ADO 2023
This publication highlights brighter economic prospects for Asia and the Pacific amid ongoing challenges. It forecasts growth across the region’s developing economies of 4.8% this year and in 2024, up from 4.2% in 2022. Read it here.

ADO 2022
The 2022 report outlines economic prospects in developing Asia amid global turbulence and lingering pandemic risks. It discusses the implications of school closures and the conflict in Europe, and explores mobilizing taxes for development. Read it here.

ADO 2021
The 2021 report reflects on the fallout of Covid-19 and its impact on growth trajectories in Asian economies. It pinpoints new virus outbreaks and vaccine delays as key short-term risks to the region’s economic outlook, with long-term risks being consequences of prolonged unemployment and disrupted education. A thematic chapter explores the drivers and impacts of green and social finance. The infusion of private capital will be critical in boosting the funding necessary for a resilient and inclusive recovery in Asia. Read it here.

The benefits of the digital age extend to the social sector, but how can we ensure equitable access? Across Asia, digital technology has enabled greater connectivity and flow of information and resources. The social sector has largely benefited from this shift, drawing on digital tools and platforms to increase effectiveness, expand access to social support services, and supercharge fundraising efforts. Continue reading here.

While Asia has experienced strong economic growth, gaps in development and social progress persist. In this context, The Future of Asian Philanthropy is a future-oriented report that imagines what philanthropy could look like in the year 2050, and its role in bringing about positive social change. CAPS provided insights for this study.

Volume 1: Scenarios for Asia in 2050 examines key driving forces in society and lays out a set of four imagined scenarios that illustrate different outcomes from these forces.

Volume 2: Scenarios for Asia in 2050 identifies strategies and recommendations for philanthropy to address specific scenario outcomes laid out in Volume 1, and how philanthropy can play a role in societal development and cohesion.

Read the report here.

COVID-19 has exacerbated income inequalities and social disparities across Asia, serving as a force multiplier for trends already in place. Assessing performance across four sub-indexes – Regulations, Tax and Fiscal Policy, Ecosystem, and Procurement – CAPS’ biennial flagship study, the Doing Good Index 2022, examines the social investment landscape in Asia. Read here.

According to the Doing Good Index 2022, which analyses the social investment landscape in Asia, Covid-19 has exacerbated social disparities and income inequalities and across the region. We talk to Dr. Ruth Shapiro, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive of the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS), which conducts the study biennially, about the pandemic’s impact on people in Asia, her work and improving Hong Kong’s social sector. Read here.

“While Asia has seen enormous economic growth and development in recent decades, income disparity remains and with millions across the continent continuing to live in poverty. As the number of high-net-worth individuals in Asia increases, so is cross-border giving, as wealthier Asians communities look beyond the needs of their own economy.

Give2Asia’s new report identifies some of the impediments to cross-border giving, such as donor preference, regulatory hurdles and lack of institutional readiness. The report describes an “overall stringent regulatory environment” with “varying levels of enabling policies regarding cross-border giving.” Much of this comes down to restrictions placed by individual economies on the sending and receiving of donations across borders.”

English version available here.

日本語: Japanese translation (abridged) available here.

Almost half of Asia’s social delivery organisations have reported a decline in funding in the last 12 months, some as much as 50 percent, according to new research. The Hong Kong-based Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS) surveyed more than 2,000 entities and some 120 experts across 17 Asian economies, including India, Pakistan, China, and Singapore. Read here.

Covid-19 has exacerbated income inequalities and social disparities across Asia, serving as a force multiplier for trends already in place. A new social impact study released today by the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS) shows how to maximize philanthropic and policy responses to cope with these post-Covid challenges. Read here.

Doing Good Index microsite

Our interactive microsite lets you visualize, explore and compare our data. Use our graphics and maps to help you understand Asia at a glance. The data dashboard allows you to compare economies and track changes across time. Economy profiles present a visual and digestible deep dive into each economy.

What is the Doing Good Index?

The Doing Good Index 2022 is the most comprehensive social impact index in Asia to date, highlighting the factors that drive or hinder private capital flowing towards social and economic challenges across 17 Asian economies.

The Doing Good Index comes at a critical time when economies have been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Inequalities have been exacerbated, and hard-won progress in social and economic growth has been undone. An estimated two-thirds of those newly forced into poverty live in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific.

To address these shared challenges, all parts of society—individuals, companies, government and the social sector—must work together to drive more resources towards building a better future together. The Doing Good Index shows how. It provides a roadmap of the policies and practices that can unleash this capital by mitigating the trust deficit; leveraging local support; and facilitating cross-sector collaboration.

In 2022 we surveyed 2,239 SDOs and interviewed 126 experts across 17 Asian economies. In mapping the landscape of social investment, the study examines four sub-indices: Regulations, Tax and Fiscal Policy, Ecosystem, and Procurement. We also include a section on how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the social sector.

The Doing Good Index is published every two years. Read the inaugural edition from 2018 and our 2020 edition.

This video from Bloomberg explores how microfinance has changed from being hailed as a “miracle cure for poverty” to a “system run amok”, with the most vulnerable exposed to the worst impacts. Microfinance has been held up as a key tool in the fight against systematic poverty, but the industry’s commercialization and expansion has created new problems. Banks are “lending ever-larger amounts of money to poor, mostly financially-illiterate people, who are getting stuck in a vicious cycle of debt.” In economies like Sri Lanka and Cambodia, lack of regulatory oversight has given way to predatory lending practices and ballooning debt from microfinance. Watch it here.