WASHINGTON: The Asia Foundation on Monday named the head of the American University in Cairo as its president, who pledged to build on the group’s network in Asia to support "quiet champions" for greater rights.
David Arnold, who has led the American University in Cairo since 2003, will take over in January at the helm of The Asia Foundation, a non-profit group that promotes civil society and openness in the continent.
Arnold will replace Douglas Bereuter, a former US congressman who led the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation for a six-year term.
Arnold, who worked at the Ford Foundation from 1984 to 1997 with stints in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, said that The Asia Foundation had the ability to "strengthen forces within different cultures and societies to achieve reform."
"Naturally there is a tendency on the part of any society to respond negatively when it’s being criticized by organizations or voices from outside," Arnold told AFP.
"But I think that there is a definite role for organizations within the country to advocate and to be quiet champions for advancements both in terms of basic rule of law as well as a recognition of internationally recognized human rights," he said.
Regarding Asia’s largest country, Arnold said he was "hopeful" about the direction of civil society in China.
"But I think there is still considerable distance to go in terms of really defining and creating the space that is needed for a vibrant, healthy and independent civil society in China today," he said.
Founded in the aftermath of World War II, The Asia Foundation has taken a largely behind-the-scenes approach and operates 18 field offices across the region.
The group said it distributed more than $86 million in program support and nearly one million books and journals last year.
The field offices give The Asia Foundation "a staying power and a credibility that is not the same as institutions and organizations that may be based other places but parachute in, parachute out," Arnold said.
Michael Armacost, a former US ambassador to Japan and the Philippines who chairs The Asia Foundation’s board, said that Arnold’s local knowledge should serve the group well as it adapts to a changing continent.
Arnold led the American University in Cairo as it moved in 2008 from the heart of the city to a much larger, 400 million-dollar campus on its outskirts.
