Alongsiders International is now incorporated in Singapore. We chose Singapore as an ideal place to establish our initial legal foundations for a number of key reasons.
Firstly, Alongsiders was birthed in Asia rather than the West. From the beginning we have focused on empowering local leadership from within Asia, and in the future from throughout the developing world. So it only seems right that we would establish a headquarters in Asia rather than in North America.
Singapore holds a key position in the region, as a well-established developed country, with the kind of robust legal and financial infrastructure needed to host an international organization. Though we are about catalyzing movements rather than establishing institutions, we still need secure legal and financial foundations to strengthen the work we do.
Singapore is blessed with resources that we hope can be mobilized to enrich the lives of their poorer neighbors. It is a short plane ride from anyplace in South East Asia. For example, Singapore has a highly educated population that can travel quickly and easily in the region to "train trainers" within the Alongsiders movement.
Finally, Singapore is well connected with Cambodia, where Alongsiders started 9 years ago. Our international leadership team is now based in Cambodia working together with the leadership of Alongsiders Cambodia to establish movements to reach the world's most vulnerable children throughout Asia and beyond.