Asean CSR

*Agenda is subject to confirmation and change

1. Consultation and training workshop: Towards harmonised business integrity standards and programmes in ASEAN (9:00am – 5:30pm, Tuesday, 27 October 2015)

Established in September 2014, the Regional Working Group on Business Integrity in ASEAN recognises an urgent need for collective action and the enhanced role of businesses in the fight against corruption. To enable this, a Framework for Collective Action was adopted last March 2015.

Serving as the 4th meeting of the Regional Working Group, this workshop provides an opportunity for multi-stakeholder dialogue and enhancing understanding of international anti-corruption frameworks and standards, particularly on how they can contribute towards joint regional actions and harmonised strategies and programmes in tackling corruption in the private sector.

The workshop is organized by the ASEAN CSR Network and the Regional Working Group in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It is supported by the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office through its Prosperity Fund.

2. Workshop: Inclusive policy-making in agriculture and investment – experiences and lessons from public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder coalitions (9:00am – 12:30pm, Tuesday, 27 October 2015)

Making agriculture and investments inclusive for women and small family farmers is challenging policymakers. Yet, women and smallholders are at the heart of generating a food-secure and sustainable future. Taking a holistic approach to the social, environmental and economic challenges surrounding agriculture and investments, policy-makers have increasingly been engaging a wider range of stakeholders (public, private and civil society), often establishing innovative policy coalitions or partnerships. Such initiatives have brought us lessons and challenges on sustainability, effectiveness, accountability and participation.

This workshop will explore the successes and failures from existing public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder coalitions in ASEAN. It will aim to identify better practices, do’s and don’ts for participating policy makers from governments, private sector and civil society organisations. There will be a minimum of presentations and maximum interaction to facilitate the exchange of learnings.

The workshop is organized by Oxfam with support from the Government of Sweden through its Embassy in Bangkok. 

3. Gender Workshop: Driving gender transformative agricultural investment: challenges, opportunities and practical solutions towards sustainable economic growth in the AEC (2:00pm – 5:00pm, Tuesday, 27 October 2015)

Investing in gender equality, inclusive value chains and women’s economic empowerment are critical to ensure sustainable and responsible business in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Over the past decades, commitment to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment continue to gain grounds amongst governments, companies and development actors. However, women in South East Asia still face high levels of violence, discrimination and economic exclusion. The participation of women in the formal labour force dropped since 1980. In the agriculture sector women’ contributions and pivotal role is hardly recognised and rewarded, and women-led business continue to face disproportionate challenges. Gender differences are often bigger in ethnic minority groups. Barriers to women’s economic participation are underpinned by broader gender inequality, embedded in social norms, policies and business practice. Still, increasing women’s participation in these economies is potentially one of the most powerful ways to improve economic and development outcomes. The AEC provides a momentum to develop or strengthen partnerships between private sector, governments and civil society.

This workshop brings different stakeholders together – companies, women farmers, social entrepreneurs, governments and development actors – to address critical questions and to propose practical, innovative and transformative solutions to drive gender transformation in agriculture.

The workshop is organized by Oxfam with support from the Government of Sweden through its Embassy in Bangkok.

4. Consultation workshop: Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (9:00am – 5:00pm, Thursday, 29 October 2015)

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and its “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework represents a landmark opportunity to raise the standards for corporate responsibility in protecting human rights and providing access to remedies. This session is designed to gather inputs from government, business and civil society stakeholders on how developing national and regional strategies on business and human rights can help create an enabling environment for the greater protection and respect of human rights in the context of ASEAN economic integration.

The workshop is co-organized by the ASEAN CSR Network and Singapore Management University with support from the Government of Sweden through its Embassy in Bangkok, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) with the financial support of the European Union, and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.

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