Founded as the "Sasakawa Southeast Asia Cooperation Fund" (SSACF) and known by that name for its first ten years, the fund initially targeted Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, the four countries in the process of making a transition into a market economy, and implemented projects that supported the social and economic reform of these countries. On receiving 2.5 billion yen in grant money from the Nippon Foundation for both the fiscal year 2001 and 2002, the Sasakawa Southeast Asia Cooperation Fund was renamed the Sasakawa Pan Asia Fund. The name "Pan Asia" derives from our strong determination to not only expand the area for funding, but by choosing not to narrow down the target regions, be fully prepared to respond to the rapidly changing international situation as necessary.

In pursuing this mandate, SPAF awards grants to NGOs and other operating organizations in support of a wide variety of projects conducted to promote development in Asia. It also implements its own projects in collaboration with counterpart NGOs in the region, which is unique among grant-making organizations in Japan.

DEVELOPMENT AND REGIONAL COOPERATION

Over its first five years, SPAF's program thrust was directed at advancing the economic transition underway in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, as SPAF considered "marketization" to be an essential step in the successful development of these countries. During that first phase of SPAF's operations, the Southeast Asia region enjoyed unprecedented economic growth, while Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam made remarkable progress in transforming their economies. Along with economic growth in these countries has evolved an even stronger demand for economic, security, and other forms of cooperation within the region.

The second phase of the program (1998-2002) coincided with the period in which the Southeast Asian countries were rapidly increasing the rate of regional cooperation following Vietnam's ASEAN membership, and the SPAF conducted its operations accordingly under the slogan "Development and Regional Cooperation". The fund may have changed its name, but its basic aims remain the same. The dawn of the 21st century has seen the emergence of negative aspects of globalism, such as increased incidents of international terrorism and organized crime. As a result, the traditional notion of security has collapsed from its very roots, drastically changing the state of world affairs. Taking this into account, the notion of "Development and Regional Cooperation", originally envisaged as being limited to the Southeast Asian regions, has not only expanded in scale, but has evolved into an advanced objective that must be accomplished within an increasingly complex context.