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Navigating a Troubled Funding Landscape for Development

Name: Navigating a Troubled Funding Landscape for Development
Start: 2025-03-18T17:30:00+07:00
End: 2025-03-18T19:00:00+07:00
Location: SEA Junction, Room 407-8, BACC

March 18 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Background

SEA Junction invites development practitioners and other concerned parties to attend a panel discussion on 18 March 2025 at 5.30 – 7.30 pm at SEA Junction, room 407-8 on the 4^th Floor of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) for a critical and solution-focused discussion on current events troubling development aid funding and practices.

In recent months, the development sector has been shaken by the abrupt suspension of USAID-funded projects. The decision has left many organizations, civil society groups, and local communities facing unprecedented challenges, as essential aid programs grind to a halt. The consequences are far-reaching: from healthcare facilities losing funding, to human trafficking survivors left without critical support, to grassroots organizations struggling to continue their work in the absence of international assistance.

As one of the largest donors in the region, USAID has played a pivotal role in supporting initiatives focused on human and gender rights, migration, anti-trafficking, governance, and economic development across Southeast Asia. The sudden withdrawal of these funds has had an immediate and severe impact on vulnerable populations, particularly in conflict-affected and marginalized communities. Across the region, organizations are now scrambling to find alternative sources of funding, adapt their strategies, and sustain their efforts in an increasingly unpredictable environment.

This event aims to bring together leading voices from the aid and development sector to discuss the broader implications of this crisis in the region and place it in a more general context of conservative government disputing the importance of development aid and curtailing resources when not immediately relevant to trade and foreign affairs objectives. How can organizations pivot in response to these funding cuts? What alternative funding models exist, and how can local and international actors work together to ensure aid remains effective and sustainable in Southeast Asia? What lessons can be learned to create a more resilient and self-sufficient development ecosystem in the region?

At this event, we will also discuss what has happened so far, providing insight into the evolving situation, and explore potential pathways forward for support of development and human rights organizations in the region and ensure continued support for those most in need. The panel is composed of:

Rosalia Sciortino, SEA Junction and writer of “Failing Financing of Civil Society in Southeast Asia” (2023)
Phil Robertson Jr., Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates (AHRLA)
Emilie Palamy Pradichit, Manushya
Sara Piazzano, Independent Consultant
Kaona Saowakun, ILGA Foundation
Aung Zaw, The Irrawaddy

Moderator:

John Luke Chua, MEL Lead, USAID-funded Asia Counter Trafficking in Persons Project

A Q&A and discussion session and a simple reception will follow.

Speaker Bios

Rosalia Sciortino is associate professor at the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University; visiting professor at the Master in International Development Studies (MAIDS), Chulalongkorn University; and the Founder and Director of SEA Junction (seajunction.org). She has served as IDRC Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia (2010–2014), Senior Adviser to AusAID in Indonesia (2009–2010), and Regional Director for Southeast Asia of the Rockefeller Foundation (2000–2007). She also served as a program officer at the Indonesia and Philippines offices of the Ford Foundation. She regularly writes on funding trends in the region (see www.rosaliasciortino.com).
Phil Robertson Jr. is the former Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch in 2009, he worked for fifteen years in Southeast Asia on human rights, labor rights, protection of migrant workers, and counter-human trafficking efforts with a variety of non-governmental organizations, international and regional trade union federations, and UN agencies. Phil is now a Director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates (AHRLA) Consultancy.
Sara Piazzano is a development executive specializing in anti-human trafficking, migration, and gender-related initiatives across Asia, notably in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Formerly, she led a regional counter-trafficking program at Winrock International, coordinating USAID projects across Asia, offering guidance, fostering networks, and identifying best practices.
Emilie Palamy Pradichit is the Founder and Executive Director of Manushya Foundation, Emilie is an intersectional feminist advocate and international human rights lawyer. She specializes in accessing justice for marginalized communities through strategic litigation before the United Nations, holding governments and businesses accountable for human rights abuses.
Kaona Saowakun (Toto) is a transman activist, co-founder and vice president of the Isaan Gender Diversity Network (IGDN), and president of the ILGA Foundation.
Aung Zaw is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Irrawaddy and a journalist, writer, and former activist. He launched The Irrawaddy, an independent news agency, in 1992, and was only permitted to return to the country in 2012. He has contributed to numerous other publications including The New York Times, The Bangkok Post and more.

Moderator

John Luke Chua is a monitoring, evaluation and learning practitioner who is the MEL lead on the USAID-funded Asia Counter Trafficking in Persons regional project. He was previously a researcher at Mission 89, a Geneva-based trafficking in sports research and advocacy non-profit. He has spent the last seven years working on human trafficking and migrant labour-related issues in the Asia Pacific region.

For more information, please email: info@seajunction.org or phone/wa: +66970024140

NB: The event is free, donations are welcome to support SEA Junction activities.

Organizers

SEA Junction

SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organization Foundation for Southeast Asia Studies (ForSEA), aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions, from arts and lifestyles to economy and development. Conveniently located at Room 407-8 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium), SEA Junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. For more information, see www.seajunction.org, join the Facebook group:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/1693058870976440/ and follow us on Twitter (X), Bluesky and Instagram @seajunction