International NGO ASSIST team gathers for annual planning, tackles roadmap to 2015

Oct. 28, 2012 - PRLog -- The entire team of Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) convened last October 3 to 5, 2012 at the ASSIST headquarters in Manila for the Annual Planning Meeting.

Highlights of the three-day event include the discussion of regional updates, workshops on ASSIST's generic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and talks from special guests Dr. Juergen Bischoff, Senior Advisor to GIZ, Dr. Stephan Kunz of AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development Cooperation, and PUMA Sustainability Project Manager Adam Brennan.

Managing Director Sreeni Narayanan welcomed all participants who came from ASSIST offices in India, Vietnam and the Philippines. They are: India-based Projects and Grants Management Director Sathappan and South Asia Director Platosen Samarasam, Philippines-based Finance Director Suganya Sreenivas, Partners and Network Management

Director Kamesh Ganeson, Services Manager Matthias
Wichmann, Social Enterprise Manager Olga Babina, Project Manager Sunil Narayanan, Communications and Visibility Associate Margaret Yarcia, and Vietnam staff Le Nguyen Hoang Long, Quynh Tran and Vy Truong,

Platosen was especially happy to report on the takeoff of EU projects in Nepal and Bhutan, while Mekong Director Aru David proudly announced the successes in forging Public-Private Partnership (PPP) deals.

Executive Director Murali, for his part, discussed the status of Blueprint 2012, while Project Manager Yatheender P.M. presented on AsianNGO portal/magazine. Kamesh and Matthias also reported on their achievements: new contacts established and service contracts approved.

The team also tackled the roadmap to 2015, focusing on their vision of ASSIST as a more established NGO in Asia in terms of reach, funding, visibility, size, competency of people and partnerships.'

ASSIST is an international non-profit organization focused on capacity-building. It seeks to promote sustainable practices to address social problems in the developing world, with focus on Asia and Africa. It takes pride in its process-oriented approach to capacity building towards social improvement and sustainable transformation. Its goal is to empower its target groups to make them resilient to the social, economic, and environmental challenges.

It is presently based in Makati City, but also has operations in India and Vietnam and manages projects in over 10 countries. Through its Partner to Progress philosophy, it has successfully implemented such projects in collaboration with the European Union, United Nation Environment Program (UNEP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), USAID, International Finance Corporation (IFC), GIZ, and DEG/ KFW amongst other organizations. To know more, visit http://www.assistasia.org. #