Across the ASEAN region, care work sustains households, communities and economies. chores such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for children, older persons and persons with disabilities are all essential for society to function. Yet most of this work remains unpaid, invisible and disproportionately carried by women and girls. In most countries in Asia and the Pacific with available data, women spend two to five times more time every day on unpaid care and domestic work than men. This unequal distribution continues to shape women’s economic opportunities, limiting their participation in education and paid work, as well as their personal time and opportunities for political participation. 

Unpaid care work itself is not the problem - it is indispensable. The problem lies in how care is undervalued, unsupported and treated as a private responsibility rather than a shared social and economic good. When care is invisible in policy and markets, women absorb the costs through time poverty, lower incomes and reduced autonomy. These dynamics are particularly stark for women living in poverty, who cannot afford to outsource care work and often juggle informal paid work alongside heavy care responsibilities. 

While governments and regional bodies have increasingly recognized care as a policy issue, including through an ASEAN Declaration on Strengthening the Care Economy, the change also needs to come from the ground up. This is where local entrepreneurship and small businesses matter. Across the region, small and medium size enterprises, cooperatives and community‑based initiatives are already experimenting with care‑related and gender‑responsive business models. These range from community-based childcare and services for older persons, to care‑friendly workplaces and innovations that reduce the time women and girls spend on unpaid domestic work. 

These initiatives do more than provide services or income. They offer practical solutions rooted in local realities that reflect cultural norms and community needs. Importantly, they show how care can be organized differently as paid, valued work; as a shared responsibility between households, markets, and the state; and as a foundation for inclusive and resilient economies. 

Many of these enterprises operate under significant constraints. Limited access to finance, weak regulatory recognition, informality and lack of policy support mean their contributions often remain undocumented and absent from national and regional debates. As a result, the voices of women entrepreneurs, care workers and communities are too often missing when policies are shaped. 

Learning from small businesses and community initiatives is essential to understanding what works, for whom and under what conditions.  

Opportunity: Small Grants for Care‑Focused Entrepreneurs in ASEAN 

To inform national and regional policy discussions on care that are rooted in local experiences, ESCAP and Oxfam are launching a small grants programme for small and medium sized businesses, social enterprises and community‑based initiatives in selected ASEAN countries that address unpaid care and domestic work through entrepreneurship. Four grants of USD 10,000 will support five months of documentation, storytelling, and reflection on what these care‑focused business models reveal for policy and practice. The programme prioritizes learning and policy insight, not business scale‑up, and will culminate in a regional learning event connecting local experiences with national and regional care policy discussions. For more information please visit:  https://oxfam.org.ph/grant-caring-entrepreneurs-asean/ 

Application deadline is 10 May 2026.