About Us
Our mission is to help solve the toughest social and economic challenges in Asia and the Pacific.
For more than 70 years, we have been helping people in more than 20 countries navigate complexity and change to realize their aspirations. Our vision is peaceful, just and thriving Asia and Pacific.
We root our work in local insight, on-the-ground presence, and trust. We operate as a committed and locally grounded partner, with most of our people coming from the places in which we work. This enables us to respond nimbly to evolving challenges, catalyze contextually relevant and effective solutions, and sustain relationships long enough to see systemic change take hold.
We focus our work in four intersecting areas of impact that reflect how change happens in the contexts where we work and where we are best positioned to contribute.
the changes we strive to make
Building public trust, reduce conflict, and meet people’s needs so societies can flourish.
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Shaping forward-looking policies, fostering innovation and resilience, and ensuring everyone benefits from opportunity and progress.
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Change enacted through education, leadership development, skills enhancement, and stronger local organizations.
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Connecting governments and civil society to advance collective solutions and reinforce effective institutions.
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Approach
Deep contextual knowledge and trusted relationships
Our decades of presence and country and regionally based teams mean we understand political economies, cultures, and incentive structures—allowing us to identify opportunities and drive change that is responsive to local needs, feasible, and sustainable.
Expertise grounded in evidence
We pioneer, test, and pilot new and innovative approaches—such as adaptive management and development entrepreneurship—and continually refine proven, evidence based approaches. We choose specificity over generality to tailor solutions to each context.
Dual orientation toward grassroots change and systemic reform
We invest in strengthening the capabilities of local changemakers while recognizing that lasting, transformational change often requires national adoption and institutional improvement. Many of our programs include policy or system-level engagement.
Credibility and convening power across all levels
The trust we’ve built with communities, civil society organizations, the private sector, governments, and regional bodies means we can bring the right actors together to solve complex problems, shape policy, and drive reforms.
Our leadership and people drive our impact.
Most of our people come from the societies where we work, grounding our efforts in deep local knowledge, trusted partnerships, and a commitment to lasting change.
