Philanthropy and Law in South Asia, co-edited by APPC Chair Iftekhar Zaman and Professor Mark Sidel of the University of Iowa, is to be published by APPC this month. The book will be promoted publicly in various presentations between November and December, and finally launched in early 2005 in South Asia’s capitals.

A companion volume to APPC’s Philanthropy and Law in Asia (published in 1999), it aims to provide a better understanding of the non-profit legal and regulatory environment in five South Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As the editors remark, the state and the non-profit sector are involved in complex, long-term battles over various aspects of sector regulation – from organizational form to fiscal policy and governance and accountability – in each of these countries. The book provides benchmarks that could serve as a platform for non-profit legal advocacy efforts at the national, regional and international levels.

The Governing Council members, assisted by country authors, will lead the presentations and launches in their various countries. Iftekhar Zaman will lead the launch in Dhaka; Priya Viswanath (Charities Aid Foundation India) in New Delhi; Noshir Dadrawala (Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy) in Mumbai and also in Sri Lanka; and Shahnaz Wazir Ali (Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy) in Islamabad. In Sri Lanka and Nepal, The Asia Foundation will anchor the activities. Guest speakers Mark Sidel and Rory Tolentino, APPC Executive Director, will be making the rounds of the launches.

In addition to the book, a CD-ROM will be available, containing the contents of the first volume as well, which covered ten East and South East Asian countries: Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

APPC sincerely thanks its donors – the Ford, Himalaya, Myer, Rockefeller and Asia Foundations – for their support of the PALISA project.

For more information about the book, the CD-ROM or APPC, email the APPC Secretariat at appcpost@yahoo.com or contact Rory Tolentino, Executive Director, at roryappc@pldtdsl.net

APPC
Rm 208, Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs, Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Road, Quezon City, Philippines.
Tel +632 426 6001 (local 4645)
Tel/fax +632 426 1427 (direct line)
Email: appcpost@yahoo.com
Website http://www.asianphilanthropy.org