The Dutch Scheutist Catholic Missionary, Rev. Dr. Francis Senden, CICM, founded the Asian Social Institute, with a view to create a learning environment for graduate students to understand comprehensively socio-cultural realities; reflect on these realities in the light of Christian Social teachings; act on them in a way that they will be able to facilitate change while they themselves grow in the process. This is the leadership formation that has been on-going in ASI.
The evolution and growth of the Institute has been a spontaneous response to the needs of developing countries. Supportive of the initiatives of his collaborators, Fr. Francis Senden facilitated their ideas of expansion, based on their assessment of the demands and expectations of the external social environment.