BUILDING A BETTER ASIA: FUTURE LEADERS’ DIALOGUE 2009/10
 “BUILDING THE COMMON GOOD IN ASIA”

In 2006 the Nippon Foundation and its affiliates (NFG) including the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the Tokyo Foundation started a new path-breaking activity called “Building a Better Asia: Future Leaders’ Dialogue”.  The ultimate objective of the programme is to nurture future leaders for Asia. It brings together young Asians from all over Asia to either China or India for an 8 days retreat where they get an opportunity to interact with different people, develop and share skills of leadership and contemplate and discuss critical issues concerning Asia and the world.

Over the last few decades the NFG had built an outstanding record of private philanthropy which has to date supported and implemented a variety of people exchange and human resources development projects all over the world. The almost 30,000 alumni across the globe therefore represent a vast and diverse pool of talent and potential.

We started with one retreat in China in 2006. In 2007-08 we added one more retreat this time in India.  For FY2008-09 we organized two retreats held in China and India. The retreat in China was held on 27 October- 2 November 2008. The retreat in India was held on 8 – 15  February 2009.

The BABA China and India retreats are intended to harness the human energy of these young Asian alumni for follow-up activities that can promote and deepen continuous interactions between and among the participants of these past projects and to create new links in enhancing relationships between those from different projects so that they can contribute to the building of a better Asia in the future. The Retreat also aims at deepening the participants’ knowledge of a set of emerging issues in Asia and to foster the art of leadership in solving problems.  In addition, group work for the purpose of enhancing long-lasting relationships among the participants will be encouraged.

The theme for the 2009-10 retreats will be –“Building the Common Good in Asia” and will focus on issues such as Poverty, Human Security, Sustainable Development, Common Security, Globalization, Capacity Building and Efficient Governance. more>>   A total of 20 persons will be selected for each retreat. Successful candidates will be provided with return economy class travel from their home city, board and lodging and a per diem by the organizers.

Applications are invited from all eligible candidates for the retreats in China and India. Applicants must meet the criteria set in the attached Application view application form and procedure >>

*Applications should indicate their preference for one of the two locations (China, 13 – 19 September 2009/India, February 2010) but the final decision of the location rests with the Academic Committee.

The decision of the Academic Committee, which decides on the applications, is final.

The retreats are organized and managed by the Information & Resource Centre (IRC), a private non-governmental think tank based in Singapore (www.asiandialogue.com) . Please also visit www.buildingabetterasia.com for more information about the programme and its activities.

Please send your applications, and direct all your inquiries, to:
R Sumana
Coordinator, BABA
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