Reflections from kicking off the largest (virtual) social investing conference in Asia
With the first two days of the AVPN Virtual Conference 2020 behind us and 3 more to go, I wanted to pause this morning to share some of the highlights for those of you who may have missed out on the live sessions (by the way, you can still watch recorded sessions).
On Monday we focused on Collaboration and I had the pleasure of kicking off with Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen, to discuss the need for a Moral Revolution where leaders are challenged to think about their humanity first and their bottom line second.
Throughout the following sessions, the resounding message from speakers was that while the COVID-19 crisis has wreaked havoc on health systems, financial markets and livelihoods, it is providing us all the opportunity #BuildBackBetter. This sentiment, first shared by Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director (Markets and Development) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), was echoed throughout the day with calls for changing paradigms for the social sector and renewed purpose from corporate leaders.
Not surprisingly, given the days’ theme, multi-sector collaboration was top of mind, with a particular emphasis on the imperative for the social sector to better engage governments and the private sector who have the most influence and best chance for driving systemic change.
Yesterday, we focused on Gender Equality and if there was one message that came through loud and clear, it was the intersectionality of gender issues across all impact areas. Whether focusing on Climate, Health or Education, gender must be part of the conversation. And with the outsized impact of the pandemic on women & girls there is more work to be done to elevate this message and foster collaboration across disciplines.
GLI (aka: Gender Lens Investing) was the other buzzword of the day, with practitioners touting this rapidly growing field that has doubled in size in Asia to USD 1.4 billion in 2019. Blended Finance in particular was identified as a major opportunity for fostering gender equality in a post-COVID world while also addressing issues of illiquidity from strained financial markets. In the spirit of building awareness for GLI and amplifying stories of members focused on women and girls, we announced a new Gender Platform.
I capped off the day with a chat with Julie-Ann Guivarra, DFAT’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, who shared how the Australian government sees gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as key contributors to growth, development and stability in the region.
I hope you will join us for the next 3 days when we dig into Climate Action, Philanthropy and Impact Investing. Check out the agenda here: https://conference.avpn.asia/agenda-2020/