Deeply dedicated to empowering change in Asia Pacific

Since 2016, Deutsche Bank has been working with Swades Foundation in India to preserve biodiversity in the rural communities of Maharashtra and conserve water resources. Farmers often struggle to make a living due to the lack of water for irrigation.

The installation of drip irrigation systems that transfer rainwater to farmlands, powered by solar pumps, allows these farmers to grow crops year-round, improving land use and providing a better standard of living for the farmers and their families. The systematic recycling of rainwater also replenishes water resources in a region increasingly affected by climate change. These efforts have raised groundwater levels through sustainable water management.

As highly proficient filter feeders, oysters and other shellfish help to remove pollutants from water, while the complex structures of shellfish reefs act as habitat for other species and as physical barriers that reduce wave energy and protect coastlines from storm surges. Many of Hong Kong’s shellfish reefs have been destroyed due to coastal development and pollution.

As part of Deutsche Bank’s CSR environment pillar, we work in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), contributing to their reef restoration programme in Hong Kong.

Many young people from financially vulnerable families in India are forced to begin working at an early age to help with household finances, sacrificing their education in the process. These jobs are generally physically demanding, unsafe, and poorly paid. Despite their best efforts, the income is never enough to provide financial stability for themselves or their families. This continues even as they grow to adulthood because without proper education and qualifications, they can only obtain low paid daily wage jobs that do not offer job security or long-term growth.

In collaboration with Masoom, Deutsche Bank is supporting the operations of night schools and evening learning centres, as well as fees for short‑term skilling courses to encourage working adults to complete their formal education.

The Masoom pathway also offers these working adults access to structured career guidance and goal planning. Through counselling, they receive help to map their interests to potential jobs and careers. This critical intervention empowers them to support their families safely, with dignity, and plan for the future.

Education helps communities achieve lasting financial security.

In India, many persons with disabilities long for independence and a stable income but finding a job can feel overwhelming. Even when they secure interviews, hope often turns to disappointment as communication barriers and repeated rejections erode their confidence. In a country full of opportunity, they are too often made to feel invisible.

Deutsche Bank partners with Sarthak Educational Trust to support their programme to equip Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) with the skills they need to join the workforce. Through accessible, expert-led training aligned to their interests, participants gain industry‑ready skills – including soft skills and digital skills – and are placed in inclusive jobs across IT, retail, marketing, hospitality, and e-commerce. The aim: to help PwDs build sustainable, empowered careers.

In a small public school in Cagayan de Oro, 12-year-old Maico struggled to read until a Teach for the Philippines Fellow introduced daily reading circles. Within six months, he proudly read his first story aloud — a small victory that captures the power of investing in teachers and children together, and a reminder that when given the right support, every child can learn and thrive. 

Deutsche Bank is partnering with Teach for the Philippines (TFP) to train and deploy 10 Teacher Fellows who will reach 3,000 students in public schools across the country.  

TFP’s Fellowship Programme recruits and trains promising individuals to teach for two years in public schools before placing them in government agencies working in education. 

Grounded in firsthand experience serving diverse and underserved communities, TFP’s model combines close coaching, mentorship, and communities of practice to build credible, principled leaders capable of transforming education from within. 

The goal is to build a long-term pipeline of education leaders while directly strengthening student learning outcomes, giving children from underserved communities a strong start in life and helping break cycles of poverty and inequity. 

Through the introduction of climate-smart agriculture practices in Dausa, Rajasthan, India, Deutsche Bank and Centre for microFinance (CmF) aim to strengthen capacities of women farmers to increase their incomes while ensuring the sustainability of soil and water resources. This initiative includes providing 4,000 women farmers with technical and financial support to implement micro irrigation technologies and set up sustainable supply chains.

Many women farmers depend on traditional farming practices and livestock for survival. Vulnerability to climate events like monsoons, declining soil fertility, inefficient irrigation leading to excessive water use, heavy dependence on chemical fertilisers and firewood; all result in low and unstable incomes. Sustaining their families has become increasingly difficult.

The introduction of climate-smart agricultural interventions like drip irrigation, mulching, organic nutrient management and non-chemical pest control practices have transformed their farms and improved the quality of life of their families. Biogas plants, for example, convert animal dung and crop residues into nutrient-rich natural fertilisers and clean cooking energy. Without the use of chemical fertilisers, soil health improves and the women can begin to diversify their crops. They reduce their expenses and increase their incomes. The families no longer have to spend hundreds of hours a year collecting firewood for cooking - a physically demanding activity largely carried out by women.

Well-designed climate-smart agricultural interventions protect farmland and transform vulnerable communities into resilient and economically secure ones; offering a scalable model for sustainable rural livelihoods.

The Orang Asli are the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia and for generations, they have called the forest their home. To the Orang Asli, the forest is not only an important source of food and shelter but also the foundation of their culture and essence of their identity. Today, both the Orang Asli and their forests are under threat from deforestation and unsustainable land development. 

Deutsche Bank has partnered with Global Peace Foundation Malaysia to help the Orang Asli combat biodiversity loss in their forests through the introduction of syntropic agroforestry, a regenerative farming method that enhances, rather than depletes, natural ecosystems. Unlike conventional farming, which often leads to soil degradation and loss of biodiversity, syntropic agroforestry mimics the complex interrelationships found in natural forests. It involves the strategic planting of various species – trees, shrubs and crops – in a way that promotes symbiosis and mutual support. This allows for soil health improvement and a diverse range of plants to grow and thrive in harmony with each other, aligning with the indigenous community’s cultural values as custodians of the land. 

By providing training, on-site mentorship, tools, and seedlings, the programme empowers villagers to grow diverse crops sustainably, improving both food security and income. Since adopting syntropic agroforestry practices, villagers now earn significantly more while cultivating a variety of nutritious produce that includes lemongrass, cassava, corn, okra, chili pepper, pineapple, banana, soursop, coconut and durian. This income has brought significant improvements to their quality of life.

This initiative is not just a local success—it offers a global blueprint for sustainable development and harmony between people and nature.

Roots of change: fighting biodiversity loss in Malaysia