The Asian Solidarity Economy Forum (ASEF), which began in 2007, aims to provide a platform for asian organizations and businesses to share their social and solidarity economy (SSE) initiatives that prioritize people and the planet over profit. SSE is a viable path to sustainable development, in particular for the reconstruction of economies in the context and aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
ASEF’22 comes at an opportune time, as the 110th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC), held from 27 May to 11 June 2022, adopted a resolution that urges member governments, inter alia, to value the local roots of the SSE and its contribution to both well-established and innovative solutions to provide decent work opportunities and meet the needs of disadvantaged groups and people in vulnerable situations, especially women, including in rural areas; and develop an inclusive, integrated and gender-sensitive approach to the promotion of SSE, including for groups in vulnerable situations, recognising the value of care and unpaid work.
Under the title “Creating spaces of convergence for the builders of the SSE community in Asia”,ASEF 22 aims to broaden awareness and deepen understanding of how SSE entities develop inclusive, integrated and gender-sensitive approaches to sustainable development; and to strengthen networks of “SSE community builders” at national and local levels. Each participant will be encouraged to actively participate in one to three planned spaces:
Workshop 1: The SSE course is a basic introduction to the theory and practice of the social and solidarity economy (SSE). The ASEF workshop will examine the outline of the course and deliberate on why the SSE course is important for civil servants, businessmen, cooperatives, NGOs and social enterprises.
Dr. Rosalinda Ofreneo; Mr. Paul Casuga.
Workshop 2: The Roadmap for the Development of Social Entrepreneurship (SEDR). Developed by Bayan Academy and launched at the Philippine Social Entrepreneurship Summit in November 2021, the SEDR is a strategic tool to build a common understanding of social enterprises and mobilize commitment to their development.
Mr. Carlo Sagun; Mr. John Xavier Francia.
Workshop 3: Climate Change and Environment (CEC). The workshop on climate change and the environment will address people’s initiatives in environmental conservation and building the resilience of local communities to climate change. It will present the experiences of community forest user groups in the protection, growth and benefits of Nepal’s forests.
Mr. Bhola Bhattarai; Mr. Kon Onn Sein.
Workshop 4: Transformative Social Protection (TRP). The PST workshop will address programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by reducing people’s exposure to risks and improving their ability to protect themselves from danger and income interruption/loss. He will present the safety net measures provided by Habitat for Humanity India for the poor in India.
Dr. Rajan Samuel; Mr. James Ryan Raj.
Workshop 5: Community Supported Production (PSC). Community-supported production has gained prominence with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, as people in quarantine areas have sought food from local producers. Two models of PSCs will be presented in this workshop: the women’s self-help groups of ASSEFA in India and the experience of Dew Crafts in Bangladesh.
Mr. Shah Abdus Salam, Mr. Kumar Loganathan, Mr. Ryan Joseph Marti.
Workshop 6 : SSE Financing and Mutual Insurance (IMF): Access to finance is important for the survival of start-ups as well as for the maintenance of growing companies. But there are serious constraints to the banking access of SSE organizations and companies, many of which are micro and small enterprises in terms of size. This workshop will present the experiences of Alalay Sa Kaunlaran Inc. (ASKI) in the financing of micro and small enterprises and in the facilitation of mutual insurance among poor households.
Ms. Emeteria Quijano; Mr. Junjay Perez; Ms. Thes Molino.
To register for ASEF’22, please email the ASEC Secretariat asecphilnet@gmail.com, providing the following information. The workshops will be in English without translation into French.
1. Full name (first name, last name)
2. Name of the organization
3. Designation
4. Email address
5. I would like to participate – please specify whether it is as a potential resource person or as a participant, and in a maximum of 3 convergences/workshops.
