Mobilising civil society leaders across ASEAN for greater regional integration

14-Mar-2018

Source:  ASEAN Secretariat News

Mobilising civil society leaders across ASEAN for greater regional integration

SINGAPORE, 14 March 2018 – The ASEAN Foundation in partnership with Temasek Foundation Connects is holding the 3^rd S Rajaratnam Endowment (SRE) – ASEAN Community Forum (SRE-ACF) series from 14-15 March  in Singapore.

The 3^rd SRE-ACF will focus on issues that contribute concretely to ASEAN advancement, and improve the well-being of the ASEAN people, through three specific themes, which are youth and education, culture and information, and culture of peace.

“The 3^rd SRE – ASEAN Community Forum serves as a strategic platform to embrace CSOs to deepen their knowledge and understanding about the ASEAN Community Blueprints 2025 and explore how their roles can contribute to achieving the ASEAN Community goals. We hope that the work plans that they develop here in the forum can add value to their work and make their initiatives more impactful.” said Ms Elaine Tan, Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation.

On his part, Mr. Lim Hock Chuan, the Chief Executive of Temasek Foundation Connects said, “The Forum aims to broaden and deepen ASEAN’s engagement with CSOs. Participants will focus on specific areas that reflect the priorities of ASEAN, and that are intended for them to explore alliances, build collaboration and propose solutions that will lead to the dynamism, resilience and inclusiveness of ASEAN. These objectives and specific areas of focus resonate with Singapore’s chairmanship of ASEAN this year, which focuses on the themes of ‘resilience’ and ‘innovation’.”

“It is critical for ASEAN to be united and enhance its work to strengthen physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity. In this regard, I hope with this forum, we can strengthen the bonds we have forged over time and work towards a participative, dynamic and harmonious community for the benefit of ASEAN peoples,” Mr Lim added.

The forum series aims to forge people-to-people engagement and alliances on solutions to key issues, contributing to the further development of ASEAN. Firstly, the forum series serves as a platform to increase the knowledge of participants about ASEAN and the ASEAN Vision 2025, focusing on the ASEAN Community Blueprints 2025 (ASEAN Political-Security Blueprint, ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint, and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint).

Secondly, the forum series serves as a strategic planning process where participants are required to work together to formulate and deliver applicable work plans and key recommendations within the three specific themes of youth and education, culture and information, and culture of peace. Before reaching this stage, the CSOs will first be exposed to the ASEAN Vision 2025 by ASEAN experts, as well as consider collaboration opportunities with other key stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The CSOs are expected integrate their work plans into their organisational planning and activities, and ASEAN Foundation will assist in documenting and disseminating these work plans to relevant stakeholders.

The 3^rd SRE-ACF is built on the success of the previous two editions of the forum series, which were held in 2017 in Singapore. A total of 82 participants from 74 CSOs across ASEAN were empowered to implement workplans on a broad range of developmental issues discussed at the previous two editions: disaster management, environmental protection, micro-small-and-medium enterprises, rural development, sustainable development and women’s economic development.

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For more information about the ASEAN Foundation, please visit: http://aseanfoundation.org/

For more information on the Temasek Family of Foundations, please visit www.temasekfoundation.org.sg.

For more information on Temasek Foundation Connects, please visit www.temasekfoundation-connects.org.sg.