Quarterly Newsletter: A New Era for International Organizations in China

Posted on by

Happy New Year!

As we inaugurate 2018 and contemplate how we at Asia Catalyst – both as individuals and as an organization — will advance into it, I take a lesson from our recent past. In 2017, our organization faced some of its most significant challenges, both external and internal. It was clear that not all of the strategies we so successfully employed over the previous decade were going to be feasible in the future, where uniquely hostile political, legal and financial realities loomed. As a team, we were able to transform that stressful reality into a satisfying opportunity, first by holding up a mirror the organization and reflecting honestly what we saw. We recognized that we had become something different from what we were at a younger time in our history, and that this new thing we had grown into had even more to offer.

We documented this process through a six-month “theory of change” exercise, and came out with a new skin and renewed sense of purpose. We recommitted to many of our founding principles, such as, being consultative and transparent, ensuring all of our projects and advocacy are community-driven, and making security even more of a priority. We also developed new partnerships and effectively worked with groups and on issues beyond our comfort zone, finding that our tools were applicable well beyond what we had originally imagined. Most of all, we spent time thinking about our China strategy. Please read below for some insights from our Director of Advocacy, Research, and Policy, Shen Tingting.

It is with a sense of resourcefulness and imagination that we enter the Year of the Dog, and a dedication to remaining open to new ideas and opportunities. We hope you will join us on this journey, as we will need communities of strength to overcome the hurdles ahead.

Towards transcendence!

Karyn Kaplan

Executive Director

 

A New Era for International Organizations in China

By Shen Tingting

2017 marks the tenth year of my career working in the non-profit sector in China– five years with a Chinese AIDS non-governmental organization (NGO) and five years with Asia Catalyst. Over these past 10 years, China has witnessed an NGO “boom” — thousands of grassroots organizations were established by passionate leaders advocating for the rights of people with HIV, disabilities, migrant workers, women, LGBTI+ and so on, while international NGOs (INGOs) poured into China with funding, resources and support. With technical support from Asia Catalyst, the Chinese NGO I worked for back then established the first project in China to provide legal aid for people affected by HIV/AIDS. I was a new staff member, and was learning from Asia Catalyst all the necessary skills for an NGO to survive, such as strategic planning, project and financial management, and fundraising. As a young idealist, I naturally embraced the values that Asia Catalyst brought into China: human rights, public participation, and empowerment of communities to have the space and capacity to advocate for structural change. (more…)

Quarterly Newsletter: Spotlight on Burma/Myanmar

Posted on by

October 2017

Dear Friends,

This past quarter was filled with disasters, of both the natural and man-made kind. We witnessed the devastation of floods in South Asia, Hurricane Irma, and an earthquake in central Mexico – as well as the Rohingya crisis in Burma/Myanmar and the ongoing free-for-all killing spree that is the Philippines drug war.

Amidst the resulting horror, grief, despair, and anger, beautiful things miraculously arise. One of those is the coming together of communities, whether in the wake of a treacherous storm or murderous government policy.

The forming of a community acts as a balm and leads to new action, the linkages forming a powerful web of resistance and resilience. This is what Asia Catalyst is all about: supporting grassroots gathering to create stronger communities and a more just world.

Most recently, we were able to set the stage for amazing activists in Burma/Myanmar, where we launched our country programming with a workshop of diverse advocates with bold political and social justice ideas for making their country better for the most marginalized, such as sex workers and people with HIV. We love to support them, and we hope you will, too! Please read below to learn more.

Best wishes,

Karyn Kaplan

Executive Director

 

Gareth Durrant, Director of Programs and Partnerships, reflects on Asia Catalyst’s newest country program in Myanmar, launched this quarter. 

The recent political transformation in Myanmar and the willingness of the new government to engage with civil society groups in reviewing of archaic laws and drafting new bills have presented opportunities for community based organizations (CBOs) to make lasting changes. Supporting CBOs to maintain the momentum of their advocacy work is crucial at this time.

In 2017, Asia Catalyst (AC) secured partial funding from Viiv Healthcare and Foundation for a Just Society to invest further resources into our work there, which is led by Khine Su Win, our Myanmar Program Officer. Through our networks, we identified four new CBOs representing sex workers (across the gender spectrum), people who use drugs, women living with HIV, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals to take part in three capacity-building workshops in Yangon. (more…)

Quarterly Newsletter: Newest Addition to Team

Posted on by

Click here to sign up for the Asia Catalyst Mailing List!

Dear Friends,

The past few months were filled with news of legal victories and social celebrations in the LGBTQ community, as gay pride events around the world were celebrated. “Leaping with joy like a bird” is how Chi Chia-wei, the leading Taiwanese gay rights activist, described himself when that country’s top court ruled in his favor, paving the way toward legalized same-sex marriage. Pride season is indeed a time for self-affirmation, community building, and joyous celebration of sexual and gender diversity, as well as solidarity for LGBTQ dignity and equality from family, friends, and other allies.

But there remains a dark side that needs countering all year long. We still live in a world where governments get away with fuelling hatred and discrimination to curry favor and mobilize political support from conservative factions, as in Indonesia where anti-LGBT sentiment is on the rise, abuse goes unpunished, and LGBTQ communities are unprotected.

When I think about solutions, one ray of hope for me is young people! Asia Catalyst is thrilled to count several wonderful young people as staff members, and this month, we highlight (below) the newest addition to our team, Ms. Petlada Ouratanakawee of Thailand. It is the passion and motivation to see human rights and justice realized that she embodies, which gives me confidence that we can ultimately heal the world (or at least be inspired while trying).

Yours sincerely,


Karyn Kaplan
Executive Director                                                                        

In April 2017, Petlada “Pupae” Ouratanakawee joined Asia Catalyst as Administrative Assistant in the Bangkok office. Below, she shares her thoughts on her new role.

 by Petlada Ouratanakawee

I grew up in Thailand where class discrimination is an overt and ongoing issue; where a large proportion of people are excluded from programs or policies that affect their lives.

I regularly experienced having to wait for more than three hours before I was able to see a doctor, due to the high patient load in decent public hospitals. People from rural areas are forced to travel to another city with all the money they have, just to get good treatment in Bangkok, which reflects the shortage of qualified rural health care providers. This is a structural problem, the failed decentralization of healthcare.

As a recent university graduate, I wanted to work in area where I could address these inequalities and support social movements, I wanted to contribute rather than just read about those issues. Three months ago, I was fortunate enough to join Asia Catalyst, an organization that addresses discrimination and inequality through grassroots empowerment, as Administrative Assistant. I am entrusted with the responsibilities of ensuring systems are in place and supporting effective implementation of our activities so that they can be delivered on time, even if that means juggling multiple vendors to organize supplies, accommodation, and transportation for an upcoming workshop.

The administrative role often might, at first glance, be seen as just a small contribution to organization’s “big picture” work, because it doesn’t involve much with direct implementation of programming such as, training, advocacy and other areas important for human rights advancement. In reality, I experienced that everyone is an essential part of that bigger picture. I and my colleagues contribute to Asia Catalyst in different but equally important ways, to the ultimate change that Asia Catalyst seeks in the world. The smooth running of an organization’s admin system is critical for the effective implementation of its program work. All in all, we are working together to reach our common goals.

I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the organization’s work beyond administration. Since joining Asia Catalyst, I have been involved in organizing a consultation on corruption, with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health. I also attended an event in Bangkok, “IDAHOT 2017 – International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia,” along with Asia Catalyst staff to show support for Thai lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organizations. It was such a great opportunity to be involved and acquire knowledge from various people’s perspectives.

It has been motivating to see my efforts come to fruition and to connect with local and regional movements as part of my new role. I’m very much looking forward to contributing further to Asia Catalyst’s work and the work of our partners.

Quarterly Newsletter: Reflections on Strategic Planning

Posted on by

Click here to sign up for the Asia Catalyst Mailing List!

Dear Friends,

 

As I approach my first anniversary on the job and as we move into the lunar New Year (and Spring here in New York), it feels like a time for reflection and renewal. One of the highlights of this past quarter was the opportunity to meet up with all the AC staff from our Beijing and Bangkok offices – it’s a rare opportunity when we can all be together – to engage in our strategic planning process. The six-day process was both painful (considering the political climates in which we work) and exhilarating, given how smart, dedicated, and lovely is each of our staff members. The team worked to review and revise the organization’s mission and vision, develop a two-year plan, and develop an organizational “Theory of Change” to reflect our actual and aspirational work.

(more…)

Quarterly Newsletter August – October 2016

Posted on by

Click here to sign up for the Asia Catalyst Mailing List!

Dear friends,

Greetings from Yangon! Our capacity building and advocacy work has been “full steam ahead” over these past three months, and I’m excited to share highlights of our progress.

Building on our community-led research project on discrimination in healthcare settings in Cambodia, China, Myanmar, and Vietnam, we held advocacy follow-up workshops with local groups and key stakeholders in Cambodia and Myanmar. In China, we conducted organizational management and advocacy coaching and training workshops for a wide range of advocates working on LGBT, youth, disability, and HIV issues. We organized efforts to address the problem of law enforcement practices undermining public health goals, and released our report on police use of “condoms as evidence” of prostitution in China, based on testimony from 517 female, male, and transgender sex workers in 3 major cities. We will bring together Chinese and Vietnamese sex worker advocates, scholars, and lawyers to discuss strategies to abolish the custody and education system, learning from real-world success stories to close unlawful, ineffective detention centers.

In July, Asia Catalyst sent Gareth Durrant, Director of Partnerships and Programs, to the International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Durban, South Africa. In the blog post below, Gareth explains Asia Catalyst’s historical involvement in the conference, offers personal highlights and reflections from his trip, and gives us a glimpse into what Asia Catalyst is hoping to bring to IAC in 2018.
(more…)