Asia

What if a poorer community created its own currency to foster social exchange? We interviewed Ruddick, the founder of the Bangla-Pesa to learn more about his remarkable experiment in community-based money.

Nichlagarh, an adivasi village in the forest region of Southern Rajasthan, is caught between the bureaucratic regime of the Forestry Department (FD) of India and progressive legislation that claims to restore the traditional rights of commoners.

In 2015, the hbs head office in collaboration with regional offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan arranged a delegation visit to Berlin and Brussels from to discuss country situation, women parliamentarians performance, gender equality, peace building, shrinking spaces for women rights activism, and share the findings of the comparative study “Unmaking Political Patriarchy through Gender Quotas?” with a wide range of stakeholders at the European level.

On December 23, 2015, World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Stiftung Pakistan (hbs), launched the policy paper “Mapping the Growth of Pakistan’s Wind Energy Market: Lessons Learned and Policy Solutions"

The Series: Heinrich Boell Stiftung initiated a series of workshops for the Journalists in Pakistan under the title “Journalist on Climate Change”. The purpose of the workshops is to orient journalist community with the latest updates on climate change, bring the journalists together at one platform, and enable them to influence public discourse on climate change at all levels.

Women’s participation in political decision-making and their networking beyond borders play an essential role for peace-building in the region. This is one of the most important lessons learnt from a delegation visit of Afghan and Pakistani women parliamentarians to Berlin and Brussels in early November 2015.

With a backlog of more than 350,000 asylum applications, Germany is under pressure to speed up the asylum process. But efforts to quickly process Syrian refugees shortchange Afghanis and others.

The research project highlights the national level parliaments and critically reviews quota designs, practices and experiences of women parliamentarians on both quota seats as well as general seats. A delegation of women parliamentarians, together with civil society activists from Afghanistan and Pakistan, went on a visit to Berlin and Brussels to discuss the first key findings.

Thida Khus is the Executive Director of SILAKA, a Cambodian NGO that has been working since 1997 to increase the participation of women in Cambodia. Thida will be speaking at the Heinrich Böll Foundation about the situation of women in Southeast Asia.

As a result of the climate change India and South Asia will likely have a huge economic, social, and environmental damage. Therefore climate solutions must be considered in national climate policy.

The people of Myanmar have collectively placed their faith in the NLD. The party will have to go on - even beyond Aung San Suu Kyi’s lifetime. A commentary.

Migrant workers in the Asean Region live and work under inhumane conditions. To improve this situation policies, the migration industry and the accountability of employers must all get a lot more attention.

Refugees in Southeast Asia live in legal limbo and are subject to harassment, arrest, and detention. Especially Rohingya refugees are in indefinite detention and have been forgotten by the international media.

Over 100 young cyclists, 60 percent of them women, took to the streets of Islamabad. Dressed in green attire they were campaigning that “There is no planet B” and requesting policy makers in Pakistan and around the world that it is policies that need to be changed, and not the climate.

In times of increased ASEAN economic integration the official rhetoric around migration is one of free labour markets, opportunities and exchange. However, there are indications that ASEAN's migration management is in fact a "politics of return".

Coal is an important part of India’s energy mix. Local production is not enough: strong demand is attracting imports from Australia and elsewhere. However, India has huge potential for renewable energy.

The forest fires in Borneo and Sumatra are the worst fires in almost 20 years. Experts agree that slash-and-burn agriculture is their immediate cause. What can be done to improve the situation?

On November 8, Myanmar votes for a new parliament. What do the parties stand for and what can they change? An interview with Sui Khar, Joint Secretary-General of the Chin National Front.

Myanmar prepares for the second nation-wide poll in 25 years. The elections in November 2015 promise to be a watershed for the country’s democratisation.

Myanmar and its power elites do not have experience with electoral politics. That makes Myanmar’s elections exciting, and at the same time risky.