The ASEC-RIPESS Asia annual conference was organized from 11 to 14 November 2019 in collaboration with Yayasan Bina Swadaya (Self Reliance Development Foundation in Indonesia) to discuss the role of SSE in revitalization of the rural economy. It was composed of field visit to a successful self-help village, Panggungharjo; a workshop based on evidence gathered from the field visit; presentations by the participants; and the ASEC meeting. In conjunction with the conference, a kick-off meeting of the ILO’s project on strengthening SSE policy in Asia was held with the researchers from ASEC member countries who will participate in the project.

On the first day, participants visited Panggungharjo village, in District Bantul, Province of Yogyakarta which is known as one of the best examples of self-help villages in the country, mobilizing local sources for village development. Panggungharjo has five business units under the leadership of the village head, Mr. Wahyudi Anggoro Hadi, and participants visited three of them; a waste management unit, a tamanu oil production unit, and a village restaurant named Kampoeng Mataraman.

On the second day, participants shared their views and knowledge on various issues around successful cases in different countries in Asia (e.g. Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, and the Republic of Korea), with regard to revitalizing rural economy through activities based on SSE values and principles in the form of community based social enterprises (CBSEs). Many participants were practitioners from local and national organizations dedicated to addressing social and environmental issues as well as boosting local economies to help people in need. An official of ILO COOP Unit, Mr. Young Hyun Kim, made a presentation on the work of the ILO around promoting SSE during the session on ‘Advancing Transformative Economy thru Global Movement’ moderated by Dr. Rosalinda Ofreneo. Among the other discussants were the executive secretary of RIPESS-Global, Ms. Laure Jongejans Salinas, and Mr. Chandra Firmantoko, a member of ASEC-Indonesia and a key resource person at the event.

A kick-off meeting of the ILO’s research project on ‘Strengthening SSE policy in Asia’ was held in Yogyakarta a day before the conference. At the meeting, the ILO official and a researcher from the Seoul National University, the partner institute for the project, shared the analytical framework to be used for the mapping of SSE organizations in selected Asian countries. This research project will take a macro perspective using a legal and institutional approach at the national level. In addition to three North East Asian countries (China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea), three researchers from three South East Asian countries in ASEC (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) will carry out the mapping exercise of SSE organizations based on the analytical tool developed by the Seoul National University team.