by David Chew In recent years, there has been a rising trend of ‘minterns’, or mid-career interns that take a pause from their established careers and switch sectors in order to find new direction and purpose. APC’s recent ‘mintern’- David Chew tells us why he made the decision to leave his legal career to explore the social sector. After 4 years of being a lawyer in the UK, I decided it was time to head home on a career sabbatical. I’d fallen into private practice law right after university, and while that was seen by many as a ‘good’ job, I…
Malaysia Responds to the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Joy Poon Philanthropists are key actors in helping vulnerable groups who fall through the gaps in Malaysia’s COVID-19 relief initiatives. At APC’s online dialogue focusing on COVID-19 responses in Malaysia, a big takeaway was that though the pandemic exposed gaps in the welfare of vulnerable groups in Malaysia, it accelerated opportunities to address these gaps. Now more than ever, philanthropy has potential for significant collective impact. This perspective was reflected by speaker Tan Sri Dr Jemilah, “one should never waste a good pandemic”. It is during this period that collaborative philanthropy can bring about bigger impact to the communities….
Dreams University: Empowering the Future of Myanmar’s Rakhine State
by Genevieve Ding Myanmar is a country well positioned for rapid growth and development given its abundant natural resources, young labour force, and strategic position as the nexus of China, India, and South East Asia, in the world’s fastest growing region. By investing in human capital and knowledge infrastructure networks, it has high potential to leverage its rich endowments for growth that is socially inclusive, economically resilient, and environmentally sustainable. According to the Asian Development Bank, human capital development is fundamental to Myanmar’s transition towards a knowledge-based economy, and tertiary and vocational education will play a key role in accelerating…
Gliding into 2020 with Optimism for Good News!
There is so much bad news around that one can throw one’s arms up in despair, give up long term projects and just live for the today. Leadership is in crisis – all around the globe and in most fields. “Climate emergency” is Oxford Dictionaries’ 2019 Word of the Year, and what is happening now in Australia must give even the most ardent climate sceptic pause. The good news is that the occupational hazard of philanthropists is irrational optimism. We act because we do not accept the status quo. Perhaps we are overly confident of what we can achieve, and…
Visiting Vietnam – learning from best models on the ground
by Stacey Choe What started as a site visit to OneSky’s early learning centre in Danang for a few members promptly developed into something that would feature more than early childhood education and development when members started suggesting more programmes to visit. In the end, we also visited Pacific Links, KOTO, Saigon Children, and met with LIN Center for Community Development and Vietseeds. One of our members was keen for members to meet with Pacific Links, an anti-human trafficking organisation. With the recent tragedy in UK with Vietnamese migrants, this was definitely an issue that everyone was curious to learn…
Funding Collaboratives: What makes it a Success?
By Lam Sze Ching Collaboration is one of the founding pillars of how APC members conduct their philanthropy. A 2019 study of 25 funding collaboratives conducted by The Bridgespan Group and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation found that 10 were successful and 15 met with challenges. The report highlighted the benefits and disadvantages faced by funders and the hope is that the study will inspire funding collaborations to adopt an investment thesis, the common factor amongst all 10 successful collaborations. Through this insight, we hope to further our philanthropy reach by applying it in our projects. The Study Since…
Exploring a Mid-Career Switch to the Social Sector
By Evangeline Ho Before joining APC, I had spent eight years building up a career in real estate investments. However, an unfortunate turn of events had me leave my job to care for my terminally ill relative. My caregiving experience made me aware of the social isolation and disengagement among the elderly. Many of whom either lived alone, are estranged from family, or family were busy with work, and have also lost touch with their friends. The interactions I had sparked a desire within me to work in longevity care. This made me curious about a professional switch to the…
Waste as a Resource: Site Visit to NEWRI
By Natalie Kennedy Cutting edge technologies to support a more circular economy As residents of an archipelago, APC’s Indonesian members are increasingly looking for new innovations to address the challenge of how to help communities deal with waste. In 2015, Science Magazine flagged Indonesia as being second only to China as the largest contributor to global mismanaged plastic waste, and while the government is making strides with new policies addressing the 140% increase in imported plastic waste reported in 2018 (mostly from Western countries) contributing to the supply problem, there are signs that the improper treatment of post-consumer plastic is…
Fireside Chat with Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF
By Natalie Kennedy Thinking globally, acting locally Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his last fireside chat in 1944; these were a series of talks from the US president which were delivered over the radio as a way to break down barriers of communication and reassure the public during a time of war. Two years later, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was born, to provide humanitarian relief for children affected by WWII. And then, two years after that, the world saw the arrival of Henrietta Fore, now the Executive Director of UNICEF since January 2018. In her own fireside chat with…
venn2019: Asian Philanthropists Gather to Invest in their Giving “Health”
by Felicia Hanitio Every year, APC gathers all our members from across Asia for two days of rediscovering their giving purpose, connecting and learning from one another and sector experts, and exploring new opportunities for joint action. venn2019, the most well-attended member summit yet, brought 49 APC members and guests together in Singapore on 7-8 November for lively discussions and exchange, bookended by site visits exploring Singapore’s criminal justice system and arts landscape. True to APC’s spirit of encouraging a deep, firsthand understanding of social issues, members and guests kicked off their Thursday morning on 7 November with a sobering…