Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) VIETNAM Category: x Lobbying and Advocacy Provision of Services Governance Membership strategy

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Brief description of the initiative: 2007 The initiative to establish an ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs’ Network was announced by Viet Nam at the 6th ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) Meeting (Nov 2007, Thailand) 2010 VWEC developed the Proposal for AWEN’s establishment and the Terms of Reference - ToR Got ideas and comments from all ASMs at the ACW meetings to revise the ToR In the 11th ACW meeting (October 2012, Lao PDR), ACW has finalised and adopted the Terms of Reference of the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs’ Network 2014 AWEN Launching workshop was organized in April 2014 in Hanoi, Vietnam

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Launching workshop of AWEN, Hanoi, 4/2014

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Brief description of the initiative: What is AWEN? ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs’ Network is a regional network of national women entrepreneurs’ associations/organizations; enterprises and/or other economic entities owned or managed by women in all economic sectors in the ASEAN region

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Brief description of the initiative: “To be the leading organization in ASEAN for the promotion, development, and empowerment of women entrepreneurs” Vision To improve the capacity of ASEAN women entrepreneurs and boost ASEAN women entrepreneurs’ development and networking through the Network’s activities. Mission

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Brief description of the initiative: Purposes: To create a regional forum for ASEAN women entrepreneurs for sharing information, knowledge and experience; To assist ASEAN women entrepreneurs to improve their business management and skills; To support ASEAN women entrepreneurs’ better access to financial institutions science and technology, trainings, market and business opportunities; To support ASEAN women starting their businesses; To link with other international and regional networks/organizations of women entrepreneurs.

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Brief description of the initiative: Organizational Structure: AWEN has Coordination Board, Chairperson, Country Coordinators (Focal points), and AWEN Secretariat. The first Chair of AWEN is Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council (VWEC) for the 02-year term (4/2014-4/2016 ) and the Role of AWEN Chair shall be rotating for every two years among ASEAN Member States. Financing: The Network should mobilize funds to sustain its work from the contribution of its members, Dialogue Partners or other donors.

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Brief description of the initiative: Organizational Structure of AWEN AWEN CHAIRPERSON AWEN SECRETARIAT COORDINATION BOARD ( 10 COUNTRY COORDINATORS ) AWEN MEMBERS

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Brief description of the initiative (Main fields of activities): AWEN Improve Institutional capacity Annual ASEAN women entrepreneurs forum Promote Trade & Investment; partnership with partners Researches/S tudies/ policy recommenda tions Capacity building for WEs/ WEs Associations/ Organizations

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Summary of Key results: Establishing and Strengthening institutional capacity of AWEN Set up since April 2014, based in VWEC Office. Tasks: It helps AWEN Chairperson (VWEC) in keeping with AWEN Members; Sharing information to AWEN Members, Coordination Board; preparing documents/arranging logistics to organize the 2 nd meeting of Coordination Board. AWEN Secretariat: Set up with 10 Members which are organizations/Business Associations of women/WEs in ASEAN Member States (01 Member from 01 ASM) AWEN Coordination Board:

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Summary of Key results: AWEN has developed its partnership with other organizations AWEN OECDACTI Other Partners TAF

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Summary of Key results: AWEN has developed its partnership with other organizations The ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and Investment (ACTI) Project/US AID supported for the Launching workshop of AWEN (April, 2014 Hanoi, Vietnam) and the 2 nd AWEN Coordination Board Meeting (Nov 2014, Bangkok, Thailand) ACTI Proposal on “Supporting Women’s Entrepreneurship Development in Southeast Asia”. The 1 st activity of this project is to Study on Women’s Entrepreneurship Policies in Southeast Asia. The Report will also provide policy recommendations to SEA Goverments. (The Project is in the process of raising funds for its activities) OECD Develop the AWARE project (Advancing Women for the ASEAN Region’s Economic Empowerment) to promote equitable and effective economic participation of women in the ASEAN region by increasing understanding of the barriers to the growth of women-owned small and medium enterprises and sharing findings and policy recommendations at a Regional Forum. TAF

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN)

Summary of Key results: o AWEN Members have been linking together and expanded their Network through out the region; o AWEN Members had more opportunities to be enhanced capacity; to participate in regional Fora/Workshop and Dialogues; o Representatives of AWEN was invited to join Meetings of ASEAN Committee on Woman (ACW), ASEAN SMEs Working Group, etc..and having opportunities to take part in dialogues with Representatives from Government Agencies and to make recommendations. (13 th ACW Meeting in Yangon, Myanmar, Oct 2014; Regional Policy Dialogue on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs to Advance AEC Development in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov 2014; Public- Private Dialogue for "ASEAN Small and Medium Enterprises Strategic Action Plan ( )“ in Siem Riep, Cambodia, Nov 2014, etc)

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Summary of Key results: Priorities/Programmes in the first term ( ) -Setting up AWEN Secretariat and Coordination Board (done); -Building up AWEN’s regulations, Logo, group (on going); -Strengthening institutional capacity of AWEN (on going); -Membership development (on going); -Cooperating with partners to implement studies/researches relating to Women Entrepreneurs in ASEAN region; -Organizing the 1 st Regional Women Entrepreneurs Forum (March 2015) -Implementing activities to promote trade and investment of women-led enterprises; -Building up Database on WEs in ASEAN; -Other activities to promote women entrepreneurship and enhance capacity for AWEN Members.

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Summary of Key results: Main Challenges: -Membership & Funding: In the initial phase of AWEN: It is difficult to develop Membership/collect Membership Fee and raising funds for AWEN activities; -Lack of equipments and facilities to support for AWEN Secretariat activities; -Website of the Network: Due to the rotation of Chairmanship every two years, a website for AWEN seems not be feasible because of administration problem. AWEN is still looking for a solution for this issue. -Communications: + between Country Coordinators with AWEN Secretariat sometimes are not in time. It leads to the delay of some activities’ implementation. + between each Country Coordinators with AWEN members in AMSs -Capacity of Country Coordinators/AWEN Secretariat (limited knowledge and skills) -Responsibility and commitment of each Country Coordinators.

Establishment of ASEAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK (AWEN) Supporting documents Information about Launching workshop of AWEN: network Download ToR of AWEN: women-entrepreneurs-network Contact details: AWEN Chairperson: Mrs.Nguyen Thi Tuyet Minh AWEN Secretariat Mrs. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao Address : 6th Flr, VCCI Building, No 9 Dao Duy Anh Street, Hanoi, Vietnam Tel : ext 339; Fax: / HP :