Overview

ASEF’s Sustainable Development & Public Health Department aims to provide and communicate quality, actionable inputs for the policy dialogue between Asia and Europe related to its themes. 

Our Goals

• To regularly monitor and analyse developments in Asia-Europe relations in order to identify relevant policy issues where ASEF provides an added value;
• To provide informal platform for knowledge exchange and sharing experiences among two regions;
• To transform the outcomes of our programmes into inputs actionable for Asia-Europe policy dialogue;
• To disseminate the outcomes of the department project activities to relevant stakeholders 

Our Work

The current focus areas of the Sustainable Development & Public Health Section include:

Sustainable Development

• Asia-Europe Environment Forum (ENVforum): A platform for exchange between Asia and Europe on achieving sustainable development through research, knowledge hub and outreach events.
  The latest publication of the project is available here.
• Asia-Europe Energy Policy Forum: A project discussing Asia’s and Europe’s current energy- and climate-related policies as well as future developments in policy and practice.

Public Health

• ASEF Public Health Network: A multi-sector and multi-level platform between Asia and Europe for public health policy dialogue.
  The latest publication of the project is available here.

Team Members

• Ms Grazyna PULAWSKASenior Project Manager
• Ms Riko KIMOTOProject Manager
• Ms Nur A’in A RAZAK Project Officer
• Ms Kareena Bharat SAMTANIProject Officer

• Ms Grazyna PULAWSKA

  Senior Project Manager
  

  Grazyna Pulawska joined ASEF in February 2010. She is responsible for the Asia-Europe Environment Forum programme, which aims to strengthen co-operation between Asian and European stakeholders in the field of environmental and sustainable development.

  Grazyna worked for the Ministry of Economy in Poland, working in the field of regional development. She has also been active in the NGO sector, mainly with the Service Civil International network in Belgium and the Development Wheel, a Bangladesh-based NGO specialising in supporting local entrepreneurship and fair trade.

  She received her Master's degree in International Relations through a joint programme between the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the Warsaw School of Economics.

• Ms Riko KIMOTO

  Project Manager
  

  Riko KIMOTO, a Japanese national, joined ASEF in April 2016, and she leads ASEF Public Health Network. Prior to joining ASEF, she has gained extensive field NGO/volunteer experience in Latin America, collaborating with the local/international agencies such as Ministry of Health and UNHCR, dealing with a wide range of issues related to health. Other than the Americas, she also worked in Africa as a project supervisor for hospital management. Since she has lived much of her adult life in countries other than her own including Haitian Batey (village) in rural Dominican Republic, she became very capable of adapting to different cultures and lifestyles, and enjoys it. 

  Riko has a Bachelor of Nursing degree from Australian Catholic University, and she is a qualified nurse with several years of clinical experience. She then obtained her Master’s degree in International Public Health (MIPH) from University of Queensland. For MIPH, she conducted her research in Mexico, and her article has been published on a professional journal afterwards.

• Ms Nur A’in A RAZAK

  Project Officer
  

  Nur A'in A RAZAK joined ASEF's Political and Economic Department in August 2017 as a Project Officer.

  She received her Bachelor of Social Science degree, with a double major in Political Science and Public Policy and Public Management, from Singapore Management University. Prior to joining ASEF, she worked with the Singapore Committee for UN Women in supporting various international initiatives seeking to improve the lives of women and girls in Asia and the Pacific region. Her interests include social innovation, sustainable development, and social justice. She aspires to shape policies that would help create better realities.

  If not immersed in books or her cat, Nur A'in occasionally spends her leisure time trekking. Being a nature and travel enthusiast, she dreams of embarking on multi-day hikes around the world.

• Ms Kareena Bharat SAMTANI

  Project Officer
  

  Kareena Bharat SAMTANI joined ASEF's Sustainable Development and Public Health Department in March 2019 as a Project Officer.

  Kareena received her Bachelor's degree in Social Science from Singapore Management University, where she majored in Political Science. She then went on to complete her Master of Science in International Relations from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, with a Certificate in Terrorism Studies.

  In addition to her academic achievements, Kareena has interned in the civil service, especially at the grassroots level. She also has experience in strategic and public communications, which she hopes can bring value to ASEF and its work. Kareena's interests lie in Sustainable Development and Public Health. She aspires to be part of game-changing policy making that can improve the lives of people. In addition to her academic achievements, Kareena has interned in the civil service, especially at the grassroots level. Kareena's interests lie in Human Rights and Sustainable Development. She aspires to be part of game-changing policymaking that can improve the lives of people.