The International Labour Organisation (ILO), Ministry of Employment and Labour of the Republic of Korea (MoEL), Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency (KoSEA), and Underdogs organized the capacity building workshop on Strengthening Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) Policy in Asia from 29th – 31st March 2021. The workshop was held virtually as part of the second component of the first phase project on Strengthening SSE Policy in Asia (2019-2021) by the ILO and MoEL. The first component which concluded in 2020 comprised a research study to map SSE organisations in six Asian countries- China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, and South Korea.
The main objectives of the workshop were to raise awareness about the role of cooperatives and wider SSE in realising inclusive and sustainable development, in the post-COVID-19 recovery and beyond; and to promote dialogue among constituents and key SSE stakeholders and increase their capacity in developing and strengthening SSE policies.
The three-day workshop focused on strategies and tools to promote the transition from the informal to the formal economy, decent work in the rural economy, and SSE organisations’ responses to the COVID-19 crisis and their role in the post-pandemic recovery. On the last day, participants engaged in an action planning exercise, where representatives from the six countries came together in national groups to develop concrete action plans on SSE tailored to their specific national contexts. The summary report of the workshop by the ILO can be accessed here.
Participants in the workshop were representatives of employers, workers, governments, practitioners and leaders in the SSE movement, and researchers from six countries included in the first phase of the project. ICA-AP Regional Director Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer and Programme Officer Ms. Simren Singh were joined in the workshop by Mr. Osamu Nakano from Japan Workers' Co-operative Union (JWCU) and Japan Co-operative Alliance (JCA), Japan; Ms. Juhee Lee from iCOOP, South Korea; Ms. Wang Man from the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (AFSMC), China; and Ms. Heira Hardiyanti from the Institute for Indonesian Cooperative Development Studies, Indonesia.
The second phase of the project on Strengthening SSE Policy in Asia will be launched in Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, and Cambodia later this year, according to the ILO.
