Kenan Institute Asia

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Kenan Institute Asia

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Kenan Institute Asia (K.I.Asia), the operational name for the Kenan Foundation Asia, is a leading Thailand based non-profit organization which serves the sustainable development needs of the Greater Mekong Subregion (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand,Yunnan Province in southern China), and Vietnam.

Founded in 1996, K.I.Asia works to address the challenges facing South East Asia through free enterprise mechanisms, boundary-spanning partnerships and expertise gained through practical development experience. The organization specializes in designing, managing and implementing programs in five main areas: public health; youth development and innovative education; entrepreneurship; sustainable tourism; business and economic development; and Corporate Social Responsibility.

History

Evolving from a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Thailand, K.I.Asia was founded in 1996 with an endowment provided by USAID, the Thai government, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust and the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, part of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun serving as the founding chairman, the Institute initially focused on fostering development partnerships between U.S. and Thai organizations based on the belief that challenges facing South East Asia could best be addressed through free enterprise mechanisms, boundary-spanning partnerships and expertise gained through practical development experience.

Within its first few months of its existence, K.I.Asia was faced with responding to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It did so through the American Corporations for Thailand (ACT) Program, launched in 1998 chaired by former Prime Minister of Thailand and the then-current K.I.Asia chairman Mr. Anand Panyarachun and Dr. Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State. The project worked with major U.S. companies in Thailand to support human resource development, retraining those left unemployed by the crisis. Ten donor companies and organizations contributed US $1.1 million for ACT’s first three years. The donors provided another $700,00 for the project in 2001 to expand the program to include secondary and environmental education. In total, ACT awarded over 50 grants on a competitive basis to Thai universities, non-profit and government training organizations throughout the country, training approximately 700 trainers and 2,700 trainees.^[1] In 1999 the U.S. government provided K.I.Asia with a cost-shared grant for a program of economic recovery and reform for Thailand called “Accelerating Economic Recovery in Asia” (AERA) as part of the Thailand Competitiveness Initiative, with a specific focus on development of cluster competitiveness.^[2] The project had three objectives: 1) creating and saving jobs, 2) improving the targeting and coverage of safety nets, and 3) improving economic governance, which it achieved through technical assistance and training complementing ongoing structural adjustment loans funded by the International Monetary Fund or multilateral development banks. The program had significant impact, particularly in the areas of competitiveness, economic governance, financial and corporate debt restructuring.^[3]

When the 2004 tsunami devastated the coast of southern Thailand, K.I.Asia implemented the Tsunami Recovery Action Initiative (TRAI), with core funding provided by the William R. Kenan Charitable Trust and the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. With program funding continuing into 2010, TRAI aims to implement sustainable development based on environmentally and socially friendly tourism. Total funding, from a variety of donors totaled more than $2 million.

Today, K.I.Asia’s team of professionals draws upon the expertise and experience gained over more than a decade of activities to support sustainable development throughout Southeast Asia, with a special emphasis on Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam.

Values, Mission, and Goals

K.I.Asia’s vision is to become the leading provider of services for sustainable development in Asia.

Its mission is to promote results oriented, sustainable development in Asia with an emphasis on the Greater Mekong Subregion, by providing project management, consulting, training, and research services on behalf of its corporate, government and multilateral clients; and to provide opportunities for its team of professionals to make meaningful contributions to society.

Its core values include:

• stakeholder ownership- providing for participation by clients, partners and beneficiaries
• good governance- high ethical standards, strong internal processes and external auditing
• results oriented- credible and measurable results for all projects
• service to society- activities that provide sustainable improvements to society and the environment
• commitment to employees- providing opportunities for dedicated professionals with diverse backgrounds to contribute meaningfully to the improvement of the economic, social and environmental conditions in the region
• respect for local cultures- understanding and respect for Asian cultures
• belief in free market mechanisms for development- using the vibrancy of free enterprise to been development, challenges by supporting corporate social responsibility, microfinance, entrepreneurship and small and medium sized business development.^[4]

Areas of Expertise

K.I.Asia works with corporations, governments and multilateral organizations to implement projects in five key areas of expertise.

Public Health

Infectious diseases continue to be a leading cause of illness and death in the Greator Mekong Subregion (GMS-Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Burma and Southern China) countries, threatening sustainable development. The recent emergence of infectious diseases such as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and multi-drug resistant malaria require innovative measures to strengthen public health systems while providing the general public with the necessary tools to proactively protect their health and the health of their communities. K.I.Asia’s public health activities emphasizes health diplomacy for cross-border collaboration on surveillance of, and response to, significant and emerging human and zoonotic infectious diseases, preparedness for pandemic influenza, control and elimination of multidrug resistant malaria, life skills-based behavior change communication and healthy tourism initiatives.

K.I.Asia played a major role in the Thai malaria control program, supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), which monitored malaria drug resistance in six sentinel sites since the early 1980s. In 2000, with US $3 million provided by USAID, the program was expanded through K.I.Asia to include three additional sites, which played critical roles in identifying and controlling drug resistant malaria along the Thai-Cambodian border. The project strengthened national capacity by establishing a network for sentinel surveillance of drug resistance and a systematic process for evidence-based policy changes in treatment regimens to respond to emerging resistance to anti-malarials. K.I.Asia’s public health team supported development of new models of cooperation and partnership to enable community-based action, and supported pilot implementation of program reorientation from malaria control to a strategy for elimination. The project strengthened the national capacity for surveillance and response covering an at risk population of 17.6 million population in 26 provinces.^[5]

Corporate Social Responsibility

In today’s highly competitive business environment, companies are increasingly being judged not only on their short-term market share, but on their long-term sustainability. Kenan Institute Asia’s (K.I.Asia) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team develops managerial capacities and assists companies in implementing highly effective and relevant strategic corporate citizenship programs, thereby contributing more effectively to their business objectives and long-term sustainability.

Projects include working with MSD Thailand to develop the Inquiry-based Science and Technology Education Program (IN-STEP), which incorporates both CSR and innovative education to change the way science is taught in Thai schools through an intensive program to develop a new curriculum and train teachers in partnership with the Ministry of Education. MSD employees also volunteer to share information with students about the types of occupations that an education in science can lead to, including medicine, science and technology.^[6] Over 58 schools, 120 teachers, and 10,000 students have been reached by the project, which has had significant impacts in student’s comprehension and interest in science.^[7]

Entrepreneurship, Business and Economic Development

It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of SMEs and entrepreneurs to economic growth, so developing economies have a vested interest in the promotion of strong SME and entrepreneurial sectors. In the long run, successful business enterprises will serve as a source of national income and a strong foundation for the Asian region’s economy. Providing low-income individuals with the skills necessary to succeed as entrepreneurs is one of the best proven means of raising incomes and bringing people out of poverty. K.I.Asia is one of Asia’s most prominent organizations for strengthening SME’s capabilities and entrepreneurship as well as diffusing knowledge and educating Thai firms and Thai society on the importance of innovation by positioning itself as an agent bridging knowledge, expertise and information between government agencies, universities, and private firms.^[8]

K.I.Asia has successfully built the capacity of SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as government agencies, microfinance institutions and organizations supporting SMEs, for over a decade. It has developed targeted, customized programming that is being utilized to assist SMEs to ensure their success. K.I.Asia works with industry clusters to improve the competitiveness of SMEs. K.I.Asia’s specialized entrepreneurship programming has been designed to build and support existing and potential entrepreneurs from any background and educational level through project management, consulting, and training programs. K.I.Asia has also developed specialized training and research tools to assist microfinance institutions, government agencies and business organizations supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs, and to ensure effective economic development.

For example, K.I.Asia has worked with Citibank Thailand to promote sound SME financial management and financial literacy training since 2006 with the goal of providing sustainable opportunities for the economically disadvantaged. Working closely with Thailand’s Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and prominent universities in Thailand, K.I.Asia worked with Citibank to survey more than 100 SMEs and analyze data relating to their financial training needs, and then offered financial skills capacity training to top SME managers and owners, bringing real world experience, such as management from Black Canyon Coffee (a popular Thai restaurant/café) to share knowledge and experience with participants. K.I.Asia also implemented the Citi At-Risk Women Financial Literacy program, which provides at-risk women with financial skills, specifically in saving and investment, money management and household budgeting, and proper credit management.^[9]

Innovative Education

Perhaps the greatest long-term investment in sustainable development a country can make is the investment in their youth through continuing investment in education and work force development. By equipping youth with leadership and creative thinking skills, technical and business knowledge, and combining it with social and environmental awareness, K.I.Asia is training the youth of today to be the community, business and socially responsible leaders of tomorrow. By working to improve the job skills of people in local communities in areas such as entrepreneurship and ICT, K.I.Asia is also helping to improve the employment prospects of community members and the sustainability of local communities. To accomplish this, K.I.Asia’s team introduces proven policies and practices, adapts new approaches, builds local capacities, conducts pilot and full programs, and institutionalizes programming in the educational and vocational system (including schools, universities, vocational colleges, government agencies and community learning centers). Working closely with corporate and government clients to design and implement programs, facilitate volunteer participation and communicate the program’s impacts, K.I.Asia’s team serves as trainers, advisors, match-makers and project managers. Furthermore, K.I.Asia’s customized programs facilitate collaboration among families, schools, school districts, community leaders, local governments, the Ministry of Education and private companies.

Under the innovative education focus, K.I.Asia has partnered with the Thai Department of Skill Development (DSD) and Microsoft to implement the “Building Employability Through Technology and Entrepreneurship Resources” project, which provides ICT training and ICT for entrepreneurship training through the DSD for unemployed and at-risk workers, as well as small SME operators. The specific objectives of the project are to make training recipients more employable through increased ICT skills; to better prepare potential and existing entrepreneurs for engaging in entrepreneurial activities; and to develop the capacity of the DSD to create and market their training courses to better serve industry demand. Ultimately, the goal was to successfully take over and expand the project at the end of the three year trial period.^[10]

Sustainable Tourism

The tourism industry in Southeast Asia offers special opportunities to provide sustainable livelihoods to local communities, while preserving both the natural environment and local culture. Starting with our program to assist with the recovery of coastal communities hit by the 2004 tsunami, K.I.Asia has implemented a holistic approach to tourism development through engagement of local communities, businesses, tourists and governments. The K.I.Asia model of tourism development is a powerful tool for protecting important natural sites, providing economic benefits to local communities and marketing key tourism centers to increase overall community sustainability and improve the competitiveness of tourism destinations.

In particular, K.I.Asia has implemented numerous projects since the 2004 Tsunami disaster in order to rebuild those regions most affected in a stronger and more sustainable manner under the Tsunami Recovery Activity Initiative (TRAI) program. A major component of the TRAI project was conducted with the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), focusing on biodiversity and sustainable tourism development at Kho Khao island and in the Lam Kaen Community/ Thai Muang National Park in Phang Nga Province, Thailand. The program supports the national goal of attracting high-quality tourists interested in sustainable tourism, the provincial goal of being a leading destination for eco tourism, and local efforts to develop community-based tourism.^[11]

References