Asia Catalyst

Asia Catalyst is an independent nonprofit organization focused on civil-society development, human rights, and the right to health in Asia. Founded in 2006 by Sara L. M. Davis, it works primarily with community-based organizations representing marginalized populations whose members often face systemic discrimination, criminalization, detention, exclusion from health services, or other serious rights violations. Its partner communities have included people living with HIV or hepatitis, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other sexual-minority people, men who have sex with men, sex workers, and people who use drugs. The organization’s central premise is that community-based organizations are best placed to identify and address rights violations affecting their own communities. Asia Catalyst therefore emphasizes locally led advocacy rather than operating as a conventional service provider or campaign brand. It generally works with groups that have direct community representation, including at least one member of the affected marginalized population in a decision-making role. This requirement is intended to keep organizational priorities connected to the lived experiences and most urgent concerns of the communities involved. Asia Catalyst’s work combines organizational development, rights training, research, documentation, coalition building, and advocacy. Its signature CBO Catalyst program brings leaders of community-based organizations together for an extended capacity-building process. Training integrates practical management topics, such as strategic planning, fundraising, budgeting, volunteer management, and organizational systems, with human-rights analysis and advocacy skills. A training-of-trainers approach is used in longer-term work to help partner groups retain and share knowledge after the formal program ends. The organization has also operated regional rights-training initiatives that connect groups across countries around a common issue. One documented 2015 initiative supported representatives of eight organizations from Cambodia, China, Myanmar, and Vietnam working to address discrimination against people living with HIV in health-care settings. In addition, Asia Catalyst has offered tailored coaching through workshops, assignments, and mentoring for individual organizations or small groups. Its research and advocacy partnerships have addressed compensation for victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, discrimination against people living with HIV, and rights concerns affecting people who use drugs, sex workers, and transgender sex workers. Asia Catalyst has established offices or operational bases in New York, Beijing, and Bangkok and has reported partnerships with hundreds of community-based organizations across 11 Asian countries. Its work has included collaboration with grassroots groups in China, Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, and other parts of the region. Research outputs have sometimes been used to attract international media attention and inform policy discussions. A 2013 report on China’s Custody and Education detention system for female sex workers received coverage in major international newspapers, while a 2014 study of transgender female sex workers in Beijing and Shanghai was published by the LGBTQ Policy Journal at Harvard Kennedy School. The organization is structured as a United States 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit. Its governance includes a board of directors, while funding has historically come from individual donors, foundations, government programs, and institutional supporters. Reported supporters have included the Open Society Foundations, Levi Strauss Foundation, National Endowment for Democracy, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the German Embassy in Beijing, UNAIDS, and the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Asia Catalyst is best understood as a regional human-rights and capacity-building organization rather than a consumer-facing brand, commercial enterprise, or product manufacturer.

Asia Catalyst was founded in 2006 by Sara L. M. Davis as an independent organization serving civil-society groups and marginalized communities in Asia. From its outset, the organization concentrated on the intersection of health and human rights. Rather than treating health access as a purely medical issue, it worked with affected communities to identify discrimination, arbitrary detention, criminalization, exclusion, and other structural barriers that limited access to care and undermined dignity. Its operating model developed around community-based organizations. Asia Catalyst defined these organizations as civil-society groups rooted in a particular community or group of communities and required meaningful representation of the marginalized population in organizational decision-making. This approach was intended to ensure that advocacy priorities came from people directly experiencing rights violations. Over time, the organization partnered with hundreds of community-based groups across 11 Asian countries, including Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea. It also reported work involving groups in Korea and maintained offices or operational bases in New York, Beijing, and Bangkok. The CBO Catalyst became the organization’s signature capacity-building program. Its year-long format brought leaders of community-based organizations together for workshops combining organizational management with rights-based advocacy. Participants developed skills in planning, fundraising, budgeting, volunteer management, documentation, coalition building, and engagement with public authorities. The program also encouraged durable relationships among participating groups, helping them form coalitions and pursue advocacy on issues identified by their own communities. Asia Catalyst complemented this work with regional rights-training programs. These initiatives convened organizations from multiple countries around a shared thematic concern and helped them use human-rights standards, local law, documentation, and advocacy techniques. A documented 2015 program involved 16 representatives from eight organizations in Cambodia, China, Myanmar, and Vietnam and focused on discrimination against people living with HIV in health-care settings. The organization also delivered tailored coaching, usually through workshops separated by several months of practical assignments and supported by mentoring. This format allowed organizations to apply new skills to strategic plans, budgets, project schedules, volunteer systems, research, and advocacy projects. Research and advocacy became another important part of Asia Catalyst’s work. In partnership with local groups, it conducted qualitative research into rights abuses affecting the right to health, drawing on international human-rights standards and domestic law to formulate recommendations. Topics included compensation for people affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, discrimination against people living with HIV, and rights issues involving people who use drugs and sex workers. Its December 2013 research on China’s Custody and Education system for female sex workers received extensive international press attention. A subsequent study, published in 2014, examined the conditions of transgender female sex workers in Beijing and Shanghai and reached an academic policy audience through the LGBTQ Policy Journal at Harvard Kennedy School. The organization’s program philosophy emphasized responsiveness to community needs. It used feedback and evaluation to adjust its programming and incorporated training-of-trainers methods into longer programs to improve sustainability. Its constituencies included people living with HIV and hepatitis, LGBT+ people and men who have sex with men, sex workers, and people who use drugs. Through these programs, Asia Catalyst positioned itself as an intermediary that helped grassroots organizations build the institutional strength and evidence needed to advocate with local and national governments, the United Nations, and international forums. Asia Catalyst operates as a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit and has been governed by a board of directors. Reported institutional supporters have included the Open Society Foundations, the Levi Strauss Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the German Embassy in Beijing, UNAIDS, and the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Its leadership has included founder Sara L. M. Davis, executive director Charmain Mohamed, board chair and treasurer Yvonne Y. F. Chan, and board member Minky Worden. The available reference material does not establish a complete chronology of leadership transitions, office closures, current program scale, or present funding levels.

• 2015

  Regional HIV discrimination training initiative documented

  [1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  A regional program supported representatives of eight organizations from four Asian countries working to end discrimination against people living with HIV in health-care settings.

• 2014

  Research on transgender female sex workers published

  [1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  Research on the living conditions of transgender female sex workers in Beijing and Shanghai was published in the LGBTQ Policy Journal at Harvard Kennedy School.

• 2013

  Custody and Education research published

  [1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  Asia Catalyst released research on China’s Custody and Education detention system for female sex workers, generating coverage in international and Asian media.

• 2006

  Asia Catalyst founded

  [1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  Sara L. M. Davis founded Asia Catalyst as an independent organization focused on civil-society development and the right to health for marginalized communities in Asia.

A community-led Asian human-rights and public-health capacity-building organization that equips marginalized communities and their organizations to document abuses, strengthen internal systems, build coalitions, and advocate for policy change.

• Capacity-building program

  CBO Catalyst

  Asia Catalyst’s signature year-long program for leaders of community-based organizations representing marginalized communities. It combines organizational management, strategic planning, fundraising, budgeting, volunteer management, human-rights analysis, and advocacy practice. Participants work together over a sustained period, develop practical systems for their organizations, and build relationships that can support coalition advocacy after the program ends.

• Regional human-rights training

  Regional Rights Training Program

  A thematic training and coalition-building model that brings together community-based organizations from several Asian countries. The program helps participants apply human-rights standards, local law, documentation techniques, and advocacy methods to a shared regional concern. A documented initiative focused on discrimination against people living with HIV in health-care settings.

• Organizational coaching

  Tailored Coaching for CBOs

  Customized support for individual organizations or small groups needing specific capabilities. Coaching commonly uses two three-day workshops over three to six months, with assignments and mentor support between sessions. Topics have included strategic planning, project timelines, budgets, fundraising, volunteer management, rights documentation, and advocacy with public authorities and international institutions.

• Research and policy advocacy

  Advocacy and Research Partnerships

  Collaborative research and advocacy conducted with local community groups to document rights violations affecting health. Outputs have addressed HIV-related discrimination, compensation for people affected by the AIDS epidemic, detention of sex workers, and conditions faced by transgender sex workers. Findings are framed through international human-rights standards and domestic law to support policy recommendations and public advocacy.

• 2015Regional campaign against HIV-related health-care discrimination

  Cambodia · China · Myanmar · Vietnam

  Asia Catalyst supported a coalition of community-based organizations working to challenge discrimination against people living with HIV in health-care settings.

  Source
• 2013Custody and Education research and advocacy

  China · International

  Asia Catalyst documented China’s Custody and Education system for female sex workers, focusing on the human-rights implications of arbitrary detention and the impact on access to health and dignity.

  Outcome. The report received prominent coverage in international and Asian newspapers, including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, and Taipei Times.

  Source

• 2015

  Regional initiative addressed discrimination against people living with HIV in health care[1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  Campaign

  Asia Catalyst supported representatives of eight community-based organizations from Cambodia, China, Myanmar, and Vietnam in regional work to challenge discrimination against people living with HIV in health-care settings.

• 2014

  Study documented conditions faced by transgender female sex workers in China[1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  Other

  A study conducted with local partners examined the living conditions of transgender female sex workers in Beijing and Shanghai and was later published by the LGBTQ Policy Journal at Harvard Kennedy School.

• 2013

  Research on China’s Custody and Education system received international coverage[1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Asia Catalyst’s research on the detention of female sex workers in China drew coverage from major international and Asian news outlets and brought attention to the system’s human-rights implications.

• 2006

  Asia Catalyst established as an independent regional civil-society organization[1]Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Asia Catalyst was founded to strengthen marginalized communities and advance rights-based approaches to health and civil-society development in Asia.

1. 1Asia Catalysten.wikipedia.org