AFI participated in SharingValueAsia 2014 on 9 October in Singapore. The event, hosted by PublicAffairs Asia, is the region’s leading forum on fostering partnership between businesses, civil society and government.

The conference was attended by more than 180 delegates, representing companies and organizations, which included Accenture, MasterCard, FleishmanHillard, Microsoft, Nestlé, Philip Morris, SAP, Cargill, Hewlett Packard, PwC, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, William J. Clinton Foundation, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Singapore Management University, McKinsey Global Institute, World Economic Forum, USAID, CARE International, UN Women, ActionAid Bangladesh, and Save the Children.

Sung-Ah Lee, Director of Global Partnerships at AFI, was invited to speak in the session “Unlocking the Value of Government: New Approaches for Policymakers”. This panel examined new approaches by government in convening partners to deliver sustainable partnerships that meet their goals and those of the market. In the session, Ms. Lee highlighted AFI’s launch of the global Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) platform, which provides opportunities for systematic dialogue among policymakers, regulators, the private sector, development partners and other key players in financial inclusion.

“The main role of policymakers and regulators is to provide an enabling environment and protect the consumers,” said Ms. Lee. “However, in the AFI Network, we also see a strong leadership role from policymakers in setting a common vision and goal, as well as providing incentives to private sector.” She further elaborated on specific synergies, which include research, capacity building, collaboration in financial literacy, as well as the sharing of innovative technology and business models.

In addition, there was a consensus in the panel that technology and big data can play a critical role in enabling public-private partnerships.