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The Asia Foundation Names Dr. Adam Burke Conflict and Fragility Director

San Francisco and Yangon, November 1, 2018 — The Asia Foundation announces the appointment of Dr. Adam Burke as director of the Conflict and Fragility program. Burke is a distinguished specialist in conflict, peacebuilding and development, and worked in conflict prevention efforts across Southeast and South Asia for nearly 20 years. As director, Burke will oversee a program that works to strengthen and enhance access to formal and informal institutions that can help resolve disputes, reduce grievances, advance social justice, address the root causes of conflict and violence, and reduce the risk of fragility in the region.

Burke recently served as lead researcher and author of The Asia Foundation’s 2017 report, Contested Areas of Myanmar: Subnational Conflict, Aid and Development. Other notable assignments for the Foundation include an independent evaluation of programs in conflict-affected areas in southern Thailand and an analysis of the development trajectory of Malaysia and Thailand as Advanced Middle-Income Countries.

Burke has undertaken a variety of projects for the United Kingdom, the United Nations, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. His most recent assignments have been an assessment for the ADB on the risks associated with reconstruction following the 2017 siege of Marawi, Mindanao; and context analysis for the UN in support of efforts to counter communal violence in Sri Lanka. He has also researched approaches to political risk in East Asia for the World Bank; given technical guidance on DFID’s peacebuilding strategy in Nepal; and provided technical support to the UK Government for the development of a post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization strategy for Pakistan.

Since 2014, Burke has focused attention on subnational conflicts in Myanmar, including a role as the conflict adviser to the $400 million, multi-donor funded Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT); conflict assessment of World Bank community-driven development initiatives; and scenario planning in Rakhine State for a coordinating group of UN heads of agency. Burke holds an honors undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford and two graduate degrees from the University of London School for Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS)—a master’s degree in the Anthropology of Development and doctoral degree in Development Studies focused on Thailand’s southern conflict.

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia. Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, our programs address critical issues affecting Asia in the 21st century—governance and law, economic development, women’s empowerment, environment, and regional cooperation.

Read more about the Foundation’s work in Conflict and Fragility.

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Related locations: Myanmar, San Francisco
Related programs: Conflict and Fragile Conditions

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