Overview
Economic liberalization and good governance are crucial for rapid, sustained economic growth and political progress in Asia. Higher growth directly reduces poverty and in tandem with enlightened governance, bolsters increased investment in crucial public goods and services – primary education, public health, rational management of natural resources, infrastructure, peace and order, and access to justice.
Over the past decade, the ERD portfolio of The Asia Foundation has rapidly expanded and now comprises significant multi-year programs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. The Foundation is increasingly recognized in the development community for its ability to use solid data as the basis for reform, particularly expertise in surveys and the construction of competitiveness indexes across local jurisdictions – the "economic governance index." One-stop shops, which help to streamline business operations, improved regulatory reform processes, and the promotion of private enterprises are targeted at small and medium-scale enterprises development. ERD projects currently being developed for implementation in the near future in other Asian countries include programs that strengthen local economic governance, private sector development, trade liberalization, and the promotion of private investment through regulatory reform, both domestic and international.
The ERD programs of The Asia Foundation: promote investment and private enterprise, especially small and medium-scale businesses, through promarket reforms of the regulatory environment both at the local as well as national levels; advance domestic and international trade and financial sector reforms; and strengthen the responsiveness of local governance to the requirements of the business sector and the needs of the poor.