The Faces of Resilience

The ASEAN region has made progress in many sectors, but challenges remain, especially in the area of girls’ and women’s access to health and education.  Meryana (not her real name) is a 12-year old girl from Noinbila, a small village in South Central T

The 2022 ASEAN SDG Snapshot Report highlighted ASEAN’s progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the pandemic, the region is likely to fall short on Goa

For over 60 years, rapid development has taken place in the ASEAN and Malaysian communities. Six decades is a long time, and a variety of social changes have taken place during that period. Development is aimed at upgrading or elevating the life status

by Resilience Development Initiative and Aly Diana ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Policy Brief #7 ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Policy Brief The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Policy Brief is a publication of the ASCC Department at the ASEAN Se

The concept of loss and damage was first raised in the 1991 climate change negotiations by Vanuatu as a facility to compensate small island developing states for the devastating impacts of sea-level rise. Subsequently, the term “loss and damage” has co

Sixty youth representatives from the ASEAN Member States gathered in Jakarta on 10-14 April 2023, for the second ASEAN Youth Dialogue on Digital Development for SDGs. Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Youth and Sports hosted and o

To welcome the golden anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, the newly appointed Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN, Kiya Masahiko, hit the ground running by bringing eight soba masters from Miyagi prefecture to ASEAN. The artisans were in Ja

For 2022, the Underwriters Laboratories-ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women was awarded to four outstanding women scientists in the field of artificial intelligence in health and safety.

ASEAN’s cooperation on advancing gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls sits squarely within the region’s ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and intersects with current and emerging challenges, such as demographic shifts, digi

Women in ASEAN in the Era of Digitalisation: Facing Challenges and Seizing Opportunities The celebration of Women’s Month this year resonated deeply with the priorities and commitments of ASEAN to forge ahead with gender equality and the empowerment of

50 Years of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation

Minister I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati talks to The ASEAN about the regional frameworks and plans that embody ASEAN’s strategies for empowering and improving the well-being of women and girls in the region. She also talks about why Indonesia is encoura

Shiela May Pansoy, a 39-year-old native of Davao del Sur, is one of the 37,000 women in the Philippine police force.

One night in 2019, Shinta Puspa Dewi found herself hiding under the bed as her patient yelled, “Hide, or they will shoot you!”. Her patient, who has dementia, believed they were in the middle of a war.

Tra My Nguyen was a model student all her life, but felt unfulfilled even after landing what she thought was her dream job: an engineer in advanced materials. It did not take long for Tra My to realise she did not want to spend the rest of her life sur

Shwegyin Town in Bago District, Myanmar, is reputed to be one of the country’s best places to get gold. The town lives up to its name, “Shwegyin,” which means “making gold” in English. However, the precious mineral is not what keeps bringing 27-year-ol

Noemi Obrero Abainza is a working mother and sole parent to her two children while her husband works overseas.

In 2014, three teenage girls rocked their way to fame from a small village in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. Firda ‘Marsya’ Kurnia (lead vocal, guitar), Euis Sitti Aisyah (drums), and Widi Rahmawati (bass) formed a band, Voice of Baceprot (pronounced ba-