This web site is funded by the Bangkok Regional Office of the Rockefeller Foundation as part of the initiative focusing on the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), an area encompassing the watershed of the Mekong River and including Cambodia, Lao P.D.R., Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China's Yunnan province.

Rapid economic integration and uneven development within this ethnically diverse region have given rise to inequities—both between and across countries—that have become increasingly articulated as “boundaries,” encompassing not only conventional geo-political borders but the very real boundaries of gender, ethnic and religious identity.

The "Learning Across Boundaries" (LAB) initiative aims to enable people and institutions in the GMS to “learn across boundaries” in developing new knowledge and effective responses to the many cross-border and cross-cultural challenges in their sub-region. A three-part grant-making strategy funds efforts to:

• Create better understanding of trans-boundary trends and impacts on the lives and livelihoods of the poor and excluded communities in the GMS.
• Build collaborative regional capacity to address trans-boundary challenges.
• Find common ground and build trust among diverse groups and societies in the sub-region.

These various programs will be profiled here. The LAB web site is meant to provide a venue for the funded organizations to present their work to other interested parties enabling them to share relevant experiences and lessons with a wider constituency.