On 27th February 2017, The British Council and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) signed a collaborative agreement to promote the growth of social enterprise and social impact investment across the Asia-Pacific region as a means of supporting progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The aim of the agreement is to cooperate to provide research, analysis, training, policy dialogues and offer guidance to support policy makers and other stakeholders to formulate and implement policies and strategies that foster social enterprise and create enabling environments for social impact investment.

Under the agreement, three work steams have been identified.

1. Measurement and evidence
2. Policy dialogue and capacity building
3. Bespoke support to governments

As part of the policy dialogue work stream, we have joined together with the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) to host the first ever Asia Pacific Policy Dialogue on social enterprise and social impact investment on September 28th 2017 in Christchurch New Zealand.

The policy dialogue is being hosted in conjunction with the SEWF, which is the global platform for the social enterprise community to come together and learn and share as well as to provide the tools to enhance knowledge and skills, build a supportive public policy environment, and create a generous network of collaboration and sharing.