ASCC Blueprint 2025
ASCC Blueprint 2025
ASCC Blueprint 2025
SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY
BLUEPRINT 2025
Catalogue-in-Publication Data
360.0959
ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint
ASEAN Blueprint
ISBN 978-602-0980-83-6
The text of this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, provided proper acknowledgement is given and
a copy containing the reprinted material is sent to the Community Relations Division (CoRD) of the ASEAN
Secretariat, Jakarta
I. INTRODUCTION 1
B. INCLUSIVE 6
B.1. Reducing Barriers 6
B.2. Equitable Access for All 7
B.3. Promotion and Protection of Human Rights 9
C. SUSTAINABLE 10
C.1. Conservation and Sustainable Management of Biodiversity and 10
Natural Resources
C.2. Environmentally Sustainable Cities 12
C.3. Sustainable Climate 12
C.4. Sustainable Consumption and Production 13
D. RESILIENT 13
D.1. A Disaster Resilient ASEAN that is able to Anticipate, Respond, 14
Cope, Adapt, and Build Back Better, Smarter, and Faster
D.2. A Safer ASEAN that is able to Respond to all Health-related Hazards 15
including Biological, Chemical, and Radiological-nuclear, and
Emerging Threats
D.3. A Climate Adaptive ASEAN with Enhanced Institutional and Human 16
Capacities to Adapt to the Impacts of Climate Change
D.4. Strengthened Social Protection for Women, Children, Youths, the 16
Elderly/Older Persons, Persons with Disabilities, Ethnic Minority
Groups, Migrant Workers, Vulnerable and Marginalised Groups,
and People Living in At-risk Areas, including People Living in
Remote and Border Areas and Climate Sensitive Areas, to Reduce
Vulnerabilities in Times of Climate Change-related Crises, Disasters
and other Environmental Changes
D.5. Enhanced and Optimised Financing Systems, Food, Water, Energy 17
Availability, and other Social Safety Nets in Times of Crises by making
Resources more Available, Accessible, Affordable and Sustainable
D.6. Endeavour towards a Drug-Free ASEAN 17
E. DYNAMIC 18
E.1. Towards an Open and Adaptive ASEAN 18
E.2. Towards a Creative, Innovative and Responsive ASEAN 19
E.3. Engender a Culture of Entrepreneurship in ASEAN 20
A. IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM 21
A.1. Institutional Mechanism 21
A.2. Implementation Strategies 22
A.3. Strengthened ASEAN Institutional Capacity and Presence 22
B. RESOURCES 23
C. COMMUNICATION 23
D. REVIEW 23
I. INTRODUCTION
2. The ASCCs strategy and planning mechanism, the ASCC Blueprint, was
substantially implemented from 2009 to 2015 and was shown to be effective in
developing and strengthening the coherence of policy frameworks and institutions
to advance Human Development, Social Justice and Rights, Social Protection
and Welfare, Environmental Sustainability, ASEAN Awareness, and Narrowing
the Development Gap. More concretely, the ASCC has helped to heighten
commitment in the form of policy and legal frameworks, such as the Declaration
on Non-Communicable Diseases in ASEAN and the Declaration on Elimination of
Violence Against Women and Elimination of Violence Against Children in ASEAN.
The region has also shown collective will, for example, in offering quick, tangible
action in humanitarian assistance through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for
Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre). Underlying these initiatives are important
development outcomes spurring social changes in the region: the proportion of
people living on less than USD1.25 per day fell from one in two persons to one in
eight persons in the last two decades; the net enrolment rate for children of primary
school age rose from 92 percent in 1999 to 94 percent in 2012; proportion of
seats held by women in parliaments increased from 12 percent in 2000 to 18.5
percent in 2012; maternal mortality per 100,000 live births fell from 371.2 in 1990
to 103.7 in 2012; and the proportion of urban population living in slums decreased
from 40 percent in 2000 to 31 percent in 20121.
3. Against this backdrop of intensified regional cooperation, the region has witnessed
extreme poverty dramatically declining in a number of ASEAN Member States.
The region also experienced an expanding middle class, improving health and
1 ASEAN Statistical Report: The Millennium Development Goals (2011): UN MDG Report (2012); HIV/
AIDS Regional Report (2012) and Report of the ASEAN Regional Assessment of MDG Achievement and
Post-2015 Development Priorities (2015)
4. Going beyond the current progress in the ASCC and the region in general,
ASEANs experiences, aspirations and destiny will be closely intertwined and
influenced by global developments and challenges. As the year 2015 draws to
a close, the global community of nations through the United Nations is forging
commitment with all its 193 member states to realise in the next fifteen years a
comprehensive and far-reaching set of universal and transformative goals and
targets for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This will continue
and build upon the gains of the Millennium Development Goals and rally broad-
based support on addressing challenges to sustainable development such as
poverty, rising inequalities within and among countries, violent extremism and
natural resource depletion and climate change among many others.
5.4. A resilient community with enhanced capacity and capability to adapt and
respond to social and economic vulnerabilities, disasters, climate change
as well as emerging threats, and challenges; and
5.5. A dynamic and harmonious community that is aware and proud of its
identity, culture, and heritage with the strengthened ability to innovate and
proactively contribute to the global community.
6. The ASEAN Community shall be characterised as one that engages and benefits
its peoples, upheld by the principles of good governance.
9. The key result areas and corresponding strategic measures are as follows:
Strategic Measures
Strategic Measures
10. In realising the overarching goals of an ASEAN Community 2025, the ASCC
is envisioned to move towards a more inclusive community. This would entail
the promotion of equitable access to opportunities for ASEAN peoples, and the
promotion and protection of human rights of women, children, youths, the elderly/
older persons, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, ethnic minority groups,
and vulnerable and marginalised groups, throughout their life cycle, guided by a
life-cycle approach and adhering to rights-based principles in the promotion of
ASEAN policies and programmes in the ASCC Pillar.
11. Complementing the inclusive growth agenda of the ASEAN Economic Community
(AEC), this Characteristic focuses on addressing the concerns of all peoples of
ASEAN on matters related to welfare, social protection, women empowerment,
gender equality, promotion and protection of human rights, equitable access to
opportunities, poverty eradication, health, decent work, education and information.
13. The key result areas and corresponding strategic measures are as follows:
Strategic Measures
ii. Provide guidelines for quality care and support for women, children,
youths, the elderly/older persons, persons with disabilities, migrant
workers, ethnic minority groups, and vulnerable and marginalised
groups;
Strategic Measures
xiii. Promote increased accessibility for persons with disabilities and other
vulnerable groups in keeping with the universal design facilities.
Strategic Measures
C. SUSTAINABLE
15. The objective of this Characteristic is to promote and ensure balanced social
development and sustainable environment that meet the needs of the peoples at
all times. The aim is to strive for an ASEAN Community with equitable access to
sustainable environment that can support its social development and its capacity
to work towards sustainable development.
16. The key result areas and corresponding strategic measures are as follows:
Strategic Measures
ix. Promote the role of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity as the centre
of excellence in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity;
and
Strategic Measures
iv. Promote cities that are child-, youths-, the elderly/older persons-,
and persons with disabilities-friendly through enhanced
coordination with relevant sectors to provide sustainable and
accessible infrastructure systems;
Strategic Measures
Strategic Measures
D. RESILIENT
19. The key result areas and corresponding strategic measures are as follows:
Strategic Measures
Strategic Measures
Strategic Measures
Strategic Measures
Strategic Measures
Strategic Measures
E. DYNAMIC
21. The key result areas and corresponding strategic measures are as follows:
Strategic Measures
vii. Strengthen capacity and capability of both the ASEAN civil service
and public sectors to respond to emerging challenges and the
Strategic Measures
iv. Promote the free flow of ideas, knowledge, expertise, and skills to
inject dynamism within the region;
vi. Encourage and support creative industry and pursuits, such as film,
music, and animation;
Strategic Measures
A. IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM
22. The ASCC Blueprint 2025 is guided by the ASEAN Charter as well as other
key ASEAN instruments and documents, which provide the principles and
frameworks for ASEAN socio-cultural cooperation and their implementation. Such
implementation is also guided by relevant domestic laws, regulations and policies.
23. The sectoral bodies under the ASCC shall be responsible for operationalising
the strategic measures relevant to their mandate by translating them into
specific action lines or programmes, projects and activities as part of their
respective sectoral work plans. For strategic measures that are cross-cutting
and require collaboration with sectoral bodies from the APSC and AEC Pillars,
an institutionalised cross-pillar and cross-sectoral coordination strategy shall be
employed where the lead sectoral bodies in collaboration with cooperating bodies
will develop their respective sectoral work plans, anchored on the corresponding
strategic measures relevant to their sectors and based on the SMART
(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) approach to
ensure realisation.
24. The ASCC Council is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the ASCC
Blueprint 2025 and with the support of the Senior Officials Committee for the
ASCC (SOCA) and the sectoral bodies, shall be the principal body responsible for
coordinating matters that require cross-sectoral and cross- pillar collaboration. The
ASEAN Secretariat shall continue to convene and enhance the Senior Officials
Coordinating Conference on the ASEAN Socio- Cultural Community (SOC-COM)
mechanism to provide a platform for broad participation and engagement of
sectoral bodies within ASCC and from other pillars (through their chairpersons/
vice-chairs), the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR),
entities associated with ASEAN, and other relevant stakeholders, including sub-
regional organisations.
25. The ASCC Council and the sectoral bodies under its purview shall promote multi-
stakeholder engagement to share expertise and resources, transfer of knowledge
26. Dialogue partners and regional entities associated with the ASEAN shall be
encouraged to support the implementation of the ASCC Blueprint 2025 through
mutually-beneficial cooperation frameworks where the programmes, projects
and activities are in line with the vision, objectives and strategic measures in the
ASCC Blueprint 2025.
27. The implementation of the ASCC Blueprint 2025 shall employ strategies and
approaches that will maximise the role of ASEAN Organs and Bodies, encourage
stakeholder engagement and enhance capacity building mechanisms in
disseminating relevant knowledge to the peoples of ASEAN. It shall promote the
provision of platforms for relevant stakeholders and groups to fully participate
in programmes, meetings and other initiatives of ASEAN Organs and Bodies,
as well as the opportunities for partnerships and collaborations. It shall also
promote public private partnerships (PPP), social entrepreneurship and CSR
for inclusive and sustainable socio-cultural development. It will likewise develop
capacity building mechanisms for relevant stakeholders in the ASCC who are
able to cascade the relevant knowledge to the peoples of ASEAN. Furthermore,
the ASCC will intensify strategies, work programmes and initiatives of sectoral
bodies under the ASCC Pillar to narrow the development gap.
28. The ASEAN Secretariat shall also enhance its capacities and responsiveness to
support the work of the ASCC and in collaboration with other sectors, pillars, and
other stakeholders. Cognisant of the recommendations by the High Level Task
Force on Strengthening the ASEAN Secretariat and Reviewing the ASEAN Organs,
the ASCC Council and sectoral bodies under its purview, with the support of the
ASEAN Secretariat shall take concrete steps to carry out the recommendations
towards an enhanced ASEAN institutional capacity and presence.
29. National Focal Points of Sectoral Bodies shall be encouraged to strengthen their
coordination with their National Secretariats and ASCC National Focal Points in
ensuring timely sharing of information, effective and efficient consultation with
B. RESOURCES
30. In keeping with the principles of ownership and enhancing ASEAN Centrality
and in order to support the implementation of strategic measures in the ASCC
Blueprint 2025, ASEAN Member States are encouraged to provide resources to
support, when appropriate, the projects and work of the sectoral bodies.
31. Indicative multi-year and annual budget is necessary to support the implementation
of the ASCC Blueprint 2025 to foster the predictability of availability of funds.
32. Sectoral bodies have to ensure financial sustainability if they plan to establish
centres to support the implementation of the ASCC Blueprint 2025 or their
sectoral work plans.
C. COMMUNICATION
34. In line with the ASEAN Communications Master Plan (ACMP), the ASCC in close
collaboration with relevant ASEAN Organs and Bodies and stakeholders will
develop necessary platforms, mechanisms, strategies and initiatives to promote
awareness and appreciation of the ASCC Blueprint 2025 in order to achieve
greater communication impact.
D. REVIEW
35. The review and assessment of ASCC Blueprint 2025 implementation shall
utilise the existing Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system that consists of
36. The M&E system shall build upon the ASCC Scorecard used in assessing the
progress of implementation of the ASCC Blueprint 2009-2015 and consider the
lessons learned and recommendations from the ASCC Scorecard Assessment
Results. This shall be reflected in a results framework that will be developed to
monitor and assess progress of the ASCC Blueprint 2025. Building on the ASCC
Scorecard, the sectoral bodies will revisit their sectoral indicators to ensure that
other dimensions of the new ASCC Blueprint 2025 will be considered in enhancing
the current scorecard and its indicators.
37. A Results Framework shall form part of this M&E system where higher-order or
outcome-based objectives, key result areas (KRA) and indicators are compiled,
synthesised and aligned with the Characteristics and Elements in this Blueprint as
shown in the Results Framework in Appendix 1. The Results Framework maps
and clusters such objectives, KRAs, and indicators in terms of their relation to the
Blueprint components. In addition, the Results Framework provides the basis
for monitoring Blueprint implementation by establishing the provisional targets
and timelines. The matrix also provides information for resource mobilisation
purposes by breaking down resource requirements into Annual/Multi-Year funding
targets. Such targets may be expressed in funds, expertise, training or other
inputs.
38. The Results Framework of the ASCC Blueprint 2025 shall be guided by the
following key concepts:
38.2. Key Result Areas: Areas corresponding to the objective where results or
changes are expected to occur. Results are changes in a state or condition
42. As part of the M&E system, the ASCC shall also establish a compliance monitoring
system for the implementation of all ASEAN Declarations relevant to the ASCC
Pillar.
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continuously innovate and
be a proactive member of
the global community.
GLOSSARY