Since 2019, ILO COOP has been working on a project for Strengthening Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) Policy in Asia. The kick-off meeting for the research phase of the project took place in November 2019 in Yogjakarta, Indonesia. During that meeting the analytical framework in mapping SSE organizations, as developed by a research team in Seoul National University (SNU), was presented and discussed among the researchers. Since then the participating researchers from the region have been working on developing their first drafts of country case studies.

An interim workshop of the research phase of the project took place on 8 May 2020 to share the first drafts. Although it was originally planned to take place in Malaysia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop took place online. Staff members of ILO’s Cooperatives Unit (COOP), including the Unit Manager, took part in the call along with the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency (KoSEA) as an implementing agency.

The workshop began with a brief introduction on the context and the overview of the research by Professor Euiyoung Kim at SNU, the head research manager. This was followed by each researcher presenting the first draft of their country case studies. During the workshop, participants discussed each country case study and they also exchanged views on the adaptations to the analytical framework to ensure its relevance to different country and sub-regional contexts. The ILO officials also presented their views on the analytical framework, definitions of terms and made suggestions toward making the research better aligned with the ILO’s international labour standards.

After more than four hours of discussion, it was agreed that several additional interim meetings among the researchers would be useful. The ILO and KoSEA officials will participate in these meetings to solidify and better align the understanding around the analytical framework among the researchers and the participating organizations. The remaining schedule of the research phase was also shared during the workshop. It was agreed that the final outcome of the research would be presented to the public through a research conference. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the research conference that had initially been planned in July in Seoul, Republic of Korea, is now postponed to September 2020. The format of the conference will be confirmed at a later date depending on the unfolding situation around the pandemic.