The Board of Trustees of the ASEAN Foundation has recently approved the project proposed by AIT entitled "Capacity Building in Poverty Mapping in the ASEAN Member Countries" in the amount of US$ 367,489, under the auspices of the project proposals initiated by the Government of Japan. The main objective of the project is to provide the best practical knowledge to appropriate agencies/personnel in the region to utilize spatial technology together with statistical model to prepare high-resolution poverty map for socio-economic development in the region. According to Prof. Said Irandoust, AIT President, this is very timely and in line with AIT efforts to engage with ASEAN serving as a development tool for capacity building in the region.
The main proponents of the project are Dr. Lal Samarakoon, Director, Geoinformatics Center at AIT; Dr. Junichi Susaki, former Visiting Assistant Professor, and Dr. Manzul Hazarika, Senior Research and Training Specialist, Geoinformatics Center at AIT.