Interconnected megatrends are reshaping development in Asia and beyond: climate change, health risks, ageing populations, rapid urbanisation, social fragmentation and AI. Challenges this complex outpace interventions designed in isolation.

In this joint working paper, UNDP and Temasek Trust explore how philanthropy can better support inclusive development in Asia through a systems- and portfolio-based approach.

The paper proposes a new role for philanthropy: beyond funding projects to organising capital around systems and the conditions that help people and societies thrive through uncertainty and disruption. In practice, that means building portfolios of connected interventions that reinforce one another. These portfolios hold a direction while discovering the path with partners, scale learning rather than just projects, and use early, risk-tolerant capital to draw in larger public and private investment. The paper draws lessons from over 100 countries where UNDP has been testing systems- and portfolio-based approaches, highlighting examples from the Philippines, Nepal and Senegal, alongside Temasek Foundation's work in Singapore.

The paper calls on philanthropy to:

• Move from funding service delivery to stewarding system shifts
• Intervene where systems meet for integrated action
• Mobilise capital differently to enable scaled and sustained impact
• Invest in the capacity to learn while doing