BABA - Our History
In 2006, a new initiative with the objective to nurture future leaders
of Asia from a diverse and vast pool of Nippon Foundation alumni
was started. Called the "Building A Better Asia: Future Leaders' Dialogue,"
the joint project of the Nippon Group of Foundations, Peking
University and the Information and Resource Center was aimed at
building a better future for the citizens of Asia.
An academic committee comprising scholars and experts from various
Asian countries was formed to initiate a new retreat program
with the objective of bringing together a select group of past beneficiaries from the people exchange and human resource development
projects in Asian countries, for the purpose of encouraging continuous
interactions among those who were from the same projects, or
by creating new links and enhancing relationships between those
from different projects.
The first program was held in September 2006 in Peking University.
Participants came from various countries in Asia and spent a week
interacting with one another and were given opportunities to meet
well-known scholars, politicaland business leaders. There were also
out-of- classroom activities.
The theme in 2006 was "Reconciliation Reconsidered" and focused
on issues such as Development and Governance, Political Transition,
Media, Innovation and Technologyand Civil Society.
The discussions were aimed at deepening
the participants' knowledge of a set of emerging issues in Asia and
to foster the art of leadership in problem solving. In addition, group
work for the purpose of enhancing long-lasting relationships among
the participants was encouraged.
Due to tremendous success of the first retreat in Peking University,
four other retreats have been held – two more at Peking University
and another two in India (Goa and Orissa). For the 2009/2010 calendar,
the second retreat has been moved from India to Bangkok,
Thailand.