ISEA, UNESCAP host the third Social Enterprise Advocacy and Leveraging Asia Conference

The Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA) co-convened with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) a 2-day virtual conference dubbed as the Social Enterprise Advocacy and Leveraging Asia (SEAL Asia) Conference on September 16 to 17, 2020 via Zoom. This virtual conference is supported by Oxfam, Swedish Embassy in Bangkok under the GRAISEA Project and Japan Foundation Asia Center. 

Amid a backdrop of COVID-19 that is rolling back development progress in the areas of poverty reduction, healthcare, women empowerment, and food security, social enterprises in Asia, senior policy and business leaders convened to answer critical questions on how the ASEAN economy can build back fairer through social enterprises as pathways at the Third SEAL Asia Conference. 

Around 150 social enterprises, senior policy and finance leaders, academics, and civil society organizations gathered to discuss ways to mobilize policy, finance, and technology to enable recovery for social enterprises, as well as to put spotlight to best practices of social enterprises leading COVID-19 responses in health, local economy, and women empowerment in various countries across the Asian region. Some of the conference’s speakers were UNESCAP Executive Secretary Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Philippine government’s Agriculture secretary William Dar, Regional Director for Oxfam in Asia Lan Mercado, Francois Bonnici of Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, ISEA President Marie Lisa Dacanay, and many more…