The Philippines’ ASEAN 2026 Initiative. May 20-21, 2026 online event
The Manila initiated regional conference completed successfully. It is at a time when the Philippines assumes the Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2026, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) faces a strategic imperative: to transition the narrative of poverty alleviation from “social welfare” to inclusive economic integration.
The conference theme was “Navigating the Future: The Social and Solidarity Economy as a Driver of ASEAN Prosperity”
This conference served as the Philippines’ official launchpad for the ASEAN Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) SDG Roadmap (2026–2030), in line with UN resolutions recognizing SSE as a key driver for inclusive and sustainable development.
The initiative brought together over 200 top executives, policy leaders, ASEAN sectoral body representatives, and international SSE practitioners to align regional stakeholders and mobilize commitments for transformative change. This was over a two-day online exchange.
In this conference there were eight panel discussions which was hosted over the two days with about 35 speakers from over 10 countries.
Subject experts led these panels addressing the most critical dimensions of the SSE-SDG agenda.
The Eight Panel:
Panel 1: Public, Private & Civil Society Partnership in Building the SSE Ecosystem
Panel 2: ASEAN SDG-SSE Roadmap 2026–2030: Components & Stakeholder Mobilization
Panel 3: Achievements & Impact of Poverty Reduction Programs: Country Experiences
Panel 4: Innovations in Financing for Social and Solidarity Economy Entities
Panel 5:- Conducive Public Policies for Strengthening the Social Solidarity Economy
Panel 6: SSE, the SDGs, and the Care Economy: Drawing Connections for an Enabling Policy Environment
Panel 7: Innovations in Social Impact Assessment of SSE Entities
Panel 8: Way Forward: Future Direction of Partnerships in Advancing the ASEAN SSE-SDG Roadmap
Video Recordings:
The first video is Panel 1: Partnership in Building the SSE Ecosystem
The panel had two moderators namely Ms. Aude Saldana (Secretary General, Global Social and Solidarity Economy Forum- GSEF) and Mr. Young Kim (Executive Director, Association of Korean Local Governments for Social Economy and Solidarity- SSEGOV). Panel speakers: Dr. Bayu Krisnamurthi (Indonesia), Ms. Nur Farah Ara (Malaysia) & Prof. Carlo S. Sagun (Philippines)
The second video is Panel 2: ASEAN SDG-SSE Roadmap 2026–2030: This panel was moderated by Ms Zoel Ng (Malaysia) and with panellist like Dr Eri of ASEC from Indonesia and Dr Victor an academic partner from Bangkok
