Patrick de Noirmont
In many Asian countries, especially during the past three decades, we have seen unprecedented advances. Poverty has been reduced. Health care has improved. Education has been strengthened. With these advances has also come a tremendous shift in the region’s economic structure and population distribution, with 60% of global population growth during the next 30 years expected to occur in Asia’s cities.
These changes have been driven by a combination of forces: a rapid expansion of economic opportunity, political will, increased civic engagement, and greater innovation and dynamism across many fields. The private sector, academia, and the sciences, along with the Rockefeller Foundation and other philanthropic institutions, have all contributed to these transformations. But there is also another Asia. Hundreds of millions of people have been left out of the positive picture.
Along with unstable and uneven progress toward good governance, the fact that so many millions are falling through the cracks is increasingly because some of the world’s most acute climate hotspots are found in Asia. Water supplies are threatened. Despite major improvements in food production, unequal access and distribution leaves millions still hungry. Health and safety are precarious for too many, in both rural and urban areas. Even rapidly developing countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam, remain especially vulnerable to natural disasters, economic shocks, and global volatility.
Asia accounts for nearly 50% of the world’s poorest people (those living on less than a dollar a day), according to the World Bank.
Our Strategy
By funding a strategic mix of organizations, institutions, and projects, the Foundation is fostering smart globalization. We are investing in promoting equitable economic growth while building the abilities of households, communities, systems, and countries to withstand current and emerging risks.
Our Current Initiatives
To sustain and build on the gains Asia has been able to make, the Rockefeller Foundation is focusing its support on five main initiatives:
Asian Cities Climate Change Network, a component of the Foundation’s Developing Climate Change Resilience initiative
Helping urban communities cope with imminent consequences of climate change
We are piloting resilience strategies in ten cities across Asia. Our aim is to help build the capacity of city stakeholders to address the challenges they face, and to create a sustainable network for sharing these experiences with many others.
Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks
Establishing transnational detection, monitoring, and communication systems to strengthen disease prevention
The Foundation’s investment in disease surveillance networks began in 2001 with its support for the trailblazing Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network.
Transforming Health Systems
Widening access to affordable, high-quality health services by leveraging and coordinating resources
We are investing in efforts to achieve greater health system coverage in Vietnam. In addition, we are working with successful public health organizations and systems the Foundation has nurtured over many decades in Thailand to serve as resources for neighboring countries.
Harnessing the Power of Impact Investing
Expanding and increasing the effectiveness of investments that solve social and environmental problems and generate a profit
Some of the freshest approaches to impact investing are being developed in India and Singapore.
Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems
Building models to expand the use of cutting-edge innovation methods to achieve social impact
Some of the Foundation’s most dynamic grantees for this initiative are from Asian countries, demonstrating that this sector’s newest ideas are coming from across the globe, not just from developed countries. Innovation successes in Asia will serve as models for other regions.
Our Work in Exploration
Each time the Foundation identifies a new area of focus within one or more of our five issue areas, we begin to hone our strategy, during an exploratory phase. For example, the Foundation is attempting to determine whether India’s rapidly-growing infrastructure of cell phone towers can be harnessed to provide clean energy services and universal electicity access in poor communities.
Our Asia Regional Office
First established in 1964, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Regional Office is located in Bangkok, Thailand. For more information, please contact:
The Rockefeller Foundation
21st Floor UBC II Building
591 Sukhumvit 33, Wattana
Bangkok 10110- Thailand
Phone: 66-2-262-0091 to 95
Fax: 66-2-262-0098
