Cover Deepali Khanna, head of Asia, The Rockefeller Foundation
Deepali Khanna, head of Asia, The Rockefeller Foundation
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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
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 people living closest to the world’s toughest challenges are often best placed to solve them,” she notes. “The fellowship is our way of supporting such leaders, giving them the platform and resources to scale solutions already transforming their communities.” 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.
Consider Anusha Meher Bhargava, who is building an open-source platform with Tech4Good Community to help conservationists safeguard biodiversity with real-time data. Or Aafreen Siddiqui, who is catalysing collective action through Our Common Air to combat air pollution for better public health and economic growth. In Indonesia, Mustika Wijaya deploys solar-powered water systems with Solar Chapter to strengthen food security for rural communities, while in Nepal, Uttam Pudasaini harnesses geospatial analytics at Naxa to deliver early warnings before climate disasters strike.
“Our current cohort—and all who applied—gave us immense confidence that Asia’s next chapter of impact is already being written,” Khanna says. “These fellows are not only responding to challenges but confronting them head-on.”
The Asia-Pacific launch follows earlier cohorts in Latin America, the Caribbean and the US. In Colombia, Marcela Angel expanded a community-based landslide forecasting tool into a broader climate risk platform. In Panama, Avriel Díaz developed scalable budget forecasting for climate-sensitive diseases. These precedents, Khanna says, show how community-led leadership can deliver systemic change when properly supported.
The fellowship spans four months of immersive programming, from equipping fellows with the leadership mindset and skill sets needed for driving meaningful systemic impact to focused time with peers, mentors and experts to accelerate solutions. Highlights include convenings at the Foundation’s historic Bellagio Center in Italy. This August, the Asia-Pacific fellows joined their US counterparts there, bringing diverse perspectives into dialogue. Khanna describes Bellagio as “a space where fellows could sharpen their vision, but also learn from one another—how local insights, when exchanged across geographies, can spark global inspiration”.
The Foundation’s role, she says, is catalytic. “We help create platforms and networks that fellows might not otherwise access, from international stakeholders at the UN General Assembly to regionally rooted mentors across Asia. We also invest in capacity building—sometimes learning how to communicate your idea effectively to different audiences can determine whether it gains support or loses attention.”
At its core, the fellowship is about instilling a “Big Bets mindset”, an orientation towards systemic transformation rather than incremental change. “We take fellows out of their day-to-day operations and ask: what would it take for your work to drive truly transformative impact?” Khanna says.
The launch also coincides with significant shifts in Asia: the rise of philanthropists and family offices, as well as regional foundations stepping forward as leaders. “[They are] increasingly designing high-impact solutions, while international funders play a supporting role,” she observes. “That is how it should be—the Global South must take leadership.”
Singapore, she notes, exemplifies this trend. With its government- backed ecosystem, rising family offices, and platforms such as the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, it has become a hub for catalytic capital. While no fellows this year hail from Singapore, its institutions and mentors remain integral to the programme’s success.
As Senior Editor of Tatler Singapore, Hashirin champions and refines the storytelling across platforms—curating and crafting compelling profiles, cover stories and features that spotlight visionaries shaping culture, business and impact. Driven by curiosity, she draws inspiration from the artists, changemakers and trailblazers she encounters through her work. Beyond the pages of Tatler, she is an avid supporter of local theatre and delights in seeking out art in every city she visits.
