The 3rd ASEAN Women Leaders Summit: “Strengthening Care Economy and Resilience Towards ASEAN Community Post-2025” and the Pre-Summit Events

In 2024, Lao PDR has assumed the ASEAN Chairmanship for the third time under the theme: “ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience”. Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment is one of the key priorities under “Enhancing Resilience” component. To this end, the Government of Lao PDR will lead and host the 3rd ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit this year which has as its theme “Strengthening Care Economy and Resilience Towards ASEAN Community Post-2025”. This Concept Note sets out the context, objectives and programme for both the Summit itself on 23 August 2024 and the Pre-Summit Events to be held from 21-22 August 2024.

The importance of the care economy was recognised by the ASEAN Community in 2021 with the endorsement of the ASEAN Comprehensive Framework on the Care Economy. The Framework specifically stated that: “As ASEAN continues its work in enhancing the health, wellbeing and welfare of its people, we continue to promote measures to ensure a caring society, social harmony and values of humanity, and spirit of community, in the context of the care economy.” Subsequently, in January 2023, the Jakarta Roundtable on Building a Caring Economy across ASEAN was attended by government representatives from Lao PDR, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Indonesia, which was followed by a major Regional Forum on Care Work in ASEAN Countries hosted by ACW, the ASEAN Secretariat, Oxfam Laos and UNESCAP. The Lao PDR’s national consultation on valuing and investing in unpaid care and domestic care was jointly convened by the Lao Women’s Union, UNESCAP and Oxfam in Laos in June 2024 to further recognise, reduce and redistribute paid and unpaid care work agenda. 

The 3^rd ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit aims to build on these previous discussions and declarations to explore in more detail the specific challenges affecting women and girls in relation to the care economy across ASEAN in order to produce a Declaration at the conclusion of this 3rd ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit, which will be considered by ASEAN Leaders at the 44^th and 45^th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits to be held in October 2024 in Vientiane, Lao PDR.