The 2024 Asia-Pacific Care Champions event was convened on 21 November from 10:30–12:30 as part of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+30 Review. This special event was hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and UN Women, with the support of the Global Alliance for Care and in collaboration with Oxfam and the World Bank.
The event honored and celebrated trailblazers who made pioneering contributions to building inclusive and sustainable care systems in the Asia-Pacific region. These champions were at the forefront of driving transformative change, setting examples of best practices, and inspiring others to take bold actions contributing to the broader goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By recognizing these champions, the event galvanized further action, encouraged the scaling up of successful initiatives, and fostered a collaborative environment for diverse stakeholders to work together in creating resilient and equitable care systems.
Photo credit: UN Women/Ploy Phutpheng
The event served as a platform for showcasing excellence, sharing innovation and good practices, and reinforcing the commitment of all stakeholders to building robust and equitable care systems across Asia and the Pacific. Specifically, the objectives of this special event were to:
- Recognize Contributions: Acknowledging and celebrating the efforts of governments, civil society organizations, private sector, academia, and other relevant stakeholders in advancing inclusive care policies through multistakeholder approaches
- Showcase Innovation: Highlighting innovative policies and practices that can serve as inspiration for replication and scale up across the Asia-Pacific region
- Foster Collaboration: Strengthening partnerships between governments, civil society, the private sector, international organizations and other diverse stakeholders towards an increasingly ‘caring future’
- Launch Key Resources: Introducing new policy tools and briefs that can support policy development and on-the-ground initiatives
- Inspire Action: Encouraging others to draw from these examples and take bold steps that will drive the transformation of care systems across the region.
Photo credit: UN Women/Ploy Phutpheng
The recognition of Care Champions elevated the region’s commitment to advancing the care economy and influenced the global discourse on care policies. These Champions led transformative change toward a more caring future, with an emphasis on advocacy, collaboration, and innovation.