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Compared to Africa or Latin America, Asia is a heterogeneous continent - particularly when we broaden the perspective to include Oceania and the Pacific region. The heterogeneity of Asia is manifested in the respective levels of social development of the various countries, their various social systems, their linguistic and cultural diversity, and their religious pluralism. On the one hand, this diversity is fascinating. On the other hand, the plurality that characterises Asia also sometimes causes extreme social tensions and socio-cultural conflicts. Asia also tempts the onlooker to draw swift and erroneous conclusions: at first glance, people’s lives and the façades of many megacities such as Manila, Bangkok, Beijing and New Delhi seem reminiscent of life in “our” western metropolises. Yet when the onlooker actually meets people and gets to know how they live, s/he soon notices that the way they think and feel about their lives is very different from the way we think and feel about ours.
Key Social Problems and Challenges
Although it is appropriate to emphasise difference and heterogeneity, we should not lose sight of the fact that the lives of hundreds of millions of people in Asia are characterised by the same fundamental social problems: - huge differences in income between the poor population, and the usually small rich elite;
- the resulting daily struggle for survival, lack of access to education, lack of access to health services, loss of cultural values;
- rapidly advancing urbanisation in many countries, with concomitant negative impacts on an increasing number of urban poor and homeless families, and children being affected in particular;
- the inter-religious and inter-ethnic conflicts that continue to escalate in many countries, but which can often only be properly understood against a socio-economic background;
- major ecological problems, including above all advancing environmental degradation caused by inappropriate agricultural production systems and the ruthless exploitation of natural resources (e.g. destruction of tropical rainforests in Indonesia).
Cooperation with Local Partners
The above-mentioned fundamental social challenges are the point of entry for MISEREOR's work - which entails close cooperation with partners on the ground, in the respective countries and regions. These include both Church-based and non-Church-based, i.e. secular partners in-country. With a few exceptions, the so-called non-Church-based partners are non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Only in very exceptional cases does MISEREOR cooperate directly with governmental or parastatal agencies. MISEREOR's Promotion Activities in Asia and Oceania
MISEREOR promotes development projects and processes by providing the needed funds. Key activity areas in Asia include social assistance and social security for poor population groups, networking of partners, legal aid and democratisation, promotion of endangered cultures, inter-religious cooperation and peaceful conflict transformation. At present, MISEREOR is promoting different numbers of projects in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mongolia, North Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, as well as in various countries of Oceania, and Central Asia.
Yet MISEREOR does not see itself as a "development bank" that focuses on transferring money to Asia. Dialogue with our partners, the encounter with people, and mutual learning and exchange are just as much a part of our work. In this way we also seek to build a bridge between people in Asia and people in Germany. MISEREOR's work in Asia is designed to generate a feeling of mutual solidarity, and feelings of empathy and curiosity about the lives of people – above all poor people – in Asia: despite all the heterogeneity that characterises their lives.
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