SNV believes that eliminating poverty requires more than economic or technical improvements. Eliminating poverty entails empowering the poor, improving governance, and increasing people’s ability to provide for their own needs and make informed choices.
Together with our partners on the ground throughout the region and beyond, we have been contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and national poverty reduction strategies across Asia. Our development results are measured in two areas:
- Improving the access, coverage and quality of basic services; &
- Reducing extreme poverty by increasing production, employment and equitable income opportunities.
SNV began working in Asia in 1980, building capacity and alleviating poverty in mid-western and eastern Nepal. We were one of the first organisations to reach out to some of the most remote areas of the country. In 1988, we opened offices in the small Himalayan nation of Bhutan, followed by an office in Vietnam in 1995, in Lao PDR in 2003, and Cambodia in 2005. More recently, SNV Asia has expanded to launch renewable energy programmes in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Our strategy and focus has changed greatly in the thirty years we have been working in Asia. Research and experience has led us to move away from direct implementation and towards focusing on a more advisory capacity. We have made this move because we know it works best – by supporting local organisations and governments, we can reach a broader group of people, and ensure that our impact is more effective and sustainable.
As an advisory organisation, SNV’s now works with local organisations to support and develop their strategies for catalysing positive change in their communities. Implementation is in the hands of local actors. This strategy ensures that we are contributing to sustainable, nationally owned development impact that will lead to lasting poverty reduction, and help countries achieve MDG targets.
Our work is based on long-term engagement with key local organisations including national governments and ministries, NGOs and community-based organisations, private sector organisations and representative bodies, universities, training institutes and research bodies and many others.
As of the end of 2009, SNV Asia had achieved an outreach of some 4 million people (approx 900,000 households), who now benefit from impact in employment, increased income, food security, access to renewable energy, and access to water, sanitation and improved hygiene.