Jerry Spivack
Chairman of International Affairs, Kochi Konther Asar USA
About us
International Leadership
Beyond Bangladesh
What the organization’s presence abroad consists of
Kochi Konther Asar USA has been a New York non-profit since 2000, and the organization now works across five regions of the world. A Chairman of International Affairs leads that expansion, goodwill ambassadors have lent their voices to it, and a collaboration with UNICEF connects it to the wider movement for children. The organization’s trustees are introduced in full on the Leadership Team page.
- Five geographic regions — the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East
- A reach that now extends to more than thirty-three countries
- Collaboration with UNICEF and other international child-focused organizations
- The board of trustees is introduced in full on the Leadership Team page
Where it reaches
The five geographic regions where it works
- Americas
- Europe
- Asia
- Africa
- Middle East
Across these five regions the organization’s work now reaches more than thirty-three countries. Anchored by its headquarters in Dhaka and New York, it partners with communities, cultural institutions and child-focused organizations wherever children need a voice — and its reach continues to grow.
Who has represented it
The Chairman of International Affairs, and two goodwill ambassadors
These three have carried Kochi Konther Asar’s name into the wider world — leading its international expansion, opening doors for its work abroad, and lending their voices to its causes so that children far from Dhaka and New York are heard just the same.
International affairs
Goodwill ambassadors
Aishwarya Rai
World Ambassador, 2002
Nora Ali
Ambassador, 2007–2008
Each ambassador served in the years shown, lending their profile to the causes children care about most — from public health to climate change. Their service remains a proud chapter in the organization’s international story, and the door is always open to new voices willing to stand up for children.
Where the reach is anchored, and how it grew
The work is anchored on two continents. In the Americas, Kochi Konther Asar USA is headquartered in Jackson Heights, New York, formally established on 23 February 2000 as a New York State registered nonprofit corporation. In Asia, Kendrio Kochi Konther Asar is headquartered in Dhaka, with outreach extending to other Asian countries. From those two anchors the work has spread into Europe, Africa and the Middle East, carried by communities and partners who share the organization’s commitment to children.
Today that reach extends across more than thirty-three countries. Along the way the organization has collaborated with UNICEF and with other international child-focused non-governmental organizations on global child welfare initiatives — partnerships that turn a national children’s movement into part of a worldwide effort for every child’s education, protection and wellbeing.
The trustees behind the international work
One board of trustees guides the whole organization, and its members are introduced, with their backgrounds, on the Leadership Team page. Several of them bring international standing to the work — a former Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh, a former regulator now presiding over an environmental organization, and the founder-principal of one school who was formerly the principal of another — experience that serves the organization at home and abroad alike.
Rather than maintaining a separate international hierarchy, the organization’s teams in Bangladesh and the United States work as one family, coordinating closely on everything it does abroad. That keeps the international work accountable to the same trustees, the same values and the same mission that guide it at home, wherever in the world it stands beside children.
Looking outward
Five regions, thirty-three countries, one mission
Kochi Konther Asar’s international story began with children carrying Bangladesh’s songs onto festival stages abroad, and it has grown into a presence across five regions and more than thirty-three countries.
The organization intends that reach to keep growing: deepening its collaboration with UNICEF and other child-focused organizations, strengthening the bond between its teams in Bangladesh and the United States, and welcoming new ambassadors, coordinators and partners in every region where children need a champion. Its international work is held to the same standard as its work at home — one board, one mission, and a commitment that wherever the organization stands, it stands beside children.
More about us
The other pages in this section
Our Story
How the organization came to exist: founded in Dhaka in 1976, patronised by four Bangladeshi presidents, incorporated in New York in 2000.
Mission & Vision
The vision and mission that guide Kochi Konther Asar — stated from its two homes in Bangladesh and the United States, side by side.
Make impact that genuinely matters
Together we empower underprivileged communities through education, care, opportunity, and long-term sustainable support.