The 2017 Asia Policy Dialogue Outcome

Date of Publication: 
July 2017
Publication Type: 
Article/Policy paper

GSEF hosted the Asia Policy Dialogue 2017 (hereon APD 2017) from June 30 to July 1, 2017, at Seoul City Hall (Seosomun Complex) by inviting more than 60 participants from 16 different countries. The theme of APD 2017 was “Effective public policy design for fostering social economy as leverage for inclusive development in Asia.” APD 2017 was hosted as a back-to-back event immediately following the 8th ILO SSE Academy, and the dialogue created a platform for participants and speakers of the academy to have an in-depth conversation about the construction of SSE policies.

[Photo from Seoul Social Economy Center]

APD 2017 kicked off with the tour of SSE 10th Anniversary Expo at Seoul Square. This expo celebrated the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the SSE legal framework in Korea as well as Korea’s 'SSE Day (July 1st).’ Over 180 social businesses participated in the event, and this year's expo was the largest scale ever. Four sectors of SSE were presented at the event: community enterprise, cooperative, social enterprise and self-supportive enterprises. Furthermore, booths at the expo reflected 7 themes of the event (▲welfare ▲cultural art ▲environment ▲housing ▲education ▲food ▲Fair Trade&travel). The foreign participants of APD 2017, under the guidance of the SE guide, were given the opportunity to tour the facility and get to learn about the effect of SSE in the daily lives of Korean citizens.

On the second day of the event, July 1st, 2017, the official APD 2017 kicked off at Seosomun Complex. The event was organized broadly as a keynote address, panel discussion, and group case study session. Experts of SSE from across Asia discussed ways to establish and practice sustainable development strategies in Asia and shared their cases. Detailed information on APD 2017 will be updated on GSEF homepage later.

Ⅰ. Keynote Speech

Keynote Speech 1

Yi Ilcheong, UNRISD Senior Researcher

The framework of Asia SSE policy for inclusive growth

  Building Asia’s social solidarity economy policy structure based on SDGs:

1. Considering regional characteristics,  2. Prioritize according to each country’s priorities,  3. Include all classes,  4. Importance of establishing relationships between a civic organization and local government

Keynote Speech 2

Pascal Duforestel, Board Member of RTES

SSE alternative urban development model: Case of France

  1. History of SSE in France,  2. The case of Nouvelle Aquitaine - the impact of the legislation enacted in 2014, 

3. Risk of state change,  4. Plans

Ⅱ. Plenary Session 1 – Panel Discussion: SSE Alternative Urban Development Model – the Similarities and Differences in Asia

In Plenary Session 1, panellists from government, social enterprises, civic organizations, intermediary organization and workers' cooperative etc. were given the opportunity to introduce the efforts taken by his/her organization. 6 cases, all in relevance to 5 common questions, were presented. Topics in the discussion were: 1. Asia’s common agenda on development,  2. The meaning of SSE at the urban level,  3. Challenges of urban society and the role that SSE plays in overcoming these challenges,  4. Efforts taken by the organization that panellists are associated with took to overcome such challenges,  5 — partnership amongst organizations to ensure the most effective achievements of SSE.

CASE

ORGANISATION

NAME (TITLE)

MODERATOR

Seoul National University

Prof. Euiyoung Kim

SPEAKERS

THAILAND

TSEO (Thai Social Enterprise Office) 

Central Government affiliated

Nuttaphong Jaruwannaphong

(Director)

INDIA

GOONJ

 Social Enterprise

Anshu Gupta

(CEO)

PHILIPPINES

RIPESS

SSE Continental Network

Dr. Benjamin R. Quinones, Jr.

(President)

KOREA

Seoul Social Economy Center Municipality

Local Govt - Intermediary

Eunae Lee

(Executive Director)

HONGKONG

HKCSS  (Hong Kong Council of Social Service)

SSE Network - Intermediary

Anthony Wong

(Business Director)

JAPAN

Japan Workers Cooperative Union

Workers’ Union

Osamu Nakano

(Chief of International Relations)

Ⅲ. Plenary Session 2 – Panel Discussion: Innovative Cases of Resolving Urban Dilemma through SSE

The following plenary session gave the opportunity for each country to talk about the challenges and strategies to overcome such urban crisis through innovative socio-economic approaches. Speakers evenly represented gender and region (Korean-ASEAN-South Asian, etc.), which abled equal-representation of various nations and how social, economic methods were applied in these nations.

ROLE / AREA

THEME

ORGANISATION

NAME (TITLE)

DISCUSSANT

SIDI

Dominique Lesaffre

(President)

MODERATOR

University of Malaysia

Dr. Denison Jayasooria

(Principle Research Fellow)

SPEAKERS

Chandigarh

(India)

Urban Regeneration

(Housing)

Center for Research in Rural Industrial Development - CRRID

Dr. Manoj Kumar Teotia

(Assistant Professor)

Quezon

(Phillippines)

Social Enterprise

(Poverty, legal framework)

philSEN

Gomer Padong

(Development Cooperation and Advocacy Director)

Lahore

(Pakistan)

Social Services

(Women)

Homenet Pakistan

Ume Laila Azhar

(Director)

Seoul

(Korea)

Governance

(Participatory)

Yangchenon-gu

Dr. Soo Young Kim

(Mayor)

Depok

(Indonesia)

Environment

(Urban waste)

Institute for Economic and Social Research

Dr. Alin Halimatussadiah

(Head)

 

Ⅳ. Case Study

The last event of APD 2017 was a group case study. Case studies were based on real-life examples in Asia but were first presented to the participants anonymously. Through the case study, participants were given the opportunity to discuss solutions that would resolve the initial problem of each case. After the real case was revealed to the participants and they were then given the opportunity to compare their results to the actual case to come up with a new approach.

TOPIC

CASE CONTENTS

Employment

Employment creation for people with disability through social franchising 

The case of Dialogue in the Dark (Global)

Social Finance

A holistic approach to social finance

The case of BRAC Dairy (Pakistan)

Governance

Tackling homeless issue through community revitalization and the establishment of a participatory governance structure

The case of Kamagasaki (Japan)

Environment

Urban waste management through upcycling and social enterprise

The case of Payatas (Philippines)

Housing

Resolving urban housing issues through community living

The case of LightBe (Hong Kong)

Urban Regeneration

Urban regeneration through establishing the social economy special district, resolving gentrification issues

The case of Seongsu (Korea)

* All resources including panellists' presentation slides and case study materials are accessible here: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzxsfqQAp_mUeWRSdnZKVlVJX1k/view?usp=sharing

* Comprehensive APD 2017 report will be uploaded on GSEF homepage in the upcoming month