown its communist past, Central Asia will need to escape from its traditional comfort zone and pursue more socially responsible partnerships with companies in the private sector—including its young population. Their governments will have to come to terms with enacting legislation to formalise and promote volunteerism among the people; amending existing legislations to establish stronger criteria for the work of CSOs; and enabling the state’s social contracts to be more open and transparent. So as long a way ahead we at AsianNGO can see, we’re in for always bringing something new, something fresh to these pages to share with our friends and partners in the NGO community in the region. But we won’t be doing that alone. You and your own network are all important partners in what we do for the overall non-profit sector. ■
EDITORIAL TEAM Sreenivas Narayanan CEO & Publisher
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F E AT U R E S
ADB HQ switches to full RE supply
New online domain name seeks to transform NGO sector Non-government organisations around the world vary in terms of size, scope and mission; but nearly each shares three common challenges: the drive for fund-raising, need for increased visibility and awareness, and coordination and partnerships with other NGOs. As more users go online, especially in developing countries, NGOs are turning to the Internet to help them elevate their work—both in terms of growth and impact. Key in this technology explosion is the new .ngo|.ong initiative launching this year by Public Interest Registry, the non-profit organisation that for years has managed the global .org domain. In this new online community NGOs can now register their names—like myMalaysianNGO.ngo—to be immediately identified online as part of the NGO community.
(Image: Christian Bederico/Flickr) As of March, the Asian Development Bank’s Manila headquarters is fully supplied by renewable energy sources for its power needs: the geothermal plants in Tiwi (Albay province) and Makiling-Banahaw (Laguna province), in addition to the HQ’s solar panels, supply 100% of the ADB’s power. “As an institution we are strongly committed to expanding the use of renewable energy across Asia and the Pacific, so it is only fitting that we walk the talk in our own headquarters,” ADB Vice President Bruce Davis says of the development. The move also coincides with one of the core themes to this year’s Annual Meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors in Astana (Kazakhstan), where stakeholders from the public, private and non-profit sector will tackle the challenges and opportunities in, among others, green growth for the region. Meanwhile, electricity reforms in the Philippines now allow users to choose their power suppliers, prompting ADB to choose AdventEnergy as a supplier, since it is the sole provider offering a large portion of its electricity from renewable sources. The switch and accompanying ceremony in February were part of the ADB’s second “No Impact Week,” raising awareness with staff to reduce carbon footprint and impact on the environment. “This will allow us to cut our annual corporate carbon footprint by nearly half, with an emission reduction of more than 9,500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent,” Davis added.
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Particularly an advantage for NGOs in emerging markets, the new .ngo|.ong domain name will build an online community open only to genuine NGOs. A simple validation process is required for registration, to show each registration represents a real public-service organisation. This exclusivity will help keep the space free of scammers and other bad actors, ultimately keeping NGOs safe online. As part of the initiative, each member of the community will also receive their name in both the .ngo and .ong domains (to
reach out to non-English speaking audiences), as well as their own page on the community portal that they can easily build out—and, in the case of smaller, less tech-savvy organizations, they can actually use the portal as their web presence. Online community members will be part of a searchable database, enhancing their global visibility and organisational awareness.; and connect to partners worldwide. Not only will this database help NGOs find potential partners; it will also help potential donors find reputable organisations more easily. The platform will even allow NGOs to offer multiple online payment mechanisms to donors worldwide. “The launch of .ngo|.ong is great news for NGOs around the world, particularly in emerging markets,” said Brian Cute, CEO of Public Interest Registry. “So many NGOs out there— especially the small ones—do impactful work but ultimately need more publicity and more funding to sustain those efforts. The .ngo|.ong domain solution is a smart, easy and inexpensive way for them to get the support they need to truly amplify their messages, fuel their passions and continue the work that they have done to date in their communities.” More information and the ability to submit an Expression of Interest for a new .ngo|.ong domain name is available at www. globalngo.org.
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How do you change the world in 5 minutes? Ideas must show creativity and make a sustainable impact in the lives of women and girls across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East or Africa. Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World is a joint initiative of the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard to help young change-makers create a better world for women and girls in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. It was launched in 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and the 25th anniversary of MasterCard Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. One grand prize winner will receive the $25,000 grant. Up to 10 finalists will each receive a return flight from their capital city to Singapore to participate in the grand final; a ticket to the Project Inspire grand final event on 30 August; four nights’ accommodation in Singapore, plus meals and transfers; and exclusive INSEAD and Bain & Company workshops, plus
one-on-one mentoring sessions. Last year’s winner of the $25,000 grant was Protsahan, a social enterprise in India that uses creative education and innovation to empower street children and young girls, and expanded training in design and handicraft for women in slum areas who are at-risk to violence. The United States’ Global Press Institute, which provides journalism training to women in Bangladesh, Morocco, Papua New Guinea and Tunisia, was awarded the Global Reach Award and a $10,000 grant. The Philippines’ My Shelter Foundation was recognised with the People’s Choice Award for training detainees at the Correctional Institution for Women in the production, use and sale of low-cost solar lamps. To apply for the http://projinspire.com/apply/. Deadline for submission of this year’s call is 30 June.
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C O U N TR Y F E AT U R E
EBRD supports national green growth plan In a November report the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has confirmed to support Kazakhstan's National Green Growth Plan, announced the Bank’s First Vice President, Phil Bennett, during his first visit to the country. He said that the EBRD remains committed to the country's sustainable development during his meetings with members of the Kazakh government and business community. Bennett stressed the bank places special emphasis on sustainable energy and is ready to support viable projects in the nascent renewable sector, specifically wind and solar power. The EBRD is already considering financing the first major wind farm in Yereymentau. Its engagement in sustainable energy in Kazakhstan has long been established and has supported the country's participation in the Clean Technology Fund (CTF). With the EBRD's involvement and a $1 mn funding support from the CTF, the legal framework for renewable energy in Kazakhstan was developed. The bank has invested over $500 mn for energy efficiency improvements in Kazakhstan since 2008, accounting for more than 20 per cent of the EBRD's overall investments in the country. Recently, the EBRD is developing new approaches to financing clean technology transfer to Kazakh industry with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Energy-rich Kazakhstan is searching for ways to use renewable energy sources. Since January last year an action plan was adopted on the development of renewable energy sources for the period through to 2020.
Greenhouse Kazakhstan wool used in top brandagriculture a boom name clothes KazAgro, Kazakhstan's national arm for Shipment of the remaining 54 tonnes will in Kazakhstan development of the country's agricultural follow. In addition, KazAgro plans to seal The southern Kazakhstan region has about 87 per cent of all greenhouses in the country, having increased to 720 hectares in 2013. On top of this, South Kazakhstan had gathered a record high vegetable harvest of more than two million tonnes. Kazakhstan has thus commenced building its largest greenhouse in the summer of 2013, said the KazAgroFinance company. "The greenhouses of Topar village are some of the most ambitious greenhouse projects in the country. The 240-thousand-square-metre greenhouse complex is the heart of a large farm of 3.57 square kilometres," the press service of the KazAgroFinance said.
Designed using Dutch technology, the greenhouse involves drip irrigation. As the government arm for funding agricultural projects, KazAgro has spent $27.3 mn to purchase equipment for the greenhouse and fund the construction works. "By 2015 the greenhouse is scheduled to produce 8,500 tonnes of fruit and vegetables per year," the company added. The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors for Kazakhstan’s Justice Sector Institutional Last year’s export of agricultural products worth Strengthening Project has just approved a $300 mn was 13 per cent more than what USD36 mn loan to improve the country’s key was planned by South Kazakhstan. Each third legal arrangements on relations between the enterprise in the country was commissioned in state, businesses and citizens; and improve the the Region to implement its Industrial Roadmap, efficiency, transparency and access to justice including 65 percent in rural areas. services.
WB supports institutional boost for justice sector
Already in operation are 10 greenhouse complexes with a total area of 314 thousand square metres worth a total of $58.6 mn and capable of producing 22 tonnes of vegetables per year. This is in the framework of Kazakhstan’s Development of Greenhouse Network investment project.
G REEN G ROW TH S PECIAL REPO RT
The downsides of green growth Eco-friendly technologies, as such, mostly do not put the poor at risk. The dangers are in how they are applied – and by whom. The goal must be to empower disadvantaged communities to take their fate into their own hands. Otherwise, green-growth strategies can compound problems of poverty and prove destructive even in environmental terms. In recent discourse, green growth is primarily a slogan, rather than a clearly defined concept. The slogan is powerful nonetheless. It serves to mobilise potentially huge investments. It is necessary to understand how this slogan is interpreted and how it is used to justify certain types of actions.
important are probably land and water. Access to these resources is contested almost everywhere. Unless we know how the application of a new technology will impact on the distribution and use of land, water and other vital resources, it is impossible to tell whether it will serve or hurt the poor. All too often, however, the related questions are not even asked.
If the goal is to fight poverty, the focus must be on the people who are exposed to climate impacts and environmental risks, but who have only limited capacities to manage these risks. Instead, the starting point for analysis tends to be how to implement a given technical solution, Proponents of green growth tend to promote the the merits of which are taken for granted. There transfer of a set of technologies that are supposed is too little concern for empowering people to to serve environmental sustainability and growth make their own informed decisions. Such lack at the same time. The idea is that we can move to of respect for local people’s needs and desires, however, is a recipe for failure. a greener economy without sacrificing growthoriented paradigms. Experience gathered in agricultural extension programmes illustrates these concerns. All too In the general debate on poverty and growth, however, it is mostly acknowledged that growth often, pre-designed technology packages fail to reach the poor because the target group is only a condition, but not a guarantee for chooses not to adopt them, or does not adopt poverty alleviation. Nonetheless, people who them in an appropriate way. Extension workers promote green growth hardly ever raise this are used to being blamed for such failures. The issue. They should. Decades of development root problem, however, is normally that the cooperation have taught us that no technology technology package was not designed well in the can be indiscriminately applied to every sociofirst place, so it does not match the way farmers economic context. It is always necessary to think about productivity, commercialisation, consider the implications within the micro dimensions of the political economy of poverty. household food security and related issues. One example of such mismatches is that smallholder farmers, particularly in remote regions, normally minimise risks rather than maximise output. Their attitude makes perfect sense since their families must subsist on what they grow on their farms. Most extension programmes, in contrast, are geared to boosting output rather than securing the minimum needed for survival. On the other hand, I have also met smallholders that were not interested in the kind of eco-friendly conservation agriculture Green-growth rhetoric often suggests the that extension workers were promoting. The existence of "win-win" solutions. In truth, reason was that the farmers expected to make adaptation to climate change is a complex more money by doing casual labour than by challenge. Every green-growth policy, for instance, depends on natural resources. The most trying to increase farm yields by doing what the extension workers proposed. Wrong focus The focus of green growth strategies is on technologies, rather than on who will use them – and how. That must change. We need to consider how exactly green-growth strategies will benefit the poor. If, on the other hand, the users of the technology are not the poor and climate vulnerable, the indirect impacts on them must be assessed.
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industry, has announced Italy will buy virgin more deals for at least 140 tonnes of wool wool from Kazakhstan to produce brand-name tops and work on supplying 500 tonnes of clothes. wool through the rest of the year. The current agreement is valued at USD598,000. KazAgroProduct has sealed a long-term cooperation agreement with Italian Vicotex Srl In 2002 Kazakhstan launched the production to supply wool tops, saying "leading European of wool tops, a natural product made of companies like Benetton, Zara, Lanerossi, sheep wool, in Zhambyl Oblast in southern GruppoMarzotto, H&M, FratelliPiacenza Kazakhstan. The project is a collaboration S.P.A., among others, will be using the between KazAgroProduct and Taraz Wool Kazakhstan-made wool tops to make their Mill. clothes." The company has confirmed it has started to export processed wool to Italy, Factories use equipment purchased from and has so far shipped the first 18 tonnes of Europe through a financial support of another wool tops out of the total 72 tonnes to the subsidiary of KazAgro - Agricultural Credit Apennine Peninsula from Zhambyl Oblast. Corporation.
Currently, Kazakhstan is placing sharp focus on the responsiveness and transparency of its core justice sector entities across the judiciary and executive, which together offer a range of justice services to citizens and the private sector. In the past years, Kazakhstan has made moves to modernise its justice system and thus Neglected, but relevant criteria The point is that poor people must be empowered to take control of their own lives. That is what a human-rights understanding of development demands. Poverty issues must be seen in a context of rights holder and duty bearers (see box on p. XXX). For the purposes of this essay, I will apply the Swedish government’s concept of human-rights based development. It emphasises participation, transparency, accountability and non-discrimination. These criteria are normally neglected in green-growth discourse, but they can help to judge whether a strategy is pro-poor or anti-poor. Programmes that are designed to promote specific technologies typically do not give poor people much scope for raising their voices towards duty bearers. Rather, the politicians and bureaucrats involved tend to consider popular participation to be a kind of obstacle. Trying to override people’s concerns, however, is a recipe for failure. Many green-growth strategies, for example, involve a positive reconsideration of large-scale commercial farms, often producing biofuels. Such farms are seen to contribute to growth and provide an easily measurable contribution to environmental goals. The problem is that it is by no means guaranteed that poor people will be able to participate in such new opportunities. They may be flatly excluded, or they may find that working on these farms is such an uncertain, seasonal and limited opportunity that they choose to invest in other, less green alternatives. Indeed, if bio-fuel production on megafarms results in labour displacement from small farms that operated on the same land previously, the result may be environmental destruction. That is the case when the displaced people see no alternative but to start farming on marginal, sloping land or burn down forests in order to make place for new fields ("swidden agriculture"). Unless the poor are meaningfully involved in decision making, green-growth policies can thus prove utterly counterproductive. That is true even in an environmental sense. If, on the other hand, marginalised communities are to participate in decision making, they must
increase institutional capacity, operational efficiency, service quality and public trust. The Bank’s new project is sought to help enable self-regulating of professional bodies and introduce modern and transparent dispute resolution systems. The project was developed as a technical assistance to provide capacitybuilding and monitoring and evaluation support over a period of five years. Since Kazakhstan joined the World Bank Group in July 1992, the Bank has become its major development partner with commitments of US$6.8 billion for 40 projects. (WB) understand the options at hand. Providing this kind of transparency is not just a matter of "awareness raising", as it is very often framed in climate discussions. It is a matter of helping people to objectively consider the pros and cons of any choice in relation to a broad range of goals and opportunities. Many issues need to be considered apart from the environment, including food security, livelihoods, cultural values and social relations. Commitments to such multidimensional transparency, however, are rare when green growth is promoted. There are, for example, many calls for agriculture extension to simply promote diffusion of supposedly green technologies with no due attention to helping people to decide for themselves what they want. It is taken for granted that experts know what is best. Accordingly, the win-win rhetoric around green growth often leaves people in the dark about the difficult choices ahead. Assumptions that resistance to the green-growth agenda should be addressed by mere awareness raising prove that climate-activism has not learned the lessons of decades of development cooperation. The principles of participation and transparency imply that duty-holders must be made accountable to rights bearers. The duty bearers are primarily state agencies, but also donor agencies. Regrettably, the latter are setting the climate agenda in many countries. The accountability of public institutions is a core tenet of democracy, of course, but it cannot be taken for granted in many developing countries. There are worrying signs, moreover, when even green-growth proponents from donor countries call for the kind of "strong" political leadership that can "make the trains run on time". The subtext of such demands is a concern that politicians are "too accountable" to populations who are not happy with green growth. Who is accountable to whom The main question in relation to poverty and vulnerability is that of "who is accountable to whom". If poverty alleviation is the goal, policymakers must be made accountable to those who are highly vulnerable to climate Cont. page 15
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C O U N TR Y fe a t u r e from page 1
Leaving the comfort zone: Kazkah civil society’s way forward weaken the sector’s ability to build confidence in its accountability and transparency.
The view of Almaty from atop one of the high-rise towers in the city. (Image: Iván Muñoz García/Flickr)
Since 2001 the public financing mechanisms for CSOs, and the further growth in the number of registered NGOs, have formed groundwork for the entrenchment of Kazakh civil society. Now, with the staging of the ADB’s Annual Meeting in Astana, the government has in its home-base a golden opportunity to showcase its directions to expand the concept of democracy so it not only includes parliamentary democracy, but also participatory and deliberative democracy. Relatively new concept for the people Kazakhs have a high propensity to engage in community work. In the recent Civil Society Index (CSI) by the Public Policy Research Centre in collaboration with CIVICUS and the European Union, 19.7% of respondents said they do volunteer work for at least one social organisation; while 27.9% engage in social activities (like sports groups) or service-based organisations several times a year. “Public movements, largely driven by what was defined as CSOs, played an vital part in its transition to democracy. Environmental movements like Nevada-Semey, seeking to close nuclear test sites, diversified into democratic movements; opening up the political scene and serving as the basis for the first political parties after independence,” Meruert Makhmutova and Aitzhan Akhmetova say, authors of the CSI. Kazakh NGOs are just as diverse as in any mature civil society. To illustrate, organisations specialising on families with physically disabled children also provide other services including medical, legal, education, etc. Educationdriven organisations provide users with services with different subjects; youth groups, health organisations, arts and culture advocates occupy leading positions, followed by the social sector and human rights. “The task of civil society, then, has proved to be mediating between individuals and state, with the primary goal of protecting the interests of every member of society and represent them against authorities and society, conduct public oversight of the authorities’ activities and formulate internal and external policy,” Makhmutova adds.
Shukhov,who belongs to the latter generation prior to the fall of the USSR, is now of the opinion that to date Kazakh’s young civil society tends to be ‘weak’, with NGOs having little real involvement in development work—not because of suppression but more out of a culture of fear. “Almost every week in my editorials I would write: ‘People, why are you so indifferent, even to your own fate?’” Remnants of communist-type stronghold While most leading Kazakh NGOs rely on international donors, fiscal sustainability of organised civil society has become increasingly fragile. Since the global financial crisis when aid funds saw drastic cuts, the government increased its involvement in civil society by establishing state NCOs; leading to a new abbreviation present in Kazakhstan: GONGO, referring to government-operated NGOs. Charles Ziegler, Russia and Eurasia specialist and founder of the Center for Asian Democracy, argued in 2008 that only “a small fraction of registered NGOs are active; many are ‘dormant’ or quasi-NGOs created by government agencies; while the most active ones tend to be concentrated in cities.” The rise in state funding and the drop in international aid thus shaped political patronage, creating challenges of independence and non-interference.
Despite all these, Miras Daulenov, International Law and International Relations chair of the Kazakh Humanities and Law University, admits that government leaders are trying to improve the social part of the population, with bigger emphasis on the development of smaller and medium enterprises. “All these aspects can positively affect the development of civil society in Kazakhstan,” he says. Critical issues are raised against civil society in Kazakhstan at times, largely because people— between older and younger generations—face a crossroads between reminiscing the good parts of a communist past and the drive to just move on; and, at worst, a residual passive position of the older generation. Daulenov says civil society is not always capable of influencing political decisions that are being made; rather, it is seen as en extension of state powers at the expense of existing civil society,” Daulenov says. Beyond Astana 2014, the way forward The big picture of Kazakh civil society is, however cautiously, optimistic. The CSI concludes with a list of opportunities for Kazakhstan to harness; among which are that it tends to have sufficient internal structures of governance, is generally open to intra-sectoral networking and information exchange; is grounded well in the social needs of citizens and are in close contact with the local environment; and tends to be sensitive to marginalised social groups.
CSOs, too, must do more: the society generally needs more educating on NGOs’ responsibilities, rights and relations with the state and the private sector—both at home and in school. While there are opportunities to boost confidence Freedom House, a human rights advocate NGO, of individuals and CSOs to create sustainable reported in 2010 that the Kazakh government employment opportunities in the sector, they uses its enormous power of patronage to also need to engage in a broader consultative promote its agenda rather than allowing NGOs process to open dialogue on a long-term plan for to develop independently. “NGOs that resist development by explicitly articulating their such pressures tend to be portrayed as either values in their strategic plans and training. irresponsible, serving outside interests, or opposed to reform and prosperity,” the CSI After all, as Daulenov suggests, Kazakhstan’s quotes Freedom House. development as a dynamic modern state with better living standards is only possible on the Limited framework for political competitiveness basis of activating its human potential—a civilian has created a dent in participatory democracy, initiative—and strengthening civil society. suggesting a democratic deficit that threatens There are enough strengths to build on, but the to undermine the civil society. High levels of way forward will need commitment from the perceived corruption in the government and government; as well as from the civil society and ultimately within the civil society continue to the donor community if the existing challenges
Clearly heading west: then-US State Secretary Hillary Clinton responds to a question at a town hall on Empowering Civil Society for Central Asia’s Future at a forum in Astana in 2010. (Image: US State Department)
are to be overcome. Anar Ibrayeva, head of the English Department of the same university, agrees. If the frequent renaming of the country’s streets since 1991 to drown Soviet memories were to the judge, political will and public discourse is on the society’s side. But before Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president, can change the country’s name to rise above all its ‘stan’ neighbours, his government may have to first engage and empower a civil society that clamours more for social improvement than its reputation. The Annual Meeting of the ADB in Astana will only be a first wave of reminder—both for Mr. Nazarbayev and the Kazakh civil society: what happens or what its young movers will do next, will re-define the country’s future history by more than just shaking off their Soviet past. (With special thanks to CIVICUS, the EU, Public Policy Research Centre, Meruert Makhmutova, Aitzhan Akhmetova, Alexander Shukhov, Anar Ibrayeva and Miras Daulenov.)
Civil society at work: Eco School 16 and Kazakh NGO Otrazhenie gathered 600 students, teachers and parents in Temirtau for the global environmental campaign, Moving Planet. (Image: 350.org/Flickr)
The CSI study, however, found low levels of political engagement and a general tendency among citizens towards political apathy; and that volunteering mechanisms are undeveloped. It cites a lack of a culture of philanthropy or corporate social responsibility, with the social base for providing civil society with resources remaining generally weak. As Alexander Shukhov, former editor of the country’s largest weekly, the Caravan, would describe in the amount of letters they received: “This is perhaps a heritage of the Soviet times; it has gone deep in our mentality,” he notes, adding that Kazakhs too, in the past, were nomads. “A nomad solves his problem by moving to another place, not by confronting it head on. Society’s sub-groups cannot be effective if people are passive like that.”
Raising awareness on protecting wetland areas: communities have become advocates for environmental protection. The UNDP and GEF have worked with the local communities to distribute publications, short films, workshops in schools, and developing information centres for visitors. (Image: UNDP-Kazakhstan)
Tackling statelessness: women from Tajikistan cultivate their fields in Kyrgyzstan. Those left stateless after the dissolution of the Soviet Union included Tajik refugees who fled conflict in their homeland in in the early 1990s. (Image: UNHCR/A. Plotnikov/Flickr)
Fully wired with the rest of the world: a coalition of NGOs in Kazakhstan in a video conference for a Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR Centre)-organised video lunch briefing with a Human Rights Committee session in Geneva. (Image: CCPR Centre/Flickr)
In large part coupled with the country’s transition to a full democracy and free-market economy, the weakest point of this dimension is the sustainability of human resources; a result of the limited financial resources and the shortterm orientation of community-driven projects. High income inequality, large numbers of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, and poor economic and social conditions in rural regions remain Kazakhstan’s big challenges; and it seems likely that low standard of living is preventing people from engaging more in civil society’s activities.
Little Miracles International, a non-profit organisation, helps sponsor a window replacement project for a nursery in Semiplatinsk, Kazakhstan. (Image: Lori Scott/Flickr) www.asianngo.org
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G ues t w r i t e r
Anthea Mulakala
anthea.mulakala@asiafoundation.org
The Rise of Asia’s Southern Providers in East Asia
Today, there’s no doubt that the global aid landscape is changing. Aid from traditional donors to Asia is declining, with total global aid falling by 6 per cent since its high point in 2010. Meanwhile, the volume of development cooperation from nonOECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members is increasing, and could account for at least USD50 billion in aid by 2025. Asian providers like India, China, Indonesia, and Thailand are the most visible in East Asia. These rising development actors are changing the nature of international cooperation relationships.
Regional forums provide opportunities Research revealed that Asian Southern providers do not actively engage in traditional donor-led aid coordination and dialogue but prefer to coordinate their assistance directly with partner governments. They are also active in other types of coordination efforts that speak more to their economic, political, and security needs and priorities. These include the ASEAN+3, Greater Mekong Sub Region, the Greater Tumen Initiative, BRICS, OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) group.
In 2013, The Asia Foundation conducted research on the changing aid landscape in eight countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Timor-Leste, Vietnam) in East Asia to determine the major trends of non-DAC providers. These are some of the main findings:
More actors, more choices The changing aid landscape in Asia provides recipient countries with more choices in funding sources and instruments, particularly in the area of lending. Partner countries are increasingly active in choosing projects and partners; and Asian providers are popular with partner governments because they deliver with speed, impose few conditions, do not interfere in government policy, and focus on infrastructure and growth sectors.
China is the main player In the eight countries studied, China is by far the dominant Southern provider. Its footprint in the region is primarily on infrastructure development projects largely financed through concessional loans, including transport, telecommunications, and power. Chinese grant assistance or technical cooperation in East Asia has gone toward agriculture, education, culture, and disaster relief projects. Apart from China, India and Thailand also have a consistent presence as development partners in the region. Principles trump sectoral priorities Asian Southern providers operate on the basis of certain principles—notably, to assess and respond to demand, and to deliver with speed. Non-DAC providers thus often do not define sectoral or country priorities, but instead allocate resources in response to bi-lateral relationships and requests usually from partner governments. Nevertheless, infrastructure projects still predominate among Asian-Southern-supported initiatives in the countries studied, which are generally financed with credit lines or concessional loans. For example, India has expanded its credit line modality to support power and water infrastructure projects in Cambodia. MDGs are less relevant The Millennium Development Goals and an explicit focus on poverty and social justice do not dominate development cooperation objectives and outcomes among bi-lateral Asian Southern providers. While providers certainly target poor countries, their demand-driven, primarily economic development programmes may not always deliver pro-poor outcomes. But there are notable exceptions: China in particular has taken a stronger interest in livelihood initiatives, arising in part from recognising that while large-scale prestige projects may please partner governments, meeting the needs of people at the local level is also important.
As the world’s fastest rising power, China has sharply expanded its foreign aid spending in both scale and scope over the last decade. Photo/flickr user Sjekster 6
Per capita income in India has more than doubled in the past decade with an estimated 267 million people, or 22 percent of the population, now considered middle class. Photo by Karl Grobl.
Transparency and data challenges: more confusing than opaque The availability and transparency of aid data on Southern providers in East Asia can be inconsistent because, in some cases, the partner country does not release details on all forms of its assistance; or that provider country does not provide figures. While most Southern providers in Asia do not appear to have readily accessible information about their development cooperation, this practice does not appear to stem from secrecy or a willed lack of transparency. How can traditional donors work within this changing environment? One of the main findings has been the complexity and inter-connectedness of the instruments that Asian Southern providers use to support recipient countries. Public and private instruments are often blended. There may be opportunities for DAC donors to identify their own blended instruments in providing more responsive and creative financing tools. In an era of more choices, traditional donors can provide technical assistance and capacity-building to partner national government institutions to make more informed decisions about their development investing and infrastructure. Traditional donors should also stay the course in middle-income countries in East Asia. Regional prosperity and inclusive growth depend on the development trajectory of these middle-income countries. Asian Southern providers recognise this and continue to be active in the arena—influencing, investing, and shaping with soft power.
In 1990, more than half the population of Asia was living in extreme poverty; by 2015, the proportion will be less than 10 percent. Photo/Geoffrey Hiller
About the Author Anthea Mulakala is the Director for International Development Cooperation at The Asia Foundation, leading the works on Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation. She served as Country Representative in Malaysia from 2007 to 2014. Since 2010 she has concurrently led the Foundation's engagement on development effectiveness and aid policy as Senior Advisor for International Development Cooperation. Ms. Mulakala has been overseeing programmes in Asia since 1991. Prior to joining The Asia Foundation, Ms. Mulakala worked for the World Bank in support of Indonesian decentralisation; for South Asia Partnership, strengthening NGO capacity in Sri Lanka and advising on gender-based issues to their offices across the sub-region, and for the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) as team leader of a large Government of Bangladesh and multi-donor health project consortium; and subsequently as DFID's Reconciliation and Development advisor in Sri Lanka.
As the world’s fastest rising power, China has sharply expanded its foreign aid spending in both scale and scope over the last decade. Photo/flickr user Sjekster
Ms. Mulakala earned her B.A. in Political Science, with honours, from the University of Western Ontario; and M.A. in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She speaks French and intermediate Indonesian, Bangla, and Tamil. This is an edited version of an article that also appears on The Asia Foundation’s blog, In Asia.
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Responsible business for sustainable impact
Inclusive growth urgently needed for sustainable development Sustainable Development noted that “Asia faces mega challenges that need to be solved through the use of several plan-of-actions focused on driving an inclusive growth, transitioning to a greener economy, and providing a more sustainable infrastructure and financing.”
The ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Summit and Awards 2014 in March at the Mandarin Oriental Manila sent a clear message: inclusive growth is an important component of sustainable development. With the theme Shifting Gears. Driving Inclusive Growth, the ACSS 2014 focused on issues that benefit the drive towards inclusiveness and also positioned the concept of sustainability and inclusive growth as an imperative development strategy in business operations.
Agnes De Jesus, First Philippine Holding’s Chief Sustainability Officer, spoke of how the energy sector can incorporate inclusive and sustainable programs that uplift the lives of its beneficiaries and the environment. De Jesus’ discussion was reinforced by the presentations of Patricia Gallardo, director for CSR and sustainability of Shangri-La Hotels, which focused on creating social values that transcend social responsibility. Both affirmed that sound investment of a company on its employees, the society and the environment will not just strengthen a company’s human resource and branding; but also provides numerous development opportunities to individuals and the area within its reach.
“Inclusive growth does not only touch upon the improvement of an organization, but its effects spans to different areas – the community, the individuals, and the employees – all bringing in more development opportunities to everyone, and making the parties more integrated, competitive, dynamic, resilient and more inclusive,” remarked Karthik Subburaman, Country Manager of ECC International and host of the annual summit. Just in its second year, ACSSA has brought together almost 200 sustainability leaders, advocates and industry experts from various industries, both in the public and private sectors, within the Philippines and Southeast Asia. ACSS also further trumpeted the fact that living in a globalized world calls for greater collaboration between various stakeholders not just to accelerate sustainable business; and to further increase company-to-company and company-to-organization collaborations inclined to further sustainable inclusive growth. “There is still a lot to do in order to achieve economic growth particularly in boosting societal development. This is affirmed by
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Indeed, development opportunities do not only focus on a company. It resonates to other areas like the environment and the society among others. As Stefan Phang, director of Sealed Air Singapore, stated in his plenary, “livelihood "We have non-profit organisations because we're in trouble with the idea of profit; and thus our integrity can get in generation will also help families move out of trouble." --Steve McCoy (second from left), founder of CounterPoint, discussing the role of CSR in Asia and how to poverty.” collaborate with non-profit partners. With him at the panel discussion are (L-R) Fabia Bueno, Country Manager for Philips, Philippines; Olivia Choong, Founder of Green Drinks, Singapore; and Kamesh Ganeson, panel moderator, ASSIST Senior Director.
other speakers who shared several programs and mechanisms which aimed to further aid in spreading the reach of a sustainable development for everyone,” said Arsenio Balisacan, Philippine secretary for economic planning and concurrently
director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority. Meanwhile, Bindu Lohani, the ADB’s vicepresident for Knowledge Management and
Another perspective that affirms Phang’s statement was that of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health Care’s General Manager for Rural Business, Vijay Sharma. He noted that companies must have a holistic approach to development including enhancing livelihood opportunities, consumer education in terms of Cont. page 9
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A S IA N C S R
The volunteerism element Capacitating PH coffee in success: Starhub farm with tech skills, Singapore hybrid seedlings from StarHub’s Corporate Volunteerism Scheme, launched in DEG, Nestle 2006, allows employees two working days of paid leave every
Sustainable fruit, vegetable retail systems in India
year to spend on community development projects, proving the commitment that employees should be connected to the community as socially responsible citizens. For those unable to physically take part in community work but still want to affect social good, StarHub introduced Sparkler’s Initiative in January 2013, which allows them to create their own social outreach events, using their volunteerism leave, and receive up to SGD10,000 fund matching for donations they raise for their beneficiaries. “An engaged employee is more likely to be an effective brand ambassador of the company, that’s why one of our channels for staff engagement is through pro-environmental and social outreach efforts. Besides tying a portion of our employees’ bonus to a set of green KPIs—including paper recycling and reduced energy consumption—StarHub also organises events for environmental education and conservation,” says Adam Reutens-Tan, senior manager for CSR. Some of the Sparkler’s Initiatives executed by StarHub staff have even engaged StarHub’s partners to raise funds for a designated charity. Through the Sparkler’s Initiatives, a total of S$63,324.64 was donated to four organisations in 2013: the Children’s Cancer Foundation, Geylang East Home for the Aged, ISCOS’ Fairy Godparent Programme and the Melrose Home.
StarHub measures employee satisfaction with HR policies through Annual Satisfaction Surveys. In the 2012 survey, 95 percent of the participants said that the overall HR performance met or exceeded requirements, up from 92% in 2011. “In 2012, our overall employee turnover rate was 18%, significantly lower than 21.6% for the Telecommunications, Broadcasting & Publishing Industry and the national attrition rate of 25.6%,” adds Reutens-Tan. A Singapore-based fully-integrated ICT company offering a full range of ICT and entertainment services for both consumer and corporate markets, Starhub provides a broad range of home and business broadband plans along with advanced media-rich value-added services, such as IPTV for commercial entities. Launched in 2000, it has become one of Singapore's most innovative ICT providers and the pioneer in 'hubbing'—the ability to deliver unique integrated and converged services to all its customers. In July 2000 StarHub also launched the StarHub IDD Charity Fund, committing 1% of its revenues earned from all IDD 008 and IDD 018 calls to support charitable causes. The Fund was re-named the Sparks Fund in 2006 to better represent the company’s belief in corporate philanthropy. Since 2000, it has disbursed over S$10.4 mn to over 250 charities and programmes for the less fortunate.
Malaysia media firm’s CSR lauded at sustainability summit
Nestle Philippines, DEG, a subsidiary of KfW, one of the largest European development finance institutions, and ASSIST Asia is extending the Robusta coffee farming project in Surigao del Sur, Philippines to culminate December this year. The move is to enhance production and farmers’ capabilities and reduce the country’s dependence on imported coffee. Dubbed Project CoFFEE, it combines the funding suppor from the DEG; technical skills, facilities, high-yielding robusta seedlings and trade partnerships from Nestle; and capacitybuilding and community relations from ASSIST. “There is a problem of low-yielding crops and low fertilisation rates, coupled with a lack of farmer training and unavailability of upgraded facilities, which means the local coffee industry struggles to keep up with exporting countries in Asia and South America. We are now importing 70% of our coffee despite having fertile land, robust manpower. This project will turn that trend around,” explained Sreenivas Narayanan, ASSIST Asia managing director. Project CoFFEE aims to create sustainable coffee communities in the country; develop farm entrepreneurs through successful cooperatives; introduce new fertilizer technologies and postharvest drying innovation; and knowledge-sharing with stakeholders and institutions on Robusta coffee in the region. Nestle is buying bulk of the harvest for its local processing and manufacturing of coffee-based products—most notably Nescafe. The remaining harvest is consumed or packaged locally in Tagbina using a local brand; trainings for which are also provided by Nestle and ASSIST. The success of this project will determine whether this approach can be further mainstreamed and extended into the CARAGA region. “This generous funding from the DEG and Nestle is a very timely opportunity to start resurrecting the country’s coffee industry. We already have successful coffee farms in Luzon; it is time to maximise our resources in Mindanao. The barako brand of Batangas has solidified its place in the local coffee market; our farmers in Surigao (and eventually in Mindanao) will now have their own brand of coffee that Filipinos can be proud of,” Sreeni concluded.
Holcim, ASSIST ups cooling technology in Indonesia Holcim, one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement and aggregates, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Manila-based NGO ASSIST Asia have just concluded a PPP with a focus on buildings equipment for large retail and industry sectors to improve energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of air-conditioning and refrigeration technology.
The CSR programme of Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad, Malaysia’s leading integrated cross-media group with operations in pay TV, radio, content development and digital businesses, has been recognised at this year’s ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Summit in Manila last March. Astro was awarded for its innovative infrastructure, integrated learning platform and content, community engagement and expertise in leveraging partners. Astro has put together community programmes in Malaysia: the lifelong learning to equalise access to education opportunities by building the Astro Learning System reaching over 10,000 schools, 400,000 teachers and 5.3 million students; development through building better living facilities and an eco-village for students who benefit from the Astro Campus; sports and wellness programmes; and environmental advocacies. “Our business and CSR philosophy have always been around people. Our obligation to them is encompassed through the four CSR pillars that demonstrate our staunch promise to being a conscientious industry player,” says Cheong Cheng, Astro Holdings assistant vice president. Launched in 1996, Astro now has a 52% presence in the TV households of Malaysia—equivalent to 3.5 million customers, making it a key pay TV operator in the region. Astro is also a leading creator and distributor of original multi-language content across multi-channels; and its radio network, both terrestrial and digital, covers key languages reaching 12.3 million listeners every week. 8
The project ups sustainability standards in Indonesia benefits the facilities and building management engineers, industries, local NGOs and government personnel involved in the climate change-mitigation works. To achieve this, a series of trainigs, awareness campaigns and enhancing local capacities. Majority of the technology used in air-conditioners and refrigerators in Indonesia has been believed to have significant climate impact both through direct and indirect emissions. The project thus aims to reduce greenhouse emissions and contribute to sustainable industrial development in West Java and Jabotabek regions. Initial results showed that information on the value of early measures for energy and refrigerant management has been cascaded to local stakeholders. Local capacities on energy efficiency for engineers were built and finally, the ground for sustaining energy efficiency practices and refrigerant management in the country is established. The project’s total cost is EUR371.200 EUR, covering activities for capacity-building, training material with 12.250 EUR, nonpersonnel expense with a total of 92.050, external expense with 222.100, corporate experts with 50.800, and travel expense costing to 6.250. With these, the project contributes to the climate change initiatives of Indonesia not only reducing Green House Gas emissions but also capacitating the public.
Bayer Material Science, the German Development Bank (DEG-KfW) and ASSIST Asia are set to conclude a project to significantly reduce agricultural waste in the fruit and vegetable farms in India, while at the same time increasing job opportunities for the farmers. Dubbed Project SUSTAIN, the DEG, Bayer and ASSIST seek to implement systems that increase the shelf life of harvested fruits and vegetables, raising their value and promoting efficient retailing that includes the introduction of cold storage and solar-powered drying technologies. Launched in April 2013, the project is set to conclude in September 2014. SUSTAIN comprises of various stages of an awareness campaign to beneficiary communities; a series of multistakeholder forum involving farmers; installation of solar dryers and cold storage facilities; training-of-trainers workshops to ensure technical skills and knowledge are cascaded to the farmers; and market linkages for retailing and farm management. “With constant increase in domestic and international demand for nutritional high value food, including fruits and vegetables, supply has been unable to meet the demand. This project will thus enable farmers to increase their revenue and profit and at the same time generate more jobs out of the farming and newly introduced technologies to increase their produce,” said Isaac Emmanuel, Bayer’s head of business development and social initiatives. India is the world’s largest producer of fruits and second largest producer of vegetables, with its total production accounting for 10.4 percent of all fruits and nearly 40 per cent of all tropical fruits globally. About 40% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables —an equivalent of 59 million tonnes—are wasted annually due to a fragmented supply chain, inefficient harvesting facilities and the lack of adequate post-harvest facilities. from page 10
ADB urged stronger focus on inclusive, green growth The Evaluation also notes that the ADB invests “sizable amount in natural disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.” But with a succession of devastating disasters in recent years there is more need “to increase financing and other resources to help countries prepare better for disasters and to manage the ever-growing risk of climate change,” said Benjamin Graham, a co-author of the study, adding that “investments in disaster resilience, generated through the approach of building-backbetter facilities, must be a major priority for ADB […] and not just a niche-product.” “In view of the intensity of the challenges, the Strategy 2020’s goal for strong, socially inclusive, and environmentally sustainable growth is even more urgent today than when it was approved in 2008. As the region’s premier development institution, the ADB must rise to the challenge of meeting this goal operationally,” Thomas said.
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Inclusive growth urgently needed for sustainable development the company brand, and increasing a company’s reach to further increase its services to the society. ACSSA 2014 also touched on contemporary issues like the nexus between sustainability and social media; and the new business models for collaborative consumption with the aim to open up the possibility of collaborative sharing between consumers and other stakeholders.
The ACSS 2014 was supported by key sponsors including the Energy Development Corp. Philippines, Nickel Asia, PruLife UK, and Aboitiz Equity Ventures. For more event information or to download the output from the summit, visit www.aseansustainability.com.
China PPP seeks to reduce air pollution, create jobs
A series of pre-conference workshop were facilitated by two of ACSSA’s speakers: Aditi Haldar of GRI Focal Point India and Shikhar Jain of the Confederation of the Indian Industry. This year’s conference gave seven sustainability awards and a special award of recognition to inspire comprehensive exchange of ideas and best practices in the region; and further identify field models for sustainability excellence. The winners were Maybank Malaysia (Sustainability Report), the Energy Development Corporation (CSR Program), PT Great Giant Pineapple (Product and Service Innovation), Mondelez Philippines (Resource Efficiency), Globe Telecom (Integrated Communication Strategy), and Toshiba Information Equipment (Employee Engagement and Development). The special recognition was awarded to Sealed Air Singapore for its extensive sustainability driven activities.
DEG, a German private investment financing institution, is expanding a development cooperation with ASSIST Asia and TÜV-Nord and DB Schenker to improve environmental standards in the construction sector in China; and improve compliance to international standards set by bodies like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and the German Sustainable Building Council.
also aims to reduce the air pollution levels in China particularly in industry-heavy regions. With an initial engagement to analyse the environmental impact of warehouse and storage facilities, the project specifically seeks to draft green guidelines for implementation through technical assistance, attain ISO certification for at least five companies, upgrade at least one warehouse using the green-guidelines, and build a case study based on these guidelines and facilities and execute the best practices in a forum of at least 50 stakeholders. Also part of the lineup of activities for this project are a survey of the current situation on existing warehouses in China. As the country continues with its economic development through a massive manufacturing and industrial sector, carbon footprints also increase, making people live unsustainable lives. At a community-level, the project thus aims to harness and raise people’s lives in different regions in China—particularly those working for and those living in and around industrial communities. It seeks to aid the society towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions while enabling and expanding businesses that provide more job opportunities for the people. Warehouses will take the eco-friendly track, including life cycle assessment (LCA).
Commenced in July 2013, the project is expected to be completed in December 2015. Initial indicators of the result showed that activities in the framework have been targeted and reached; and whereas projects of this nature are expected to cost With the long-term goal to develop green building more, ECO is only valued at EUR159,574 while achieving optimal output thus far. guidelines for storage facilities, the Project ECO
UPLIFTing environmental capacity and energy efficiency Mindful of the environmental ramifications of infrastructure gaps in Indonesia and aggravated by the threats of climate change, ASSIST Asia and TÜV NORD have just extended a project capacitating energy management professionals in Jakarta and Batam regions. Originally slated to be completed in December 2013, the recently expanded project will now be culminated in October 2014.
Dubbed Project UPLIFT (Upgrading and Leveraging Indonesia to Fortify Energy Efficiency through Academic and Technical Training for Energy Management Professionals), it is a cooperation between ASSSIT, TÜV NORD, University of Indonesia, Swiss-German University, National Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Kadin) and German-Indonesian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (EKONID). ASSIST Asia Group Managing Director Sreenivas
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Narayanan says “the project delivers courses on basic industrial energy management through the two participating universities; and provides training programmes for energy professionals working in cement and textiles production industries.” As part of capacity-building, ASSIST and TÜV NORD gather representatives from the public sector, chambers of commerce and industry, business associations and multi-lateral donors for consultation sessions. Assessment programmes, surveys and on-site visits have also been simultaneously conducted to ensure discussions are corollary with ground realities. ASSIST and TÜV NORD take the lead in pooling consultants across different levels of the discussions, planning and implementation; including validation programmes at different stages of the project, intended to define current programmes based on its integrity, relevance and applicability to local setting. It is also meant to assess the key players on their capability
to implement them; and identify if there are significant players that can become future partners. After validation, five companies in Indonesia have been tapped to undergo the pilot run of the energy management efficiency programmes, to be given technical assistance to implement their improved programmes respectively. To foster continued communications and sharing of best practices between the academe, the energy managers and professionals, government agencies, different industries and the energy sector as a whole, a web portal was launched to showcase the highlights of the project and provide materials from the concluded Energy Management Programmes; as well as to serve as a forum for users and interested members of the community for further learning.
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Rockefeller Foundation: towards a hundred more years and beyond
John D. Rockefeller, after whom one of the most generous foundations in the United States now is named, was a muchhated businessman during his lifetime. Many of his contemporaries hated him for his controversial business practices like engaging in price fixing, bribing and other unfair business practices. But today he is best remembered as one of the world’s biggest philanthropist, donating to various educational, religious and scientific causes more than US$550 million during his lifetime. At age seven Rockefeller, an industrialist who founded Standard Oil which, at one time controlled some 90 percent of US refineries and pipelines; raised a flock of turkeys and later sold them at a profit. He also sold potatoes and candies. He started saving coins and accumulated $50 in three years, which he lent to a neighbour farmer at seven percent interest. In 1858, at age 19 he had his first company in partnership with a friend and made a $4000 profit in the first year. Born of German parents who migrated to the US, Rockefeller is the second of six children. While his father was fun-loving and worldly in his lifestyle, Rockefeller was formal, reserved and serious in his dealings with others. He did not drink or smoke. His attitude towards money was influenced by the thrift conscious teachings of his mother who taught him that “Woeful waste makes woeful want.” After 40 years of doing business and accumulating much wealth and being the subject of criticism and envy for his business schemes, Rockefeller suffered from insomnia and a stomach problem. At this point his doctor advised him to slow down, change his image and to give to charity. While Rockefeller was already giving enormous donations to the Baptist Church, he decided to give more generous donations to charity when his health was deteriorating. When he died, hatred towards Rockefeller by journalists, politicians and businessmen transformed into great respect and admiration due to his lavish, generous and
unabated donation to charitable causes. Today, the world remembers Rockefeller for funding and founding the University of Chicago, Rockefeller University (formerly Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research) and the Rockefeller Foundation—which has been engaging in several projects across the globe up to this day. In the Philippines, Rockefeller funded the Central Philippine University Republic (CPU) in Jaro, Iloilo through the Baptist Missionaries. Today the Rockefeller Foundation works with NGOs, corporations and civil society organisations on four focal areas: economic and social well being, expanding opportunities for inclusive growth, innovative urbanisation and climate change resiliency, and advancing health through better nutrition and wellness. It generously funds a portfolio interlinking all these areas to achieve meaningful and measurable impact by nurturing innovation, pioneering new fields, expanding access to resources and, ultimately, generating sustainability on individuals, institutions, and communities. Last year the Foundation celebrated the centennial of its founding in 1913, with a strong analysis of the global issues that will dominate the next decade and beyond; and spur new ideas to address them. “In building resilience and more equitable growth, our Centennial was a chance to consider what we have accomplished, but even more urgently to strategise for the future, always anticipating trends and leading the way to the solutions of tomorrow. This presents a unique opportunity to facilitate the effective growth of philanthropy in the Global North and South while enhancing our own work. Today, partnerships enhance our impact; we welcome the economic progress in the Global South and how it has brought its own philanthropies that provide valuable resources and welcome new perspectives to serve the needs of the poor and vulnerable,” it said in a statement. For more about the works of the Rockefeller Foundation, visit www.rockefellerfoundation. org.
ADB urged stronger focus on inclusive, green growth The Independent Evaluation of the Asian Development Bank has recently reported that the ADB needs to strengthen the impact of its operations on the two vital aspects of development in Asia-Pacific: socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth.
environmental conditions, expectations of governments and businesses for ADB support are at an all-time high.
“Amid ADB’s great strengths, there is an important gap to be addressed in gearing the institution’s operational priorities The recently released study, Inclusion, more squarely with its strategic agenda Resilience, Change: ADB’s Strategy 2020 for inclusion, sustainability and regional that came in time for the mid-term review integration,” said director general Vinod of the Strategy 2020 earlier this year, assesses Thomas of Independent Evaluation. He added the Bank's development strategy, which runs that “immense development benefits could from 2008 to 2020. The Evaluation noted that result from such a shift that supports social in the face of the growing challenges of the inclusion more directly through job creation region in striving to maintain strong growth and improving livelihood, and further pushes despite rising income inequality and worsening environmental care and climate action, while
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Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade handles the Australian government’s foreign relations and trade policies, including international aid and development programmes. In the first quarter of the year alone, the DFAT’s international assistance The Deutsche Investitions- und office has rolled out projects for private sector Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) is the development, civil society empowerment, investment and development corporation arm infrastructure rehabilitation, climate change of the German government; a subsidiary of mitigation and disaster risk reduction, the Frankfurt-based KfW, Kreditanstalt für mine clearing and awareness, international Wiederaufbau in German, meaning Institute diplomacy, accountability and transparency for Reconstruction Credit, which is the German in the public and non-profit sectors, microgovernment’s development bank. financing and gender equality, water access and sanitation, educational support and As one of Europe's largest development scholarship programmes, consultations on institutions, DEG funds the investments of public sector performance benchmarks, German firms in the developing and emerging regional cooperation and economic inclusive economies with strong emphasis on sustainable growth across the Asia-Pacific region. economic growth and improved living conditions in Africa, Asia, Latin America; as Also recently, the DFAT and what was well as in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern formerly the AusAID (Australian Agency for Europe. DEG also offers advisory services to International Development) collaborated both companies investing and to institutions with the India office of ASSIST, along with aiming to promote private-sector cooperation partners in the private sector, in rolling out the (PPPs) in the partner countries. Australian Road Safety Showcase: India 2014. Part of this campaign was a series of panel In both the DEG and KfW’s financing discussions among experts and Australian and advising projects and programmes it Trade Commission representatives on school is particularly important to have project roads safety programmes. Visit www.dfat.gov. components directed at poverty reduction, au for more information on project and grants accompanied by the creation of viable opportunities; as well as guidelines for tender structures. It believes only in a favourable application and other support programmes. environment can women and men exercise their political rights, secure their economic livelihood and build their lives in dignity. Notable DEG projects in partnership with ASSIST Asia and some private companies are being implemented in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka South Africa and Vietnam. For more information and guidelines to apply for project partnerships and grants, visit their websites at www.deginvest.de, and www.kfw.de. Fairtrade International is a non-profit, multistakeholder association working with 25 member and associate member organisations for labelling initiatives and producer networks; traders and external experts. It develops and reviews fair trade standards across various sectors; and assists farmers and producers to gain and maintain fair trade certification, increasing access to market opportunities. FLO-CERT, the Fairtrade standard-certifying unit, inspects and audits producer organisations and traders. Fairtrade membership currently spans associations in Austrlia and New Zealand, Austria, the Baltic states, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, the EU, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Nordics, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Currently it is setting up a food certification office in the Philippines, in a partnership with ASSIST Asia and DEG. For more information on its missions, initiatives and partnerships, visit www.fartrade.net. generating high growth”. The Strategy 2020 mid-term review, in a series of sessions across the region earlier this year, was participated by experts from the United Nations, the European Union, senior government officials from Asia, key experts from the private sectors and leaders of nongovernment organisations and CSOs. The ADB's projected economic growth this year for Asia-Pacific is estimated at an average of 6.2%, suggesting the need for the region to address the widening income inequality in 12 countries that make up 80% of the region’s population. In doing this, the impact of the
The Korea International Cooperation Agency was set up in 1991 by the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the Official Development Assistance (ODA) to enhance effectiveness of its grant aid programmes for developing countries through technical cooperation programs; particularly in the Asia-Pacific. KOICA’s project aid programme, supporting the construction of schools, hospitals and vocational training centres, has become one its most active branch. KOICA’s project and aid programmes place special emphasis on areas where Korea’s expertise and experience can make significant contributions: education and vocational training, health care, public administration, agriculture and fisheries, ICT, disaster relief and risk reduction, and energy. It also invites technicians, policy makers, experts and researchers to gain training in Korea. This training program helps developing countries design their own effective development policies, strategies and use of suitable technologies. The agency is most active in countries like Afghanistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia and the Philippines; having spent almost USD70 million on an annual basis, which is roughly half of its overall budget for Asia-Pacific. Apart from KOICA’s Central Asia and Latin America initiatives, it has also expanded operations in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Senegal, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a focus on health, education, rural development and aiding Africa to achieve the MDGs. To learn more of KOICA’s initiatives and partners in development, visit www.koica.go.kr. robust economic growth can be felt in poverty reduction and social cohesion. With its focus on providing financing support for infrastructure projects, accounting to 72% of its total loan portfolio of just over USD65 billion from 2008 to 2012, the study urges the ADB to promote inclusion by stressing projects that especially benefit lower-income and vulnerable groups, including women. Upon review of ADB-funded infrastructure projects, inclusion impacts are highest when combined with complementary financing in related development areas. Cont. page 8
www.asianngo.org
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Helping fund-raisers raise funds better
potential donors and align them to your cause more than in the US because the culture of giving is different. Thais, for example, focus more The non-profit sector in Asia is highly diverse and KPIs. Anything you do in a commercial and often unpredictable given the varying social enterprise, you need to do in a non-profit. People on small monthly regular gifts instead of a few large one off gifts. It’s simply the focus, not the and political landscapes; and engaging NGOs, need to be held accountable and capable. activity, that’s different. Conversely, donors in foundations and social enterprise start-ups can be Asia are more loyal to their chosen charities so a challenge. But not only has Blackbaud broken While you maintain the back-end and there is less need for retention strategies here, through that barrier; it is well positioned to operational services offered in the original which is the big issue in the US and Australia. double its market base in the region. Blackbaud Blackbaud menu and now serving the nonPacific Managing Director Kevin Sher opens up profit sector, are there plans to expand further Your initiative, Volunteer for Vacation— on the their journey in Asia and how it wants to other ventures in Asia? paying employees’ vacations to render to continue enabling NGOs to be better, more efficient fund-raisers for their causes. Blackaud has a very direct focus: to service non- volunteer work—has garnered significant success. How would you, on the other hand, profits and service them well with the software address the recent rounds that the concept of Your fund-raising series on AsianNGO has and tools they need. In Asia, our key goal is to volun-tourism is a new form of colonialism? been received very well among our readers. Tell grow our customer base by providing relevant us more about Blackbaud’s journey from being products and services in the most effective, cost Volun-tourism is an interesting phenomenon. a software provider to a philanthropic fundefficient and productive way for our customers. In Australia, a lot of organisations are trying to raising advocate for non-profits? One of our product offerings, eTapestry, a engage their high net-worth donors to do things low-cost monthly paid service that gives access that are related to volunteer-tourism. I wouldn’t Blackbaud historically has only dealt with to a comprehensive software solution for fundcall it a new form of colonialism; instead, it’s non-profit organisations, having serviced over raising, has been proven successful in Australia a smart way for charities to build even deeper 22,000 of them globally with a focus not just on and across Asia; and we want to offer it to more providing technical solution, but also one that Asian charities over the next few years along with empathy with their existing clients/donors who have a passion for what they are trying to do. helps them to track their impact and outcomes. our traditional products: the Raisers Edge and Because of this focus, we feel we have an our enterprise level fund-raising solution called We know of charities in Australia that organise obligation to help the fund-raising community Blackbaud CRM. We have over 60 clients in improve outcomes in general, whether they use Asia-Pacific—Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, tours of their field work in Asia and Africa for their donors. People on these tours care deeply our products or not. The work we do in Asia, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan. We aim about what the charity does, and by donating particularly with Fund-raising in Asia (www. to double this number in the region in the next they are openly showing that they believe in fundraisinginasia.com) and our series with the three years, particularly for smaller charities. the cause that the charity is trying to work on. AsianNGO is really all about education. We aim It does absolutely nothing more than creating to offer best practices and to help fund-raisers Based on your experiences, how can NGOs, more empathy and more passion among them improve their output. You can summarise all social enterprise start-ups and the non-profit so they can come back and continue to support this as Blackbaud’s advocacy on behalf of its benefit from tools like Blackbaud and its the charity and be an evangelist for the charity in customers to the general fund-raising community [fund-raising] best-practices? their social groups and communities. You seem to have covered all facets of the nonThere are different practices in terms of fundprofit sector, especially in terms of operationals. raising between countries. Mainland China, How different are the fund-raising needs from for example, has a different approach to Hong region to region; say, from the Australia or Kong. Singapore has its own ways. Emerging About the Interviewee United States as opposed to Asia? markets like the Philippines and Indonesia are also unique. It’s not simple to provide and engage It‘s fair to say that there are distinct and all these domains. What we always try to do significant differences between geographies from is to be very pragmatic: if you are a non-profit a fund-raising perspective, across almost every trying to engage potential and existing donors aspect of it; and across the types of channels the traditional way, you will likely find yourself that individual donors respond to (and how in need of the products and services that we sell. they respond) all the way through to payment We would be very happy to provide that level preferences. of service to you and engage with you in the discussion of best practices, as well as resource In certain markets such as North America, there and knowledge sharing. But a good start is is a huge focus on individual giving and major the series of fund-raising learning series that giving. Asking individuals who have a reasonably AsianNGO’s weekly newsletter is running. high net worth to donate is the norm. But in Australia, while there is some focus on high net- Blackbaud has extensive experience in global worth individuals giving, there is a greater focus fund-raising, and we do global benchmarking Kevin Sher on recurring giving to charities. If we take a look services with some of the largest charities around at regular giving in particular, regular givers in anthea.mulakala@asiafoundation.org the world; and we compare their activities across the US are generally more likely to pay by direct multiple countries. But having said that, we debit, whereas in Australia it’s by credit card. This haven’t really found any type of fund-raising Kevin Sher is a proven business leader with is different to regular givers in the Netherlands, in Asia undertaken different as in the US or deep experience in strategic planning, where majority pay by direct debit and the Australia or anywhere else. It’s just the mix and product marketing and sales management. average monthly gift is $2 to $3. In Australia we the focus that are different. He has an excellent knowledge of the Asianormally see 60 percent of regular gifts given by Pacific non-profit sector, having worked credit cards with a $30-$40 average. Tell us about the challenges of having more with a variety of charities across the region donor-seeking institutions in small and including Greenpeace, Plan International Asia is more closely aligned to Australian donor developing countries in Asia; as opposed to Australia and ChildFund Australia. Kevin trends, and we are seeing some of the traditional the traditional domain of Blackbaud (US, channels working in Asia like they do in possesses over two decades of experience Australia) where there are more donors? Australia. Face to face fund-raising is growing setting up marketing and sales strategies, enormously in Asia, and proves quite successful In the US there is a lot of competition and a lot defining brand directions, motivating teams, and cost-effective particularly in generating new of charities seeking funds from the same donors; ensuring performance, driving revenue, and regular donors. Major giving is also experiencing so it requires you to be on your game and ensure standing accountable for results. strong growth in education and medical research. you’re effective. In Asia there is a need to educate
Market your NGO online—effectively The fundraising reality of the last few years, which have seen cuts in funding for many charities and non-profit organisations, may have forced you to innovate new ways to generate funds to spread your message and fulfill your mission. Thanks to the internet we now have a whole range of free tools to source revenue; and you only need to invest your time and strategy. Here are three easy and free ways you can use to market your non-profit organisation more effectively. Appeal for donations and volunteers through Twitter Twitter, a micro-blogging platform on its own, can be used to share what your organisation is up to, to comment on relevant issues and to build support from your audience—on real-time. Although the maximum of 140 characters seems very constraining, you can use this space to appeal for funds. A great way to use Twitter’s interconnectedness is to get an opinion influencer or a celebrity interested in your mission and have them retweet some of your messages. This will reach their followers—usually a significantly large group—and will disseminate your message in a way that usually would be hard for a non-profit to achieve. Of course, celebrities get requests like this all the time, so getting them to re-tweet your message will take some effort. Try to reach out to notable people that have expressed interest in similar topics to the ones you address and get their attention. Develop site content and blog about your work Positioning your organisation in the search engines through developing your site’s content is another way to increase your web presence and have your message—and appeal for funds—be more widely spread. This shows your site visitors that you are committed to your mission, an expert on the cause; while also boosting your ranking in search engines. While writing blog posts and site content that are interesting and relevant for your audience, also include keywords and phrases your visitors may use to look for you online. Optimised keyword-phrases are how someone finds you through Google or other search engines. Blogs are also a great tool to foster a discussion— through addressing interesting topics and inform readers about what your organisation is doing— which helps your site’s long-term ranking in the search engines. Blogs are easy to set up, and content is usually readily available in your organisation. An easy to use and popular example of a blog platform is WordPress. Find a free online fund-raising tool Blackbaud (www.blackbaud.com) offers both free online fund-raising software and fee-based fund-raising systems for charitable organisations and non-profits. Cont. page 16
One trend we’re expecting to rise in Asia is a growing awareness from charities as to how they reach out to the mid-market, as well as how they deliver quality outcomes to consumers. Delivering on their mission and convincing the middle socio-economic group in Asia to increase their giving will be a key focus moving forward; significantly lower today than it is Australia and the US in terms of pure percent of GDP. How do you advise companies in Asia— especially the small, local ones—to add relevant philanthropic activities into their community works; and what advice can you give to mid-size non-profit organisations in Asia to attain optimum growth? Building a non-profit is not easy. My overarching advice, as with any commercial enterprise, is to understand who your target market will be and the value you can provide. If you are a charity whose mission is relevant to the community you serve, you can generate income through fund-raising. If the core principles are there and thus people do want to donate, it just becomes a question of how well you execute. Traditionally, charities and social enterprises are founded by people who are very passionate but might not have all the relevant skills to generate a revenue positive organisation. My advice: hire people who have the experience, know how to work on a shoe-string budget and can advise and support the passion generated by those smaller social enterprises and non-profits. Execution then becomes even more important. The number criterion to success is the ability to execute as you would in a for-profit company, making sure everyone in the organisation is aligned with the mission. This needs to run through everything, including compensation plans and structures, goals and objectives www.asianngo.org
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Designers, NGOs produce summer clothes for breast cancer survivors Delhi-based swimwear designer Narresh Kukreja has become sensitised towards cancer after losing her father to the deadly disease and having witnessed the physical and psychological pain he went through. That ordeal gave way for the development of an idea on how she, together with her design partner Shivan Bhatiya, could create something that benefits people suffering from cancer.
As production started, the blouses were made available at their stores in Mumbai and Delhi; but the idea worked well only for buyers from the upper class. In response, the team started reworking on the blouses to lower the cost. They initially tied up with Mumbai-based organisation Passages and supplied them with 50 blouses. Now they are teaming up with Sahachari Foundation to donate 150 pieces to Delhi-based CanSupport and the Women’s Cancer Initiative Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.
“Since we are swimwear designers, we thought of creating a bikini or a swimming costume which can be worn by women who have gone Narresh says their aim is to reach as many through mastectomy. But we wanted to have a wider reach; we realised that we won’t be able to people as possible. do that with a costume, hence the mastectomy blouse,” Narresh explained.
Japan-ADB grant to improve Yangon, Mandalay living conditions Yangon and Mandalay, two of Myanmar’s most populated cities, is set to receive a USD4 million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction; and administered by the Asian Development Bank to help bring much-needed water and sanitation improvements to these places. The grant aims to build 2,000 sanitary latrines, construct 17 kilometres of drains linked to city networks, and build four community solid waste systems in the four townships by 2018. It will also build capacity within local government and develop community action plans for the improvement and sustainability of water supplies, sanitation, drainage, and flood protection. “Living conditions in these communities are dismal, leaving residents vulnerable to flooding and chronic health issues, which is hindering their ability to seize economic opportunities.”
Linda Adams, Social Development Specialist in ADB’s Southeast Asia department, said. Resettlement areas created in the late 1980s and early 1990s with only basic services had become home to a significant portion of Myanmar’s urban population. With rapid urban migration due to the opening of the economy, heavy strain has been placed on these services. It has also exacerbated the insufficient access to clean water or any form of piped sewage system. In 2003, an ADB-funded pilot project in Dawbon township on the outskirts of Yangon proved that working directly with communities to provide regular waste disposal, construction of sanitary latrines, and desludging of septic tanks can reduce flooding and improve community sanitation. Building on the success of this project, townships in Yangon and Mandalay will form committees to prioritize, plan, and deliver community demand-driven infrastructure improvements.
NGO gets fund for Cambodia minedetection project partner CMAC for this effort,” said Kim Warren, APOPO country director.
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Young, free and ready to engage: Central Asian civil society The young generation of Central Asians now count themselves as the majority of the source of social force, breaking what used to be comfort-zone level under the former Soviet era—mainly because of a much deeper sense of freedom of choice, the opportunities for education both in and outside the region, the economic development and a rising private sector. And this can easily be harnessed into what pundits recently call the political and social activism of Central Asia—what is driving the rise of a new breed of civil society. David Lewis, head of the Central Asia project for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, believes that NGOs in the region are mainly prepared for the development of social and political activism, even one that this new generation of talent potentially yields. “Central Asia has fairly authoritarian political systems in which NGOs provide space for civil society to develop, a forum for discussion and for projects that would otherwise not be allowed by state organisations,” he says. USAID Central Asia Head of Mission, George Deikun, meanwhile, says NGOs help build participation and give the voice to people in how resources are managed and allocated; and can help build transparency and public accountability of governments for decisions. “It gives people a vehicle to express their views at the community or national levels on issues like the independence of the media, on education or health,” Deikun says. Despite the common lack or low levels of trust on NGOs across the region due in large part to the unchanged misconception on the works of the non-profit sector in Central Asia post1991, there is also a need to accept the sector’s innate ability to build social capital. Erkinbek Kasybekov, of the US-based NGO Counterpart International, has also said that “NGOs help challenge governments by monitoring their policies because they offer analysis and expertise and by disseminating information to help encourage political participation.”
In the past decade, Germany has offered Cambodia more than USD15 million to support mine clearance operations. The grant to APOPO In Kyrgyzstan for example, with about 10 years of intensive NGO development, and its Hero Rats project shows the German government’s commitment to help Cambodia Kasybekov has seen NGOs dealing with very achieve the targets set by the 2010-2019 National Mine Action Strategy.
Pioneering the use of mine-detecting rats in the former battlefields of Cambodia, the Belgian de-mining NGO APOPO has received funds from the German government to expand its mine-clearance work in the country. APOPO began late in 2013 testing highly skilled African Giant Pouched Rats—nicknamed Hero Rats— in Cambodia. The financial support from Germany will help the NGO deploy 180 specialists in Oddar Meanchey and Siem Reap provinces to work alongside the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC). “The funds from the German government will go far to help mine-impacted communities and rid the country of these deadly weapons. We look forward to working with our
sophisticated works: some women NGOs are very professional in the field of rights abuses; and they have drafted laws to regulate such very sensitive [issues]. In this month’s country feature, Kazakhstan shows a large number of NGOs engaged in a wide diversity of activities across various sub-sectors catering to the social needs of its citizens beyond the protection of human rights—the prevailing theme of NGO work there. There is naturally a strong indigenous civil society that was stunted in its development by the Soviets in Central Asia, with much of the works having focued on human rights and humanitarian aid. Drawing from experience in Afghanistan, Piritta Rikkonen, Mercy Corps programme officer for Asia, has lauded the communities they have worked in the region, where reception to currents project on people's participation in community decision-making has been positive. “The initiatives of the local communities to help them come up with projects. It really is the local people who talk [among] themselves and come up with ideas and plans on executing the projects, whether it be the rehabilitation of schools or building health clinics. Initiative is definitely there,” she says; adding, however, that more time and resources are needed to ensure success of NGO works in Central Asia. With the changing political landscape in Eurasia and the shifting order in the region, Central Asia will be pressed to catch up to what many of its countries aim to project as a Western-leaning democracy. Time will tell if the potential for developing a stronger civil society can be realised. Time, also, will tell how a closely-knit mentality, attitude and overall culture can bind a region together into achieving what the civil societies in Asia and Latin America have successfully done, thus far. And while it is unfair to lump conscientious local NGOs that are still unable to grasp the whole scope of existing problems as plainly Soviet-minded, perhaps the result of their work will become more effective if—and only if—the role of the civil society overall will be recognised and embraced by a wider public. (With reports from Eurasianet)
Since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) have killed more than 19,000 Cambodians and injured about 45,000. In 2013 alone, landmines and unexploded remnants of war killed 22 people and injured 111, according to figures from CMAC. Already in the final phase of training, ten Hero Rats will be sent to Cambodia from the organisation’s research center in Tanzania. A team of Cambodian recruits will soon be trained to lead the rats on their first missions outside of Africa. The Hero Rats rats have also achieved noted success over the past four years in sniffing out thousands of mines and UXOs in Mozambique and Angola. Last year Germany also pledged $391,470 to APOPO’s de-mining activities in Thailand along its border with Cambodia; and last month it committed $359,940 to the NGO’s demining efforts in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue.
Socially conscious: the NGO Uzbekistan Society for the Protection of Birds (UzSPB) hosting educational activities and birdwatching events for the World Migratory Bird Day in 2011. The NGO promotes the conservation of birds as indicators of the environment and collaborates with relevant state agencies, fellow NGOs and local communities; and trains new specialists for nature conservation. (Image: UzSPB/Flickr)
The bliss of youth and innocence: Tajik children spend their after-school hours playing with neighbours, something not too many of the previous generation their age would have enjoyed the same way. Today, many NGOs in Central Asia have child care and youth development as core platforms in their community works to encourage active participation to society. (Image: Flickr)
F EATURED ORGANIS ATION from page 1
Connecting a region: how .ngo brings NGOs in Asia together With the domain NGOs become more easily recognisable to donors and fellow NGOs around the region. After meeting with NGO associations working to improve NGO capacity on a recent trip to the Philippines, Singapore and Cambodia, AMGlobal Consulting’s Andrew Mack was struck by the way in which the new domain can potentially help the NGO community in Asia to collaborate and come together. “I came away from these meetings impressed by the commitment of many local NGO associations trying to improve quality and standards for the NGO sector; and
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particularly to support smaller, rural NGOs,” said Mack, who serves as advisor to Public Interest Registry. “NGOs in Asia have a massive role, but technology can have a tremendous multiplier effect on cooperation, on fund-raising, on visibility and advocacy.” As part of the ngo|.ong online portal, groups will become part of a searchable directory—making them visible to colleagues that share a cause or to funders that wish to contribute to their causes. A small NGO working on maternal health in Nepal, for instance, can now learn best practices from an established NGO working on the same issues in Japan. Or an education NGO in the rural Philippines doing innovative work can work
with their counterparts in Cambodia on larger projects. At the same time, the .ngo|.ong initiative supports the efforts of groups across the region, working to strengthen professionalism and accountability. Through a registration validation process and an online portal that provides worldwide visibility, the .ngo|.ong domain can be a focal point as the NGO sector grows, improving the chances for collaboration and results. With the new .ngo|.ong solution, the great diversity of the Asian NGO sector is no longer a challenge—instead, it is now an opportunity.
L E AR N I N G AcArNoDssR EaSsOi a URCES BOOK REVI E W Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Migration, Democratisation and Inequality in the postSoviet Era (2014) Julien Thorez, Editor After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the so-called 'last empire', Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) and those in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) became independent states. Previously 'production centres' under the command economy system of the Soviet Union, these states have had to make enormous political and economic adjustments to attain development along democratic and capitalist lines. Despite this, inequality in Central Asia and the Caucasus is widening as the Soviet systems of health care and education disappear. Rejecting the Cold War-era East/West paradigm often employed to analyse the development of this region, this book studies the phenomenon of skilled migration using the North-South model that has characterised the migration patterns and poverty levels of the rest of the developed world. Opening up new avenues of research, this illuminating book also characterises the region as a 'new South' and significantly expands our understanding of the Post-Soviet Caucasus. (I.B. Tauris)
Maximizing the Utilization of ASEAN-Led Free Trade Agreements: The potential roles of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (2014) Tulus Tambunan, Alexander Chandra The ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is not only deepening economic integration, but are also actively pursuing free trade agreements (FTAs) with strategic economic partners (SEPs). Despite this development, however, there are concerns over the extent to which micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have benefited from these commercial pacts. Numerous studies suggest such trade agreements are rarely used by MSMEs in the region. This recently released policy brief has two main goals: first is to identify the key challenges and opportunities confronted by ASEAN-based MSMEs in taking advantage of ASEAN-led FTAs; and second, provide practical policy recommendations that will allow the greater use of these FTAs by these enterprises. (IISD)
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty (2011) Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo The book is radical in its rethinking of the economics of poverty, but also entirely practical in the suggestions it offers. Through careful analysis of a very rich body of evidence, including hundreds of randomised control trials that the authors’ lab have pioneered, they show why the poor, despite having the same desires and abilities as anyone else, end up having entirely different lives. For over fifteen years the authors have worked with the poor in dozens of countries spanning five continents, trying to understand the specific problems that come with poverty and to find proven solutions. Poor Economics looks at some of the most surprising facets of poverty: why the poor need to borrow in order to save, why they miss free life-saving immunisations but pay for drugs they do not need, why they start many businesses but do not grow any of them, and many other puzzling facts about living with less than 99 cents per day. Poor Economics also argues that much of anti-poverty policies have failed over the years because of inadequate understanding of poverty in itself. The battle against poverty can be won, but it will take patience, careful thinking and willingness to learn from evidence. Banerjee and Duflo are practical visionaries whose meticulous work offers transformative potential for poor people anywhere across the continents; and is vital guide to policy makers, philanthropists, activists and anyone who cares about building a world without poverty. (www.pooreconomics.com)
The Social Labs Revolution: A New Approach to Solving our Most Complex Challenges (2014) Zaid Hassan Current responses to the most pressing societal challenges—from poverty to ethnic conflict to climate change—are not working. While these problems are incredibly dynamic and complex, involving an ever-shifting array of factors, actors, and circumstances; they demand a highly fluid and adaptive approach. Devising fixed, long-term plans will address them and social labs, says Zaid Hassan, are a dramatically more effective response. Social labs bring together a diverse a group of stakeholders—not just to create yet another five-year plan but develop a portfolio of prototype solutions, test solutions in the real world, use the data to further refine them, and test again. The author builds on a decade of experience—as well as drawing from cutting-edge research in complexity science, networking theory, and sociology—to explain the core principles and daily functioning of social labs, using examples of pioneering labs from around the world. He offers a new generation of problem solvers an effective, practical, and exciting new vision and guide. H. A. Hellyer, non-resident fellow for foreign policy at The Brookings Institution, says the book “[…] rightly identifies that the world is going through a very challenging period— and the author’s thoughts deserve to be engaged with thoroughly in addressing those challenges.” Meanwhile, Kate Wareing, Oxfam GB’s head of innovation and learning, called the book a compulsory reading for anyone whose ambition is to change the systems that perpetuate poverty and inequality rather than just mitigate the symptoms. (Amazon)
Representations of Global Poverty: Aid, Development and International NGOs (2012) Nandita Dogra What do the fund-raising and advocacy messages that international NGOs send actually tell us about global poverty? How do they help us understand and respond to it; and how do they influence our understanding? These are questions the book addressed, which came out at an interesting time for the UK international NGO community. An old and fierce debate was re-emerging in the UK about the nature of international development and the relationship between civil society organisations and government in shaping public understandings of development. Through an analysis of some international NGO fundraising and advocacy campaigns undertaken throughout 2005-06, the author argues that despite the NGO soul-searching after the 1984 Ethiopian Crisis and the “imagery debate” of the 1980s and 1990s, NGO representations of poverty are still entirely removed from its root causes. The meat of this book is a deconstruction of a series of these campaigns through an approach that mingles “discursive history with textural analysis”. In doing so, it asserts that NGO representations completely ignore the historical context of poverty in the “majority world”, build on neo-colonial and romanticised notions of “otherness” and difference whilst at the same time tapping into unreflective concepts of “oneness” and shared humanity. While they have been successful in raising funds for NGOs, the author argues these representations only serve to confuse public understanding of global poverty and ultimately damages the case for radical reform of global institutions and behaviour. Dogra adds that these representations actually serve to undermine their objectives by creating internal dissonance between advocacy and fund-raising objectives; and weakens their ability to deliver by first, underplaying the “voice” of beneficiaries from the global South and second, by denying the institutional, political and historical aspects of global poverty. The challenge Dogra lays out in the book is an important one to respond to even if the evidence is not accepted in its entirety. The book works best as rhetoric and theory, whose main arguments are revealed in the opening chapter but unfortunately, these can sometimes feel weakened rather than strengthened by the detailed analysis made in further chapters. Part of this is a sense of leaping from micro scrutiny to macro conclusion with little in between. (Philip Goodwin, Tree Aid)
MDF Calendar of e vents
5-9 May 2014
14-18 July 2014
12-16 May 2014
21-23 July 2014
12-16 May 2014
21-25 July 2014
19-23 May 2014
11-14 August 2014
19-23 May 2014
11-15 August 2014
26-28 May 2014
25-29 August 2014
Results-based Management Fiji Training of Trainers Yangon, Myanmar
Results-based Management Kathmandu, Nepal Management Skills Kathmandu, Nepal
Human Resources Management Hanoi, Vietnam CSR: Partnerships for Community Development Bali, Indonesia
26-30 May 2014
Strategic Planning and Organizational Development Bali, Indonesia
2-5 June 2014
Monitoring and Evaluation for Learning Vientiane, Laos
9-13 June 2014
Project Cycle Management Islamabad, Pakistan
16-20 June 2014
Leadership and People Management Fiji
23-27 June 2014
Results-based Management Yangon, Myanmar
30 June- 4-July 2014 Management Skills Yangon, Myanmar
30 June- 4-July 2014
Winning Proposals and Reporting Kabul, Afghanistan
7-9 July 2014
Disaster Risk Reduction Bali, Indonesia www.asianngo.org
Human Resources Management Islamabad, Pakistan Advocacy and Policy Influencing Colombo, Sri Lanka Human Resources Management Bali, Indonesia Monitoring and Evaluation for Learning Colombo, Sri Lanka Leadership and People Management Bali, Indonesia Winning Proposals and Reporting Dhaka, Bangladesh
1-3 September 2014
Knowledge Management Bali, Indonesia
8-11 September 2014
Domestic Support and Funding Bangkok, Thailand
8-12 September 2014
Poor Economic Impact Assessment Hanoi, Vietnam
15-17 September 2014 Disaster Risk Reduction Islamabad, Pakistan
15-19 September 2014 Results-based Management Vientiane, Laos
22-26 September 2014 Management Skills Vientiane, Laos
29 September- 3 October 2014 Training of Trainers Bali, Indonesia
22-26 September 2014 Results-based Management Dhaka, Bangladesh 6-10 October 2014 Management Skills Dhaka, Bangladesh
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L EoAR AN DuRrEeS O U R C E S C unNtI rNyG fe at C alendar of e vents 15-16 May, 2014 I International Asian Congress Torun, Poland
10-11 June, 2014 Devex Partnerships and Career Forum Manila, Philippines
30 June – 2 July, 2014 Global Media Forum 2014: From Information to Participation - Challenges for the Media Bonn, Germany
19-20 May, 2014 13th Annual Responsible Business Summit London, United Kingdom
11-12 June, 2014 BSR SPRING FORUM 2014 PARIS Climate Action: The Urgency of Business Leadership Paris, France
1-2 July, 2014 The Social Business Forum Milan, Italy
21-23 May, 2014 World Economic Forum on East Asia Manila, Philippines 25-28 May, 2014 Myanmar Urban Development Conference 2014 Real Estate Myanmar 2014 Yangon, Myanmar 28-29 May, 2014 Social Innovation Summit 2014 New York, USA 28-31 May, 2014 International Conference on Emerging Trends for Sustainable Development and Human Capacity Building in the Third World Nations (ICETSDHCB 2014) Cape Coast, Ghana 30 May - 4 June, 2014 Asian Festival of Children's Content Singapore, Singapore 1-4 June, 2014 World Cities Summit Singapore, Singapore 1-5 June, 2014 Singapore International Water Week Singapore, Singapore 2-4 June, 2014 WasteMET Asia 2014 Singapore, Singapore 2-5 June, 2014 2nd International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainable Development Jakarta, Indonesia
12-13 June, 2014 Impact Forum Asia 2014 Singapore, Singapore
5-7 July, 2014 Sustainable Development Conference 2014: Green technology, Renewable energy and Environmental protection Bangkok, Thailand
12-13 June 2014 Global Sustainable Finance Conference 2014 Karlsruhe, Germany
14 July, 2014 The Sustainable Business Awards Manila, Philippines
12-15 June, 2014 Fourth Annual Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment Osaka, Japan
14-15 July, 2014 The Responsible Business Forum on Food and Agriculture Manila, Philippines
16-18 June, 2014 2014 Conference on Volunteering and Service Georgia, USA 16-20 June, 2014 Asia Clean Energy Forum Manila, Philippines 17-18 June, 2014 International Conference on Poverty and Sustainable Development (ICPSD) -2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka 18-19 June, 2014 Power and Electricity World Philippines Pasay City, Philippines
14-15 July, 2014 Social Business Forum Asia Japan 28-29 July, 2014 Third International Conference on Climate Change & Social Issues 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka 29-31 July, 2014 The 2014 Asian Congress on the Millennium Development Goals Hiroshima, Japan 12-13 August, 2014 International Social Development Conference 2014 Langkawi, Malaysia 2-5 September, 2014 SOCAP 14 California, USA
25-26 June, 2014 Affordable Housing Manila, Philippines
3-4 September,2014 B4E Climate Summit London, United Kingdom
28 June 2014 Social Business Day 2014 Dhaka, Bangladesh
8-10 September, 2014 Convergences World Forum Paris, France
For further information and more events, visit www.asianngo.org
Advancing quality content for Asian children This year’s Asian Festival of Children’s Content
in Singapore on 31 May-4 June will bring content creators and producers together with parents, teachers and experts interested in quality Asian content for children, with a focus on multi-platform storytelling, pitching, interactive narrative and digital marketing to address the current trends and issues in the content market. With a mix of professional conferences and workshops, rights fair and media mart, and public events, AFCC provides an opportunity for writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, distributors, parents, children, teachers, and librarians to meet, learn, develop their craft, and discover business opportunities. There will be a Preschool and Primary Teachers Congress on 31 May will provide educators with the skills and knowledge to impart early literacy through bi-lingualism as children transition from early childhood to primary school. The Parents Forum, meanwhile, on 1 June will offer parents, teachers, and other professionals the opportunity to get support, information, and advice on nurturing early learning and bil-ingualism at home. Separate activities will be available for children accompanying their parents. Finally, the Writers and Illustrators Conference will bring together writers and illustrators to join publishing professionals to share, network, and celebrate children’s content from Asia and around the world. This will be followed by a Media Summit that will be a crossover networking opportunity for media and literary professionals from the region and across the globe. The annual AFCC impacts 1.5 billion children in Asia as well as their parents, professionals, and businesses involved in child development. To learn more about the event or to register to be a delegate, visit www.afcc.com.sg. 14
www.asianngo.org
L E AR N I N G a n d r es o u r ces from page 1
USAID grant for disaster preparedness for Myanmar, Indonesia related courses and ensure they meet high standards and become an established part of the DRR curriculum; however, to reach these objectives, RRD requires technical assistance—one of the aims of this project. Among the activities envisioned for Myanmar are to upgrade the capacity of people implementing disaster management activities; train a core group of disaster management master, experts; conduct multiplier training courses and disaster management research; and increase the public’s awareness about disaster management. The other priority is to develop multi-hazard response plans for priority regions, including Rakhine State, one of the least developed and most vulnerable areas within the country.
Internally displaced people (IDPs) from the June 2012 conflict who are now living in temporary, communal shelters in camps— some in vulnerable, coastal areas—face risks, particularly storms and floods. The project seeks to improve the Rakhine State’s readiness for and natural disasters, timely and effectively; improve construction practices that increase preparedness and resilience, and the effectiveness of early warning systems that reach from national to state, township, and community levels; increase the disaster management and preparedness skills of key government and NGO personnel; raise DRR awareness and education among its people; and increase mangrove protection along the State’s coastline.
from page 4
in many countries. Women’s strategies to adapt to climate change often centre around ensuring household food security through diversification. Where "growth" is a feature of these smallholder systems, it is often with a small "g", for example through small-scale sales in local markets. Such coping strategies are very important, but they are hardly considered by those who draft green-growth programmes. One consequence is that existing patterns of gender discrimination are likely to be aggravated. This is hardly a new lesson for anyone familiar with gender relations in rural development, but the sad truth is that green-growth policies tend to neglect the lessons of development cooperation.
The communities concerned rarely make up a large proportion of the electorate, and it makes matters more difficult that they often belong to marginalised ethnic groups. Involving them in a discourse of political accountability is certainly not easy, but violent conflict becomes more likely where that is not done. For good reason, non-discrimination is the final criterion of the human-rights approach taken in this essay. Gender is an important aspect in this context too. As argued above, large-scale farms are often a component of green-growth strategies. It matters, however, that this sector is principally a male domain
in provincial BPBDs in Central Java, Southeast Sulawesi, North Maluku, Maluku, West Papua, and Papua provinces; and manage the delivery of a set program of formal training and practical field application to provincial and selected district BPBD staff.
The OFDA has implemented a variety of DRR initiatives in Asia-Pacific over the past decade to improve preparedness and mitigate the worst Local disaster management agencies (BPBDs) impacts of disasters. Examples of recent OFDAare positioned to promote best practices among funded DRR programs in EAP can be found their respective districts and provide technical and operational support before, during, and after at: http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/workingcrises-and- conflict/disaster-risk-reduction/ disasters occur within the province; but these resources. To download the full application nascent organisations do not have the technical package and view the guidelines to apply for this knowledge or skills necessary to implement effective DRR programmes. The grant thus seeks grant, visit http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/ view-opportunity.html?oppId=250483. to provide technical assistance to key personnel combining dynamic growth and inclusive growth. We know it is not easy. Green growth as a slogan is not problematic if we apply the due diligence that we have learned to expect of development programmes. Human-rights based approaches can contribute to ensure that the winwin rhetoric surrounding green-growth ideology does not blind us to potential poverty traps.
The downsides of green growth change, including pastoralists, swidden agriculturalists and those who depend on non-timber forest products.
Indonesia, meanwhile, also counts one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries experiencing earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic eruptions, flooding, and drought on a regular basis. Over the last three decades alone, disasters in Indonesia have affected over 600,000 people and killed approximately 6,200 people each year.
Conclusion We know a lot about the challenges of
About the Author
Ian Christoplos is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. He specialises in natural resources and development. ich@diis.dk Ian Christoplos is senior project researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies leading a research project looking at climate change and rural institutions analysing the role of district and provincial institutions in climate change adaptation in Vietnam, Nepal, Zambia and Uganda. He is also the director of a framework for evaluations and reviews for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Ian has been active for nearly thirty years on issues related to disaster and climate risk, rural development and agricultural services. He has worked as a researcher, practitioner and evaluator in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Western Balkans.
Ian Christoplos ich@diis.dk
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AR tNrI y NG C LoEun feAaN tD u rReE S O U R C E S from page 11
ava i lable grants ITB Dredging/Improvement Project (Works and Services) Donor: World Bank Country: Vietnam Area(s) of Interest: Infrastructure, Transportation Application Deadline: 22 May 2014
Funding for NGO Programmes for Sri Lankan Refugees (Grant) Donor: USAID Country: India Area(s) of Interest: Displacement and Resettlement Application Deadline: 31 May 2014
ITB Institutional Support for Migrant Workers Remittances (Works and Services) Donor: Asian Development Bank Country: Bangladesh Area(s) of Interest: Information Communication Application Deadline: 22 May 2014
Development and Quality Improvement of IAIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya (Works and Services) Donor: Islamic Development Bank Country: Indonesia Area(s) of Interest: Infrastructure, Education Application Deadline: 31 May 2014
Funding for Indo-European Cooperation on clean technologies and energy efficiency (Grant) Donor: EuropeAid Country: India Area(s) of Interest: Climate Change, Energy Application Deadline: 23 May 2014
ITB Procurement of Heavy-Duty Vehicles and Machinery (Goods Procurement) Donor: World Bank Country: Afghanistan Area(s) of Interest: Public Transportation Application Deadline: 2 June 2014
ITB Procurement Of School Furniture (Goods Procurement) Donor: World Bank Country: Yemen Area(s) of Interest: Education Application Deadline: 26 May 2014
Strengthening of Institutional Capacity in Transition to Electronic Monitoring System (Works and Services) Donor: EuropeAid Country: Turkey Area(s) of Interest: Technology Application Deadline: 3 June 2014
Invitation for Tenders, Khujand Solid Waste Management (Works and Services) Donor: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Country: Tajikistan Area(s) of Interest: Infrastructure Application Deadline: 26 May 2014
Skills Enhancement Project (Goods Procurement) Donor: Asian Development Bank Country: Vietnam Area(s) of Interest: Technology, Capacity Building Application Deadline: 5 June 2014
Invitation for Tenders, Osh Water and Wastewater Rehabilitation Project (Works and Services) Donor: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Country: Kyrgyzstan Area(s) of Interest: Water, Infrastructure Application Deadline: 30 May 2014
Funding for Non-state actors in Development Actions in partner countries (Grant) Donor: EuropeAid Country: Iran, North Korea Area(s) of Interest: Civil Society Application Deadline: 13 June 2014
Clean Energy and Network Efficiency Improvement Project (Works and Services) Donor: Asian Development Bank Country: Sri Lanka Area(s) of Interest: Energy, Environment Application Deadline: 18 June 2014 Funding for Civil Society Facility Programme (Grant) Donor: EuropeAid Country: Turkey Area(s) of Interest: Civil Society Application Deadline: 14 July 2014 Funding for Health and Nutrition Programme for Urban Poor (Grant) Donor: EuropeAid Country: Bangladesh Area(s) of Interest: Health Application Deadline: 27 July 2014 Improvement of Mother and Child Health Services Project (Goods Procurement) Donor: EuropeAid Country: Uzbekistan Area(s) of Interest: Health and Social Protection Application Deadline: 1 August 2014 Funding for Enhancement of Emergency Response Programme for South Asia (Grant) Donor: USAID Country: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal Area(s) of Interest: Emergency and Disaster Management Application Deadline: 9 September 2014 Emergency Services and Social Resilience Project (Goods Procurement) Donor: World Bank Country: Jordan Area(s) of Interest: Emergency and Disaster Management Application Deadline: 7 October 2014
For further information and more grants, visit www.asianngo.org
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