InAsia

For decades a Philippine price-support regime caused mounting public debt and the highest rice prices in Southeast Asia, but replacing a system with so many vested interests was too high a hurdle—until now.

A five-nation initiative to blunt the impact of Covid-19 in South Asia combines international scope, local partnerships, and a question: how to prepare the most vulnerable for the next crisis.

Working women in the Pacific Islands face a trifecta of challenges from Covid-19, climate change, and disruptive technology. A new report from The Asia Foundation takes a hard look at the path to a better future.

In honor of International Women’s Day, our hosts John Rieger and Tracie Yang celebrate some of the remarkable women we’ve met in the past year on the InAsia podcast.

A major white paper has laid out China’s new vision for its global role and responsibilities in international development. In this week’s podcast, our analysts discern a China that is poised to become this century's most prominent development actor. Read the full blog piece: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/02/17/insights-on-chinas-2021-white-paper-on-international-development-cooperation/

For a decade, the Victims of Trauma Treatment Program has worked with Sri Lanka to heal the psychic wounds of war and natural disaster. When Covid-19 arrived, the pieces were in place to tackle the trauma of lockdowns. Read the InAsia blog piece: https://asiafoundation.org/2021/02/03/pioneering-program-addresses-trauma-head-on/ 

The Myanmar Business Environment Index is a piece of statistical legerdemain that starts as a public perceptions survey and ends as a powerful tool to mobilize both government and the private sector to push for change. Read more: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/12/09/hows-business-we-have-a-benchmark-for-that/

The new head of the Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) is a long-time Asia Foundation hand in Malaysia. As he prepares for his new post, Country Representative Herizal Hazri shares his thoughts on a decade and a half of development.

 The InAsia Podcast takes a field trip to northwestern Thailand, where a small farmer far from the big city learns about online marketing and how to tell the story of her unique avocados. 
Read the full blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/10/28/how-to-sell-an-avocado-on-facebook/ 

When a Karachi student returning from Iran became Pakistan’s first documented case of Covid-19, the government quickly moved to quarantine thousands of Shia pilgrims at the remote outpost of Taftaan on the Iran-Pakistan border. But Pakistan’s pandemic response soon stumbled in the resource-poor periphery of the borderland. Read the InAsia blog: https://asiafoundation.org/2020/09/30/podcast-the-crisis-and-the-cracks-pakistans-covid-19-experience-at-taftaan/