About the Conference

Rationale

No homegrown and sustained regional platform previously existed for various segments of the emerging social enterprise sector and their support institutions to come together to dialogue, co-create, articulate and pursue a common agenda for transformation. The United Nations-led post 2015 development agenda building process provides an opportunity for the sector to assert a significant role in poverty eradication and transforming economies towards sustainable development in the region.

The Social Enterprise Advocacy and Leveraging Conference in Asia (SEAL-Asia) hoped to catalyze this platform building effort at the regional level and it did.  This first Conference brought together some 100 leaders from 60 social entrepreneurship practitioner organizations, networks and resource institutions from key countries in Asia, scholars doing research on social entrepreneurship in the region, and resource persons from the business sector and government under the theme “Transforming Economies through Social Entrepreneurship: Towards a Post 2015 Development Agenda”. It was largely made possible by a strategic partnership between ISEA and Oxfam GB Asia with additional grants provided by the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) and the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI).

The Conference will convene every 2 years to ensure that this social enterprise sectoral agenda building process at the regional level undergoes a continuing process of evaluation, adaptation and innovation. The second SEAL Conference is slated to be held at Bali, Indonesia in 2016 with Bina Swadaya-Indonesia as host.

Objectives

To effectively support the sector as a major player in addressing poverty, inequality and sustainable development in the region, the Conference aimed to:

  1. Assess the state, role, potentials and challenges of the emerging social enterprise sector as a major player in poverty reduction, transforming economies, women economic empowerment and sustainable development in Asia;
  2. Define an agenda to overcome these challenges and to effectively pursue such articulated role and potentials;
  3. Explore how the emerging social enterprise sector could work together to face the challenges of disaster risk reduction-climate change adaptation (DRR-CCA);
  4. Define an agenda for engaging government and the business sector to recognize and support the social enterprise sector as a major partner in a post-2015 agenda towards eradicating poverty, transforming economies, achieving gender equality and sustainable development; and
  5. Share perspectives, experiences and insights to enrich each other’s understanding and practice of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise development in Asia.

Organizing Committee


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