Founded in 2003 in the Philippines, ASSIST (Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation) is a self-sustaining, Pan-Asian non-profit organization operating across South and SE Asia. Over 22 years and 300+ projects spanning 20+ countries, ASSIST has worked at the intersection of the private sector, government, civil society, and communities — bringing these stakeholders together to address complex development challenges and drive sustainable impact.
ASSIST is committed to six priority areas — Sustainable Industry and Economy; Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship; Food Security and Agriculture; Disaster Risk Management; Environment and Climate Change; and Health and Sanitation. Within these areas, ASSIST takes a dual approach — designing and managing its own programmes for direct community impact, while also implementing projects on behalf of UN agencies, bilateral donors, and corporate foundations. Both are driven by the same intent — to ensure that investment in development translates into meaningful, lasting outcomes on the ground.
Beyond ideation and implementation, ASSIST builds knowledge and amplifies impact through IMPACT, our publication focused on capacity building across the development ecosystem, and Creativelab, solving communication, visibility and learning challenges of development actors — together reinforcing ASSIST’s role as a long-term institutional partner for sustainable development in Asia.









