On May 16, 2025, the ASEAN Secretariat’s Senior Officials Meeting on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication (SOMRDPE), the Philippine’s National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), AsiaDHRRA, the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), and Resilience Development Initiative (RDI) co-organized the first webinar on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication (RDPE) in ASEAN. Joined by over 100 participants from the government sector, civil society organizations, private sector, research and financing institutions, the event aimed to enhance the understanding of ASEAN Guidelines on Responsible Agricultural Investment (AGRAI) principles and its implementation status, gain practical insights from the experts and draw actionable recommendations promoting AGRAI.
The event started with a message delivered by Ms. Gelle Amarillo on behalf of NAPC’s Undersecretary, Mr. Girlie Amarillo. The message underlined their efforts, particularly in the agriculture sector, in curving the country’s poverty issues. She encouraged national policies to shift into responsible agricultural investment practices to support this transition.
ASEAN Secretariat’s Ajeng Purnama shared the webinar’s objectives and the focus on Localization and Integration of the ASEAN Guidelines on Responsible Agriculture Investment (AGRAI) Principles to Rural Development and Programming. The next speaker was Myanmar’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI), who represented the SOM-AMAF, Dr. Thanda Kyi. She briefly presented ASEAN-RAI’s background, the guidelines, the Action Plan (2020-2031), and the implementation progress, mainly on the country’s adoption of the alignment assessment tool on National Legal and Policy Services.
Mr. Him Noeun of the Cambodian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (CamboDHRRA) presented shared insights from the CSO perspective. He highlighted the successful formation of the Women Agricultural Network (WAN) and the youth’s involvement through various projects in their organization. Chrissa Borja emphasized GrowAsia’s role in building regional capacities through the ASEAN Academy on Responsible Investing by training professionals on AGRAI to help shape the future of agricultural financing.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI), Dr. Thanda Kyi
The Philippine Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Assistant Secretary U-Nichols Manalo read the department’s experience and practices on responsible agricultural investments by embedding sustainability, inclusivity, and resilience principles in all their flagship programs. He underlined a modernization plan for agriculture and fisheries, which aligns with RAI in the context of environmental safeguards, value chain, and smallholder support. AsiaDHRRA’s Senior Program Manager, Mr. Cezar Belangel, presented the civil society perspective and the result of engagement with the FAO in ASEAN Member States (AMS) and underlined interventions focusing on engaging rural women and youth from marginalized communities.
On the financial aspects, Ms. Lorna Grace from IFAD shared her insights and cited that their organization remains inclusive of working with smallholders and SMEs. She included IFAD’s financial services delivery channel and exclusivity on farmers’ organizations. FAO-HQ’s Ms. Maud Oustry highlighted the importance of promoting women and youth to engage in RAI and the collaboration with AsiaDHRRA and the DHRRA in the AMS. She also detailed the creation of recommendations and strategy papers, validated through the multistakeholder process in each country, and will serve as a basis to step forward for AGRAI roadmap implementation. The last speaker was Ms. Bernice Galang from the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), who highlighted their recent program on Asia-Pacific Young Farmers and Agrilympics (YFCA). It is an annual regional and, recently, national gathering of empowering young farmers’ organizations from Asia and the Pacific. She also suggested the importance of multistakeholder partnership in assessing the RAI impact in each country.
