Bold New Futures

Deepali Khanna, who leads The Rockefeller Foundation in Asia, reflects on how the region's innovators are uniquely positioned to reimagine solutions for the world's most urgent challenges

- By Hashirin Nurin Hashimi

Asia today is a region of striking contrasts. Home to more than half of the world’s population, it is where the pressures of our time converge: climate change, inequality and rapid urbanisation. Yet, alongside these challenges lies extraordinary potential.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, changemakers are drawing on lived experiences and local knowledge to pioneer solutions deeply rooted in their communities.

It is this energy and promise that led The Rockefeller Foundation to launch its Big Bets Fellowship in the region in June. For Deepali Khanna, its head of Asia, the leadership programme recognises that transformation begins on the ground and, when nurtured, can grow into something that inspires change.

The 12 fellows, who are working across 27 countries, address urgent priorities ranging from ecological conservation in India and solar-powered water systems in Indonesia, to hyper-local climate warnings in Nepal. Each brings a distinctive vision, united by what Khanna calls “the pairing of imagination with execution”. What sets them apart, she adds, is their ability to turn lived experience into scalable innovation.