Asia Catalyst

Asia Catalyst is an independent organization that builds strong civil society and advances the right to health for marginalized groups in Asia. It trains community-based organizations (CBOs) to meet high standards of effective and democratic governance, to establish a stable foundation for future growth, and to conduct rigorous human rights research and advocacy. It is an independent organization that places the needs of marginalized communities at the center of national, regional, and international policy making.

Since its founding in 2006 by Sara L.M. Davis, the organization has opened offices in New York (United States), Beijing (China), and Bangkok (Thailand).

Asia Catalyst works with community-based organizations (CBOs) from marginalized groups that work on the right to health. Its partners come from communities that often experience severe and systemic rights violations, and are unable to or unaware of how to conduct effective advocacy around these issues. Partner groups include people living with HIV (PLHIV) and Hepatitis, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, and people who use drugs.

Asia Catalyst defines a community-based organization (CBO) as a civil society group that operates within a specific community or groups of communities. Asia Catalyst works only with CBOs that represent marginalized communities. It requires that partner organizations have at least one member of the marginalized community in a decision making position within the organization. This is meant to "ensure that the voices of marginalized communities are heard, and that Asia Catalyst's work focuses on the real, and most pressing, rights violations experienced."

Over the course of Asia Catalyst's history, it has partnered with hundreds of CBOs in 11 Asian countries, including Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, Nepal, The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and PNG.

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