Title of the session: Plenary 2- Engaging Governments

Summary of the session content:

This session discussed how the social impact community should engage with governments and other

stakeholders in order to scale up and systematic change. Despite of government’s bureaucratic

nature, it is core player of the ecosystem and responsibility holder for the society. Since things

should be done within the framework provided by the government, engaging with the government,

earning their trust is necessary. Another important factor of multi sector collaboration is the need to

know whom to approach, defining the right person is a key to collaboration. Government is not one

body, it has many layers of authority, politicians, which is why learning how to navigate the system

requires time.

Speakers:

Eddie Razak, Executive Vice President, Agensi Inovasi Malaysia

Agensi Inovasi Malaysia is a government agency that aims to create wealth through knowledge,

technology and innovation to stimulate and develop the innovation ecosystem in Malaysia. It aims to

connect ministries to accelerate collaborations within the government. AIM has 2 goals that provide

the foundation for the innovation blueprint.

1. To bring about holistic societal well-being through the cultivations of the innovation ecosystem

2. To drive the national innovation agenda to generate new-wave wealth

Advocacy work within the government is needed because of the complexity of the government and

the validation for future policy change.

Jeremy England, Head of Regional Delegation International Committee of the Red Cross

The ICRC is always on the frontline of disasters. Its policy is to be present continuously during the

chronic/crisis situations to assist and protect but necessarily to change the country. In terms of

working with the government:

1. The ICRC sees government as the responsibility holder and the last resort despite of any forms of

governments.

2. Only government has the authority, access and power, it is necessary to build trust and

encouragement with them, since we have to comply and work under the framework provided by

the government.

3. As a partner ICRC has 2 dimensions. First one is global dimensions, ICRC assists building new

tools/instruments to engage with conflicted areas. Second one is how to deal with crisis

situations.

Joy Anderson, President and Co-founder Criterion Institute

Criterion Institute was found in 2002 to address the following key issues-poverty, environmental

threats, inequality, conflict, disease- by intentionally changing markets. Currently, Criterion is

focusing on gender issues on social investing, how gender forms finance and market decisions. She

believes applying gender lens will help to find many ways to improve the condition of women

globally in three overarching approaches:

1. Access to capital, to improve women’s ability to access capital.

2. Gender equity in the workplace

3. Products and services that benefit women.

Criterion Institute partnered with USAID on gender issues in Asia. She stressed on the importance of

government and private collaboration to accelerate innovation.

Krissada Raungarreerat, CEO, Thai Health Promotion Foundation

A landmark in health promotion in Thailand came in 2001 with the establishment of the Thai Health

Promotion Foundation (Thai Health) as a health promotion funding mechanism that draws upon a 2

percent surcharge levied on alcohol and tobacco excise tax, approximately USD 50-60 million a year.

It aims to provide holistic and integrated approach to support health promotion by collaborating

with other government institutions. He thinks that it is important to understand what the

government is thinking, what the person in charge is thinking. Government consists of many parts

and many officials top to down.

Questions and Answers:

Question 1: Importance of engaging with government? Is it necessary?

Joy

Sometimes can be seen as negative image from the outsiders. Government is very powerful and

appealing to be the subset of large bureaucracy.

Jeremy

You have to be clear about the outcome and principle when to engage with the governments. What

to compromise and what not to compromise. Clear explanation of why you would perform better

without their participation despite having funding from them could resolve the issue.

Question 2: In the field of VP, what role should government play? As funders, social innovators,

how much role should we expect?

Eddie

There are 2 models. Top down and bottom up. VP sector demands innovation and new models, thus

let the sector decide what model they want. As for the government, we need to engage and partner

with them, once you are with the government; it is easy to partner with private sectors. Another

thing about government is they always look for wide impact because of their huge responsibilities. If

you introduce new things, they will examine the other side effects that can happen. Therefore

governments tend to be very guarded. Systematic change is necessary.

Jeremy

Governments usually dislike experiments and trials because of the money. Therefore, private

organizations come and do the testing behalf of them.

Question 3: Any practical tip to engage with governments where things move slowly and only way

to expedite the process is through bribery?

Joy

It is all about expectation of timing and procurement process. It is necessary to calibrate the

expectations in terms of timing because different sectors have different timelines.

Krissada

We need a platform to build up the engagement with the government with the live person. Find a

key person to engage with and talk to them.

Jeremy

Mapping the people with principle and be consistent. Find people who can support you and guide

you and help you.