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|a How can women in poverty, as well as other vulnerable groups, realize their aspirations for a life of dignity and prosperity within the framework of the 2030 Development Agenda given the persistent poverty, extreme inequality, recurring financial and food crises, climate change and its disastrous impacts gripping the world today? One pathway being tried out in many places is Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). As defined by the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on SSE, this "refers to the production of goods and services by a broad range of organizations and enterprises that have explicit social and often environmental objectives, and are guided by principles and practices of cooperation, solidarity, equity and democratic self-management" (UNTFSSE, 2014:1). SSEs, however, may not necessarily supportive of women's empowerment. This paper, therefore, aims to explore this dilemma by attempting to answer the following question: Do SSE initiatives documented in existing case studies within Asia, particularly in the Philippines and other ASEAN member countries, consciously pursue the SDG on gender equality as they aspire to realize other SDG goals? Its objectives include: 1) To examine the relationship between SSEs and the achievement of SDG goal number 5 on gender equality in available case studies from the region; 2) To surface gains and gaps in these initiatives by employing SDG and SSE evaluation criteria; and 3) To make recommendations for future action based on insights culled from the research.
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