The fifth edition of this annual index analyzes the capacity of civil society organizations in nine countries across Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It assesses civil society’s capacity to serve both as a partner in the delivery of short-term solutions and in driving longer-term sustainable development outcomes. Read it here.

THE GIVERS

Charitable bequests on the rise in Japan. Data disclosed by the National Tax Agency show that charitable bequests are on the rise in Japan with US$440 million donated in 2018, compared to US$58 million in 2010. CAPS’ Doing Good Index 2020 highlights how Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines stand out as the few economies in Asia that offer tax incentives for giving upon death in the form of charitable bequests. According to a survey by the Japan Succession Donation Association, 22.9% of respondents, ages 50-70, said they have considered making a charitable bequest upon death. However, challenges remain as only 1.2% of respondents said they have taken steps to make a bequest by writing a will or through other means.

Asian families shift priorities to community Covid relief. This article highlights how some family offices in Asia are switching their priorities for their impact investments towards supporting local communities impacted by the pandemic. Covid-19 has compelled some family offices to ‘double down’ on their funding efforts, as well as spurred greater collaboration between like-minded family offices. This includes new efforts to support social enterprises, such as the Community Resilience Fund in Hong Kong that provides liquidity support for social enterprises and helps them adapt and continue to support their local community. The Fund was initiated in March 2020 under the auspices of Hong Kong family office RS Group and Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVHK), and it is jointly operated by the Sustainable Finance Initiative.

THE BUSINESSES

This year’s “99 Giving Day” breaks record for China internet charity platform by Tencent. Since its establishment in 2015, “99 Giving Day” is considered the most popular annual charity festival in China, jointly initiated by Tencent Charity Foundation and thousands of other charity organizations, enterprises, celebrities, and media. With the theme of “Together We Can,” this year’s event raised a total donation of ¥3.044 billion (nearly US$500 million). More than 5,780 donors, 500 institutions, and 10,000 enterprises participated in the campaign, which broke the record for online giving in China. This year’s event also featured new tools to address transparency and challenges amidst Covid-19, such as charity consumption coupons and blockchain technology, amongst other new initiatives. Also, Tencent Charity Foundation announced that this year it would invest ¥399.9 million (nearly US$60 million) in matching donations.

Alibaba Group launches fourth annual Philanthropy Week with a series of initiatives designed to make giving easier and more transparent. The event featured close to 100 online and offline philanthropic activities, from ensuring nutritious meals reach impoverished children in China to promoting environmental awareness through recycling programs. To increase transparency and encourage donors to give confidently, all contributions are fully trackable with Alibaba’s “Charities on the Chain” solution, which was developed with Ant Group’s blockchain team so that users can see exactly where their donations are going and how they are being used. 

Ayala chief: Malls should provide more services to tenants. CEO of Ayala Corp Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said that mall operators need to adapt during Covid-19 and provide more services to help their tenants whose businesses have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Ayala notes that these added services could come in the form of logistics support or more storage space for their tenants’ stocks as online shopping grows in popularity. For example, last month Ayala Malls launched its online Neighborhood Assistant service, which allows customers to shop via the website of their nearest Ayala Mall. SM Prime Holdings, the country’s biggest mall operator, also stated that it was investing PHP 100 million (approximately US$2 million) on expanding its e-commerce presence.

UOB’s private equity arm achieves impact milestone. UOB Venture Management has issued its disclosure statement on the Operating Principles for Impact Management, making it the first Southeast Asian signatory of the Impact Principles (initiated by the World Bank Group), according to the bank. The firm has also recently obtained verification from Ernst & Young for its Asia Impact Investment Fund’s alignment with the principles. Launched in 2015 together with Credit Suisse, the US$55 million fund invests in high-growth companies from the education, healthcare, and agriculture sectors in Southeast Asia and China, which help to improve financial inclusion, affordable housing, sanitation, clean energy, and water for the region’s low-income communities.

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Red Cross, and local social enterprise team up to create clean and green care kits for migrant workers and low-income families. More than 300 Marina Bay Sands staff from over 40 departments packed 10,000 care kits in partnership with social enterprise Clean the World Asia and the Singapore Red Cross. Each kit contains essential items such as soap bars and soap bags, hand sanitizer, shampoo, hair conditioner, and surgical face masks. The soap bars are made from discarded soap from Marina Bay Sands’ premises and processed with the help of Clean the World Asia’s soap recycling facilities. The kits will be distributed to beneficiaries of the Singapore Red Cross, including the migrant worker community and low-income families.

THE INNOVATORS

MaGIC and Lazada Malaysia team up to promote social enterprise products. The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) has partnered with e-commerce platform Lazada Malaysia to onboard and promote the products and services of social enterprises registered with MaGIC. As part of the #buyforimapct campaign, Lazada will subsidize the online startup costs for social enterprises selected by MaGIC and promote their products and services. Since early August 2020, Malaysians have been able to purchase products made by social enterprises on Lazada via its #buyforimpact page. Throughout September, the campaign will run weekly features of social enterprises championing various causes. Additionally, the campaign will run Demo Days for aspiring social enterprises to showcase their budding businesses to funding agencies and potential investors.

Japan and India team up to help emerging nations go digital. Japan and India will work with technology companies to build platforms that help emerging nations put government services online. The initiative will take inspiration from New Delhi’s online system, which allowed for quick distribution of Covid-19 assistance. Japan’s trade ministry will enlist domestic businesses for the project, and Indian engineers will grant licenses that permit Japanese companies to land contracts for digital platforms from other countries. Japan’s government, which lags in digitizing its systems, also plans to use the knowledge gained from the partnership to advance its own digitization efforts.

We’d also like to hear from you. How is your organization responding to Covid-19? Email us your stories at research@caps.org. 

Catching the world unaware, Covid-19 has sent the global economy and the lives of billions into a tailspin. In the wake of this pandemic, the public, private, and social sectors must come together to work towards a stronger and more equitable Asia as we build our way out of this crisis. At a time when foreign funding is declining across the region, “Asia for Asia” philanthropy must fill the gap—and the Doing Good Index shows how.

CAPS’ Co-Founder and Chief Executive Ruth Shapiro and Director of Research Mehvesh Mumtaz Ahmed present the key findings of the index and showcase how governments, philanthropists, companies and the social sector can work together for mutual benefit. This discussion was moderated by Ronnie C. Chan, Co-Founder and Chairman of CAPS and Chairman of Asia Society Hong Kong Center.

THE NONPROFITS

Foreign funding for Bangladesh NGOs drops sharply. Foreign funding disbursed through a government regulatory body has declined sharply in the last fiscal year due to Covid-19. According to the NGO Affairs Bureau, the commitment for grants decreased by almost 17% to Tk 75.59 billion (approximately US$900 million) in FY 2019-2020 from Tk 91.18 billion (approximately US$1 billion) in the previous fiscal year. Kam Morshed, a senior director at BRAC, noted that foreign funding has been on a downward trajectory in recent years as the country grows economically stronger. However, as this trend is accelerated by Covid-19, Morshed underscores the need for more government funding for NGOs and coordination among NGOs to ensure optimum use of resources for social service delivery. CAPS’ Doing Good Index 2020, released in June 2020, had also highlighted a trend of declining foreign funding across Asia. We believe Covid-19 is likely accelerating this trend and widening the resource gap for social service organizations.

Study on Singapore’s charities finds diversity of charity boards has impact on performance. A recent study of 204 charities in Singapore by Conjunct Consulting found that greater diversity of board members shows better financial performance. It says greater ethnic, gender, and expertise diversity guides charities towards a sustainable future. For example, a more diverse board can help charities broaden their networks to fill gaps in expertise and fundraising. According to the study, women comprised a third of the boards studied, yet ethnic diversity was still lacking: over 80% of board members are Chinese and only 3% are Malay. Conjunct Consulting has developed a board diversity calculator tool to help charities assess how they fare on gender, ethnic, and expertise diversity.

Safe home initiative supports Pakistan communities hit hard by Covid-19. The Asia Foundation launched a community-centered initiative ‘Safe Home Initiative for Women and Children,’ together with local nonprofit the Children’s Global Network Pakistan. The initiative addresses the pandemic’s public health and social welfare implications for affected communities in rural areas. For example, the initiative distributes recyclable sanitary pads and refers at-risk women to agencies that offer services for victims of domestic violence. This article highlights the initiative’s key milestones since early July.

THE BUSINESSES

Coronavirus has accelerated growing awareness of need for fairer capitalism, as businesses step up to help. This South China Morning Post op-ed illustrates how businesses that had created bridges to their communities before the crisis were better prepared to aid Covid-19 relief efforts. The article highlights examples such as the Ayala Group in the Philippines, whose contributions to Covid-19 relief efforts have totaled around US$181 million thus far. The Ayala Group set out to protect what it calls its ecosystem, which includes employees, informal workers, small businesses, and the urban poor. This article argues that businesses in Asia who were able to respond the most efficiently had deepened community engagement, worked intensively with government and civil society, and forgone short-term profits.

Hyundai India announced phase two of CSR initiatives amid Covid-19 crisis. Hyundai Motor India announced its Hyundai Cares 2.0 CSR initiative, which will run till December 2020. Under the broad goal of helping communities overcome the implications of the pandemic, Hyundai India’s philanthropic efforts will focus on three key activities: Health, Education and a Clean India. Efforts will include handing out masks, distributing tablets pre-loaded with academic curriculum for lower income children, as well as a sanitization drive to disinfect public spaces in 292 districts/tehsils across India.

TerraCycle Global Foundation tackles plastic pollution crisis in world’s waterways. According to the Ocean Conservancy, over half of the plastic that ends up in our oceans comes from five countries—China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. In recognition of this growing issue, the TerraCycle Global Foundation—the philanthropic arm of TerraCycle—launched a new initiative in Thailand together with The PepsiCo Foundation and Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources. The TerraCycle Foundation installed river plastic capture traps designed to increase the amount of debris and plastics collected from Thai waterways, thereby intercepting this waste before it reaches the ocean. The Foundation will recycle waste collected by its own initiative as well as that collected by other organizations participating in the Thai government’s marine debris management program.

THE INNOVATORS

Covid-19 has brought much-needed collaboration to India’s development sector. In their op-ed, Deepali Khanna of the Rockefeller Foundation and Sudha Srinivasan of The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation argue that corporates, governments, civil society, and individual innovators have come together to address the pandemic in India in an unprecedented way. They highlight how companies and nonprofits alike assisted the government in immediate relief efforts, while the innovation ecosystem bolstered support like never before as governments extended an open call for innovative ideas to mitigate the outbreak. They argue that this departure from business as usual ushered in a new respect and recognition for each other’s role, and this collective action has demonstrated how the development sector can also expand to include all ecosystem actors.

We’d also like to hear from you. How is your organization responding to Covid-19? Email us your stories at research@caps.org.

CAPS’ Co-Founder and Chief Executive Ruth Shapiro shares insights from the second edition of the biennial Doing Good Index, launched in June 2020.

CAPS’ Director of Research Mehvesh Mumtaz Ahmed shares insights from the second edition of the biennial Doing Good Index, launched in June 2020.

The Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS) introduces its second edition of the Doing Good Index (DGI). Hear from Dr. Ruth Shapiro, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, and Mehvesh Mumtaz Ahmed, Director of Research at CAPS, as they present key findings from the DGI2020 and showcase how governments, philanthropists, companies and the social sector can work together for mutual benefit. During the webinar, learn which factors enable or hinder private social investment across 18 countries and territories in Asia.

THE GIVERS

Singaporeans donated SG$90 million in first five months of 2020, equal to whole of last year’s donations. From January to May of this year, SG$90 million (approximately US$64 million) was donated to the Community Chest, the Community Foundation of Singapore’s Sayang Sayang Fund, and through the online donation platform Giving.sg. This amount was around the same as the total donations received by the Community Chest and Giving.sg in the entire year of 2019, according to a joint statement by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and Ministry of Social and Family Development.

17th China Philanthropy Ranking released. The 17th edition of the annual China Philanthropy Ranking, supported by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China Charity Times, was released on June 16. This year’s ranking includes 118 philanthropists with a total of ¥5.45036 billion (approximately US$771 million) in donations, and 605 companies with a total of ¥1.245 trillion (approximately US$176 billion) in donations.

THE THINKERS

GIIN’s 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey released. The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) released the 10th edition of its flagship report, which provides an overview of the global impact investing market. This report includes an updated market sizing analysis—estimating the current market size at US$715 billion—trends analysis, and insights on topics such as climate investing, the evolution of impact measurement, and policy developments over the past decade. CAPS’ recent study, Business for Good: maximizing the value of social enterprises in Asia, points out that impact investment in Asia is not yet living up to its full potential. While Asia accounts for nearly 50% of global GDP, GIIN’s latest report finds that only 14% of global impact investment is allocated to the region.

CEO of Singapore’s NVPC argues corporate giving during Covid-19 more than just a PR exercise. Melissa Kwee, CEO of the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), highlights examples of corporate efforts amidst Covid-19 that aligned a company’s purpose and expertise to enable more strategic giving. She cites Temasek, which leveraged its supply chain networks to provide hand sanitizers to all Singaporean households, and the Singapore Metal & Machinery Association, which mobilized a donation of 3,800 sets of PPEs. Kwee states that this is a step up from past CSR efforts that can sometimes be peripheral to the business or more reactive activities that lack a larger strategic intent.

THE BUSINESSES

Covid-19 covers 80% of CSR budget for India Inc., according to Crisil Foundation. According to the Foundation, CSR spending thus far has been in the form of contributions to the PM CARES Fund and other relief funds, as well as distribution of food, PPE, and other relief supplies to the needy. The Foundation’s chief operating officer stated, “Interestingly, the 130 companies analyzed by Crisil accounted for nearly 80% of the total CSR spend by all listed companies in fiscal 2019. Assuming other companies would have followed a similar path, India Inc. has already allocated over 80% of the annual CSR budget to address the pandemic. This could impact spending on other areas this fiscal year.”

ASEAN and The Asia Foundation, with support from Google.org, collaborate to equip 200,000 micro and small enterprises with digital skills and tools amidst the Covid-19 crisis. The ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and The Asia Foundation have jointly launched ‘Go Digital ASEAN,’ supported by a US$3.3 million grant from Google’s philanthropic arm. The initiative will focus on expanding economic opportunities across ASEAN member states and mitigating the negative impact from the Covid-19 crisis. It aims to close the digital divide by equipping micro and small enterprises, as well as underemployed youth in rural and isolated areas, with crucial digital skills and tools.

Largest donation for Philippines’ fight against Covid-19 came from Project Ugnayan of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) at US$29.1 million. PDRF, the Philippines’ major private sector vehicle and coordinator for disaster management, has made the largest contribution to the government’s Covid-19 response to date: US$29.1 million. The next biggest donors to the government’s relief efforts are USAID, San Miguel Corporate, and Unilab. Ayala Group, which took an active part in Project Ugnayan, has set forth an array of other relief efforts to tackle Covid-19 in the Philippines. Recently, Ayala Group donated an automated RNA Extraction machine and two RT-PCR machines to Southern Philippines Medical Center and other institutions, which will help Davao boost its testing capacity to a maximum of 1,000 tests per day.

Tzu Chi Foundation Indonesia raised Rupiah 500 billion (approximately US$36 million) towards fighting Covid-19. The six biggest donors to the Foundation’s Covid-19 initiative were Sinarmas, Djarum, Indofood, Astra, Agung Sedayu Group, and Artha Graha Peduli. The funds will be used to purchase various equipment needed to help handle the outbreak in Indonesia.

Excelerate Energy has become the key sponsor of the HOPE Foundation for Women and Children of Bangladesh to support the organization’s Covid-19 relief efforts at the Rohingya camp outside Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh—home to more than a million refugees. The US company’s donation will provide up to 10,000 patients a year with outpatient and in-patient services, diagnostics, critical care, emergency transportation. It will also fund PPE for staff and surrounding community, staff training, and awareness programs.

Mastercard builds on Covid-19 response with commitment to expand financial inclusion initiative. The new commitment—an extension of Mastercard’s 2015 pledge to bring 500 million excluded people into the financial system—will bring a total of 1 billion people and 50 million micro- and small- businesses worldwide into the digital economy by 2025. This article shares examples of Mastercard’s financial inclusion initiatives in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

American Express India has pledged INR 9 crores (approximately US$1.2 million) towards Covid-19 relief efforts. This includes contributions to the PM CARES Fund and nonprofits working in Covid-19 relief areas—such as mobilizing essential supplies, providing medical kits, feeding healthcare professionals, and developing and providing PPE to vulnerable communities. American Express India has also partnered in an initiative called ‘Hunger Heroes’ that will help distribute dry rations and essential supplies to the families of 10,000 food delivery riders impacted by the pandemic.

PwC Singapore launches new initiatives to support the community amidst Covid-19. The company is releasing “Digital Fitness for the World,” a learning app aimed at increasing digital acumen and upskilling, to the public for free from June 8 onwards. PwC is also working to help small and medium enterprises accelerate digitization with dedicated digital advisory services, solutions, and upskilling programs. Other Covid-19 initiatives from PwC include purchasing and distributing food to vulnerable communities.

THE INNOVATORS

Indonesia-based e-sports company helping fight Covid-19 through streaming, direct action. EVOS Sports, which operates across Southeast Asia, has initiated a number of efforts, including streaming matches and collaborating with influencers and social delivery organizations, to give back. For example, in Malaysia, EVOS Sports’ PUBG Mobile team played matches among themselves over a livestream and encouraged viewers to contribute to the “Give with Ikhlas” charity initiative, which has raised RM1 million (approximately US$230,000) so far. In Thailand and Indonesia, EVOS Sports’ athletes have also stepped on the ground to cook 3,000 meals for the underprivileged and donate 50,000 masks and surgical gloves.

We’d also like to hear from you. How is your organization responding to Covid-19? Email us your stories at research@caps.org. 

The Doing Good Index 2020 lays bare the vital role of the social sector and how the right policies and practices can unleash an enormous US$587 billion per year towards it.

In the wake of Covid-19, the public, private, and social sectors must come together to work towards a stronger and more equitable Asia as we build our way out of this crisis. At a time when foreign funding is declining across the region, “Asia for Asia” philanthropy must fill the gap—and the Doing Good Index shows how. It provides a roadmap of the policies and practices that can unleash this capital by aligning incentives around doing good; mitigating the trust deficit; and maximizing private social investment flowing to the social sector.

The Index has increased its coverage from 15 Asian economies in 2018 index to a total of 18: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It is based on original data gathered through surveying 2,189 social delivery organizations and interviewing 145 country experts across all 18 economies.

The Doing Good Index 2020 offers a way forward for governments, as well as private and corporate donors to meet the imperatives of building a vibrant social sector for a brighter Asian future. It is with great excitement that we bring you this second edition to help plot the way forward in a post-Covid-19 world. The next edition of the Index, planned for 2022, will reveal how these economies have fared following the Covid-19 pandemic.

View our press release here.

Watch the video presentation from our public webinar here.

Interested in interacting with the Doing Good Index 2020 data and graphics? Stay tuned for the microsite–coming soon!

THE GIVERS

The Majurity Trust, a philanthropic organization in Singapore, started the Singapore Strong Fund (SSF) to aid ordinary Singaporeans addressing challenges related to Covid-19. Backed by 10 main donors, it has already helped more than 52,800 people as well as rallied together over 3,700 volunteers. The SG$550,000 (approximately US$400,000) fund, finances up to 80% of a project’s cost or gives SG$5,000 (approximately US$3,600), whichever is lower.

THE NONPROFITS

Give2Asia is featuring local nonprofits across Asia, and how they’re addressing local needs during Covid-19. This includes examples from India, the Philippines, Korea, Cambodia, and Indonesia, among others.

THE BUSINESSES

In Bangladesh, Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Novartis, through its Bangladesh arm, has donated 28,000 PPEs to Swiss Red Cross and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, worth BDT2.27 crore (nearly US$300,000).

In China, SC Johnson is donating ¥1 million (approximately US$140,000) to the Red Cross. It is also launching its 2020 SC Johnson’s Youth for a Green Life partnership with Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation to help children deal with the pandemic. These efforts are part of a series of financial and in-kind donations—valued at over US$1 million—aimed at helping the Asia-Pacific region battle Covid-19.

In Hong Kong, Citi Foundation has donated US$150,000 to Feeding Hong Kong, which employs B2B logistics to channel surplus food stock to charities feeding those in need. The donation will benefit 5,600 households helping provide up to 14 days’ worth of food supply. The gift is accompanied by a donation of 110,000 face masks, which Feeding Hong Kong will distribute to vulnerable families. 

In India, LEGO Group, in collaboration with NITI Aayog and Save the Children, has introduced targeted initiatives in India to promote ‘Learning Through Play’ and support home-based learning during and after Covid-19. This is part of the LEGO Group and LEGO Foundation’s overall commitment of US$50 million globally to help children and their families during Covid-19. Yamaha Motor India donated Rs61.5 lakh (approximately US$90,000) to aid the fight against Covid-19. Rs11.5 lakh of this was earmarked for the PM Cares Fund.

In the Philippines, global shoemaker Bata will donate 2,000 pairs of shoes through SM Foundation to those battling the pandemic including healthcare workers, volunteers, and their families. The effort is part of a global commitment to donate one million pairs of shoes. In an interview with CNBC, Ayala Group Chairman and CEO, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, underscores the role of companies in helping fight Covid-19, noting, “The Covid crisis has created a new sense of public-private partnerships and unity.”

In Singapore, Citi announced three key initiatives in supporting Covid-19 relief efforts: providing food for marginalized communities, supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and supporting migrant workers. In addition to a global employee donation-matching initiative, Citi has also raised US$1 million in the Asia Pacific in an effort to further support the United Nations Development Programme’s initiatives for vulnerable and marginalized communities.

In Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Education and Microsoft have partnered to advance remote learning during and after Covid-19. Microsoft will support the Ministry by providing students, teachers, ministry officials, and others stakeholders free access to Microsoft Office 365 tools.

In Taiwan, Taiwan Mobile, part of the Fubon Group, is offering tailor-made industry tech solutions to help enterprise customers (such as major hospitals) in the fight against Covid-19. Its enterprise communication system, M+ Messenger, is helping to ensure business continuity and data security, as well as provide support for hospitals to enhance efficient communication amidst the crisis. Taiwan Mobile also provided 15-day free internet access to over 20,000 students who need to learn from home during the pandemic, along with its other ongoing CSR initiatives aimed at bridging the digital divide. The Group also joined other companies in donating masks and hand sanitizer to help combat Covid-19.

In Thailand, the PepsiCo Foundation has partnered with Raks Thai Foundation to initiate three programs valued at THB18 million (approximately US$573,000) to help communities facing hardships due to the pandemic. The programs include “Give Meals Give Hope,” “Give Care to Farmers,” and “Give Care to Healthcare.” Across the programs, PepsiCo Foundation will donate 1 million meals, offer Covid-19 insurance and epidemic prevention gear to more than 3,900 farmers and their families, and donate critical medical equipment to hospitals.

THE INNOVATORS

UNESCAP and Good Return team up to provide a financial injection for women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the time of Covid-19. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and Good Return will support women-led SMEs in accessing the capital needed to support their businesses. The partnership will create a multi-country credit guarantee scheme across Cambodia, Nepal, Fiji, and Samoa. This comes at a time in which Covid-19 has exacerbated common challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, such as lack of assets to use as collateral and lower levels of digital literacy.

World Oceans Day prompts a push towards a ‘Blue Economy’ and new financing initiatives. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Cambodia’s “Ocean Economy” is valued at US$2.4 billion (representing around 10% of its GDP) and directly and indirectly employs around 3.2 million workers. In order to protect this, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has outlined four key financial initiatives to assist the country’s transition towards a more sustainable Ocean Economy. These include blue bonds, results-based lending, ocean risk insurance, and payments for ecosystem services. ADB has already committed US$5 billion to expanding its investments and technical assistance in ocean health and the blue economy over a five year period.

THE VOLUNTEERS

Volunteer army in Indonesia helps fight coronavirus with data, web. The Kawal Covid-19 (Guard against Covid-19) group constructs data models to guide the provincial governor in enacting stronger measures to mitigate the outbreak and to counter misinformation. Kawal’s 800 volunteers have emerged as an increasingly important source of information and guidance, particularly amidst patchy data and conflicting advice from Indonesia’s central government. Kawal emerged from volunteer groups that were set up to monitor 2014 and 2019 elections.

We’d also like to hear from you. How is your organization responding to Covid-19? Email us your stories at research@caps.org.