Post by Arshad Malik

I A very meaningful day at our 4 December "Re-imagining Future of Children in Asia - Donor & Partner Forum" in Bangkok. The discussions, energy and collaboration throughout the day showed how much is possible when governments, donors, regional bodies, philanthropy, the private sector and civil society come together with a shared purpose: shaping a better future for children in Asia. Across the agenda, we moved through some of the region’s most urgent themes. We opened with a high-level dialogue on the future of children in Asia, before exploring the role of Muslim countries and Islamic financing, the need to scale child-centred climate adaptation, the realities of protracted crises in Afghanistan, Myanmar and the Rohingya response, and finally the potential of public–private partnerships to drive sustainable change. Each session offered honest reflections and practical ideas we can build on. A special moment of the day was the signing of two important MoUs: 1. Save the Children x ADPC MoU – a commitment to deepen our collaboration on disaster preparedness, early warning systems and child-centred resilience across Asia. This partnership brings together ADPC’s regional expertise and our child-focused programming footprint to strengthen resilience at scale. 2. MoU with National Partners – recognising and formalising our work with locally led organisations across Asia who are at the heart of community-level change. These partnerships reflect our commitment to localisation and to supporting local leadership as a central pillar of how we work. We were also joined by Ramesh Singh , who enriched the discussions with his insights and long experience in the region. Grateful for his online presence and thoughtful contributions. Another highlight was the Marketplace of Innovation, where our country teams showcased practical, home-grown solutions across education, health, climate resilience and child protection. The creativity and leadership on display were inspiring. Throughout the day, one message kept coming up: Asia is changing fast. Crises are becoming more protracted, climate shocks more frequent, and inequalities deeper. But the willingness to collaborate and innovate is stronger than ever. Thank you to all ambassadors and diplomatic colleagues, government colleagues, UN agencies, INGOs, private-sector partners, philanthropic organisations and our own teams for the engagement and generosity you brought to the Forum. Your ideas and commitment will shape the next steps as we work toward smarter, more sustainable and locally led impact for children. Luke Ebbs Muhammad Khuram Gondal Tara Chettry Abdurahman Sharif Le Wang @le huong Helen Wallis Gabriella Waaijman Shumon (Suman) Sengupta Sayed Mahmood Pacha Shams Melkamu Kassa Ahmed K. Andrés Conde Solé Taskin Rahman Julian Chellappah Gul Mohammad Aryan Nasrat Khalid South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Thamindri De Silva Romina Khursheed Alam Qatar Charity