The Pilot Workshop for the “Advancing Human Rights and Development Effectiveness: CSO Aid Observatorio Training Handbook 2020” was held virtually last 16-25 November. Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific (RoA-AP) and CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness – Asia (CPDE Asia) hosted the workshop. Members CSOs across 21 countries from all over the region attended the training. The workshop, which aims to deepen CSOs’ understanding of development cooperation, was divided into five days. Each day featured

The Reality of Aid-Asia Pacific (RoA-AP), together with the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE), created a training course to strengthen CSO capacities to monitor aid and promote CSO partnerships towards evidenced-based policy in the region. The CSO Aid Observatorio Training Handbook 2020: Advancing Human Rights and Development Effectiveness is composed of four modules: Aid and Development Cooperation Concepts and Principles People’s Research and Development Cooperation Data Sourcing and Management Dissemination and Popularization Through the

On Economic Repression and Militarism Delivered by Sarah Torres, Coordinator of Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific The repression and crises we face today do not exist in a vacuum. These are largely the result of economic maneuvers of the powers that be, which means that whoever controls the economy also controls the politics and the culture of a society. Now, economic control is largely focused on transnational corporations. Even authoritarian governments are at the

Several developing countries in Asia Pacific continue to struggle against Coronavirus despite the wealth of information and best practices from other developing countries which have already flattened the curve. In many parts of South Asia and Central Asia, for instance, civil society organisations (CSOs) have reported that their governments are still unable to provide adequate social protection for the most vulnerable despite the ballooning debts allocated for pandemic response and recovery. The Asian Development Bank

The plunging economy of and rising public mistrust in Lebanon, on top of the coronavirus pandemic filling hospitals all over the country, had just been aggravated by the Beirut explosion last week. Over 200 people were reportedly killed from this disaster. The uproar against the negligence of the Lebanese government, which has allowed more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate sit in the Beirut port repugnantly for six years, unbolted further resistance from the Lebanese

  This article is part of Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific’s COVID-19 Response Series, “Resisting Repression; Recovering Together”, which aims to document the struggles, best practices, and lessons learned, as well as share recommendations of RoA-AP members as they responded to the pandemic at the national or regional level. Read more stories here.     By Tirtha Prasad Saikia, North East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS) COVID-19 pandemic in Assam The first case of the COVID-19