MANILA - As part of a year-long research project we're conducting with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC), Oxfam and AVPN, the ACN team was in Manila to hear from 20 different stakeholders - entrepreneurs, farmer networks, banks, etc - to understand the current gaps faced by MSMEs to gain access to finance. This is the first in the series of stakeholder consultations we will conduct for qualitative research, and the next stops include Jakarta and Bangkok. Final policy recommendations will be submitted to ASEAN in Sept 2017.

The recommendations looked to see how the region could better support MSMEs in the region to gain access to finance, receive technical support and amend regulations for SMEs to increase participation in the economy. We focused on 3 different groups for this research: women, agricultural and social entrepreneurs.

JAKARTA - Part 2 of the stakeholders consultation was held in Jakarta where ACN met with women's groups, staff of the ASEAN Secretariat, and other CSOs in order to understand the challenges MSMEs face in accessing finance in the country.

The final report with policy recommendations will be submitted to ASEAN in September 2017.