2017 Programs
Fellowships, Scholarships, and Exchanges
2017 Asia Foundation Development Fellows Converge in Korea and Vietnam
From April 8 to 15, The Asia Foundation hosted the 2017 class of the Asia Foundation Development Fellows: Emerging Leadership for Asia's Future program in Seoul, Korea. Young changemakers representing 12 Asian countries, the 2017 Development Fellows participated in a customized Leadership Training Program held in Korea. The meeting was held in collaboration with the Korea Development Institute (KDI) School of Public Policy and Management, and with generous support from the Hansae Yes24 Foundation.
The Development Fellows participated in an intensive Leadership Development Workshop program with the larger objective of enhancing leadership skills and potential. The training focused on strategic thinking and decision-making, working with participants on developing critical perspectives, solving complicated problems, managing change, and introducing innovative approaches in leadership and management.
The Fellows then continued to Vietnam for an applied Workshop on Asian Development, where development challenges and innovations serve as a contextual backdrop for applying theories and concepts in international development.
Now on its fourth year, the Development Fellows program recognizes and empowers a dynamic community of rising young Asian leaders - NGO and civil society leaders, government officials and policymakers, social entrepreneurs, journalists, environmentalists, and academics - in their pursuit of creative solutions to the region's most critical development challenges. The members of the 2017 class represent Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Learn more about them here.
To learn more about the program, watch this video featuring these emerging leaders across Asia.
Luce Scholars Begin Fellowships at Ewha Womans University and Asian Boss
2017-18 Luce Scholars Sakaria (Sai) Auelua-Toomey and Monique Claiborne began their professional placements at Ewha Womans University and Asian Boss, respectively. They both arrived in Seoul in late June and participated in intensive Korean language study before moving to their host organizations.
During his Luce year in Korea, Sai has been working at Ewha Womans University where he conducts research with a team at Ewha on the influence of Korean media on its international relationships. Currently they are investigating the cultural and personality factors that play a role in the success of advertisement effectiveness and product endorsement of Korean media in other countries. With a collaboration at Sungkyunkwan University, they are also investigating the brain structures activated in Chinese, Japanese, and US populations when viewing Korean media. Their study at Ewha will inform effective intercultural communication, especially germane in the face of heightened geopolitical tensions within Asia. In February, Sai will also be working at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics assisting and coordinating interviews with the athletes. In his spare time Sai does taekwondo, boxing, running, and acting.
And during her Luce year in Korea, Monique has been working under Asian Boss, a media start-up that aspires to empower the global youth to cultivate curiosity and critical thinking, as well as challenge cultural stereotypes. Asian Boss does this by bringing the most authentic perspectives on the latest news and cultural trends from all over Asia to a primarily Western audience via reporting street interviews. Monique's role will include generating future content from the research phase to production, supervising volunteers based in other countries, as well as helping Asian Boss to establish a scalable infrastructure that will enable them to eventually mobilize reporters in every Asian country.
Prior to his Luce year, Sai studied psychology and communicology, receiving his bachelor's degree from University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and Monique graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in Philosophy and a Certificate in American Studies.
The Luce Scholars Program is a nationally competitive fellowship program that represents a major effort to provide an awareness of Asia among potential leaders in American society. The Asia Foundation is responsible for administering the Asian portion of the program, and supporting and advising the Luce Scholars while they are in Asia. The heart of the year-long program continues to lie in the organizational placements arranged by The Asia Foundation for each Scholar on the basis of their individual career interests and experience.
Korean Journalists Participate in Observation Program in Washington, D.C. and New York City
Nine senior journalists from Korea visited Washington, D.C. and New York City from September 10th to 16th as part of an Asia Foundation-led observation program under the theme of “Change and Continuity." The visit was designed to help the Korean media leaders gain a more nuanced understanding of how U.S. policy makers and specialists view the strategically vital U.S. - Korea alliance, bilateral trade and investment, regional security and cooperation in Northeast Asia, and North Korea's military posture and economic prospects. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, participants were able to meet with their counterparts in the U.S. media, as well as policy specialists in government, research institutions and the private sector to assess the impact of a relatively new administration in the U.S. on issues of mutual concern. The one-week visit consisted of three business days in Washington, DC, the national capital and locus of the foreign policy community, including think tanks and key government agencies. In two working days in New York City, the foremost national and global center for media and finance, the primary focus was on current developments in the media sector and the implications for the coverage of international affairs. The New York component also included a roundtable discussion with select members of the Korea Society. In addition, the journalists had the opportunity to visit places of historical and cultural importance, such as the innovative Newseum, the U.S. Capitol, and other sites.
KDI School Student Internship Program at Asia Foundation Country Offices
The Asia Foundation Korea Office and KDI School recently collaborated to place KDI School students as interns in Asia Foundation country offices. The five-week program aims to provide KDI School students with hands-on experience in planning and implementing development cooperation projects, gain knowledge in operations of ODA projects, as well as to strengthen the capacity of KDI School students so that they are better equipped as providers of development assistance in their future careers. A total of 10 students (5 Korean and 5 international students) were selected for placements in Mongolia, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
2017 Scholarship Program for Disadvantaged Girls in Vietnam
The Friends of the Asia Foundation Korea has been operating a scholarship program for Vietnamese high school girls in the Mekong Delta region since 2009. The scholarship program, now the second year of the fourth cohort, is helping 60 high school girls receive their high school diplomas and obtain better jobs. The Asia Foundation is working together with the Center for Education and Development (CED) starting in 2017-2018 academic year for the secondary scholarship programs. At the end of the first semester of 2017-2018 academic year, 19 girls received “Excellent” marks, 40 girls received “Good” marks, and only one girl received an “Average” score.
