Founded by Dutch Scheutist priest, Fr Francis Senden, the Asian Social Institute is a Catholic-inspired graduate school in Manila focusing on training future church leaders in the field of social development.
With a focus on justice, peace and integrity of creation in its approach, ASI has three interacting departments - Academe, Social Development, and Research, Communication and Publication.
As a "school of transformative praxis", the Institute aims "to contribute to an experientially and a culturally based theory of social transformation, giving importance to people and their essential relationships as well as to the creation of a social climate which enables persons to achieve their full human potentials".
According to the ASI website, the Academe integrates theory and practice, while the Social Development Department grounds the students' learning in marginal communities through ASI's Action Subsidiaries - Family Center, Urban Community Desk, Tent School, Diocesan Accompaniment, Youth Accompaniment, ASI Enterprise Center and its NGO networks. The Research, Communication and Publication Department provides for relevant approaches to communicating transformative ideas.
http://www.asinet-online.org/