AROSP2026 Ninth Biennial Meeting
A call for participation. ASEC is a member of this regional network
Dates: 23-26 Oct 2026
Venue: At the same location of APF2026, Quezon city
Objectives
To get to know and better understand each other (between existing and new members)
To strengthen AROSP members’ knowledge and capacity through sharing and training regarding social dialogues, climate justice, digital campaigning, financing on social protection, community led social protection practices for grassroots people (…)
To promote AROSP members leadership especially youth leadership and network for universal social protection
To build spirit and institutionalization of collective care for AROSP network
To review the AROSP 2026 strategic plan and update 2027-2028 Strategic Plan
To elect the AROSP steering committee, sub regional focal points and approval of new membership
To strengthen collaboration between AROSP with other regional platforms (APF, ect)
Tentative Program
Date | Draft Agenda |
23 Oct. 2026 | Getting to know and better understanding each other Apo memory Introduction and approval of new members Fee collection Collective care training |
24 Oct. 2026 | Climate Justice training: 2 minutes solidarity for Climate Justice to Nepal Youth initiative Community led social protection practices for grassroots people Award Ceremony Solidarity Dinner |
25 Oct. 2026 | Country sharing and discussion on fostering country collaboration Social Dialogue Tax justice and financing for social protection |
26 Oct. 2026 | AROSP steering committee election Membership rule: If applicants from non-Asia regions? membership fee’s usage rules Announce the election result and handover Review AROSP 2026 strategic plan and update 2027-2028 Strategic Plan |
Background Information on AROSP
The Asian Roundtable on Social Protection (AROSP), established in 2009, is a network of grassroots workers’ organisations, trade unions, NGOs, and scholars in Asia that work on the issues of formal and informal workers. AROSP serves as a platform to provide mutual help, facilitate information sharing, and help organisations build their understanding on social protection.
In the past meetings of the AROSP network, it carried the following agenda:
Basic principles of comprehensive social security (2009);
Asian minima in practice (2010);
Social assistance and minimum wage (2011);
Sharpening labour’s role in advancing social protection for all in Asia (2013);
Forging People’s Unity towards Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation (2016); and
Understanding Social Protection Trajectories in Asia for Building Capacity of the Marginalised Workers (2018).
In 2020, due to the COVID19 situation, we could not organise 7th AROSP biennial meeting. Instead, several AROSP members came up with research initiatives to quickly review their country i) COVID-19 impact on workers livelihood (HNN Nepal, CWE India, LIGHT Vietnam, IDEA Cambodia); and ii) COVID-19 responsive grassroots modalities (JAKERNAS Indonesia, CDI Vietnam), which were discussed and shared with AROSP and others through two sub regional AROSP webinars in 2021. During 2020-2021, several webinars at sub regional and international levels were jointly organised by AROSP members or between AROSP and other networks.
The 7th AROSP biennial meeting in 2022 includes 2 sessions. The virtual session focused on reviewing the AROSP work over the last 5 years, reviewing the context, further developing AROSP as a structured network of MWOs pushing for transformative social protection, and developing AROSP strategy for next 5 years 2022-2026 and an action plan for 2022. The physical session finalised and launched the AROSP working paper, and the AROSP strategy for next 5 years 2022-2026, and discussed the AROSP 2022 work plan.
In the 8th AROSP biennial meeting, jointly organized by the AROSP-CT plus during 1-3 April, 2024 in BKK, Thailand, AROSP officially welcomed the new members, further institutionalized the network with a newly elected Steering Committee of 9 members representing SA, SEA, SA sub region and regional/international groups, shared and planned on advocacy and campaign especially on maternity protection in the region with a strategic plan for 2024-2026 with clear objectives, outcomes and activities to better guide the AROSP collaboration.
In 2025, AROSP conducted an evaluation to review AROSP achievements, strengths, weaknesses, and future directions, which provided inputs especially for the capacity building part of the 2026 Biennial meeting.
An online consultation on AROSP biennial meeting 2026 contents and methods were conducted during May 2026.
Here is the link for the AROSP Biennial Meeting
