‘Strengthening Social Solidarity Economy Policy in Asia – Capacity Building Workshop’ Opening

SEOUL, South Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#ActionPlanWorkshops–The ‘Strengthening Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) Policy in Asia – Capacity Building Workshop‘ is being held from March 29^th to 31^st, co-hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO, Director-General Guy Ryder), Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL, Minister Lee Jae-Kap), Republic of Korea, and the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency (KoSEA, President Kim-InSun).

This workshop is a part of the ‘Strengthening Social and Solidarity Economy Policy in Asia’ Project conducted through a joint agreement on September 5, 2019 between the ILO and the MOEL.

ILO focused on the role and importance of decent job creation and SSE and signed a joint agreement with the MOEL, Korea. The project continues from 2019 to 2021, consists of mapping (comparative) studies of six Asian countries, an international academic conference, and capacity building workshop.

The program is for understanding the challenges of post-COVID-19 SSE by policy practices and cases in Asia particularly about the COVID-19, informal economy, and rural areas, boosting the stakeholder capacity and building a network.

The workshop involves 38 professionals including government insiders and social entrepreneurs from China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Korea.

Particularly, the workshop invites the policy stakeholders in the Philippines, where a national level of policy amendment is ongoing regarding the SSE. It is anticipated to be meaningful to develop the Asia SSE by sharing Korea’s experiences.

On workshop Day 1

– Look into the SSE from ILO perspective and policy conditions of the Asia SSE ecosystem via previous research conducted by a team of Seoul National University

– Share the Korea SSE’s experiences, including policy and on-field initiatives responding to a COVID-19 crisis

On workshop Day 2

– Discuss each country’s activities and challenges about the informal labors including issues of domestic workers, gender, and age

– Real-time virtual tour to Hongseong and Gunsan, engaged in community-based human-centered economic activities

On workshop Day 3

– Action Plan Workshops to develop and declare policy agendas according to each country’s context by simultaneously conducted discussions from various perspectives with Underdogs’ facilitation

Vic Van Vurren, Director of Enterprises Department, ILO, delivered a welcome remark, accentuating the SSE’s role in building a better-greener society and human-centered future of work, based on the partnerships and collaboration as catalyzers.

Young-joong Kim, Director of Employment Policy at the MOEL, delivered a congratulatory video emphasizing the SSE’s potentials, which draws attention to overcome the limitations of capital-led development, such as the wealth divide, environmental pollution, etc.

Insun Kim, the president of KoSEA, explained this event as “an invaluable process when social values like solidarity and cooperation hold greater importance.”

On the back of the event, KoSEA will continue to share policy experiences and information among participants in conjunction with the ILO’s SSE Learning Community.

Contacts

KoSEA Policy Research Team

Jaehee Lee, Department Manager

welfare@ikosea.or.kr