Asian Alliance for Solidarity Economy

by Melvyn Lopez

Over a span of 40 years – 1970 to 2009 -. Dow Jones industrial index prices encountered a strong resistance at 14000 sometime October of 2008. Intense selling ensued, bringing the market down to the support level of 7500 (reflecting the levels of March of 2003) and even below. Considering that 7500 has been broken, if the trend continues, we will be looking at the Dow waddling close to the 4000 level. Is this a strong bottom or will it also give way? I hope not. “what if it does?” …then you should plan ahead on a strategy of dealing with such a reality… like keeping your investment money in cash or maybe playing the shorts.

In market analysis, analysts are divided in two camps: the fundamental analysts and the technicians. Fundamental analysis is a method of evaluating a security by attempting to measure its intrinsic value by examining related economic, financial and other qualitative and quantitative factors. Fundamental analysts attempt to study everything that can affect the security’s value, including macroeconomic factors (like the overall economy and industry conditions) and individually specific factors (like the financial condition and management of companies, even going into the nitty gritty of specific personalities on the management board).

The end goal of performing fundamental analysis is to produce a value that an investor can compare with the security’s current price in hopes of figuring out what sort of position to take with that security (underpriced = buy, overpriced = sell or short). This method of security analysis is considered to be the opposite of technical analysis.

Me, I am a privately practicing technical analyst…Technical analysts do not concern themselves with qualitative fundamentals.. they just remain as mere observers of patterns, historical prices, volume and rely on charts and technical tools. Technicians have 3 main assumptions:  1) the market price itself is the expression of all the influences to a stock price -whether fundamental or otherwise…  2)Price moves in trends which can be projected using price resistance lines and support lines   3). History repeats itself so technical chartists have a whole gallery of specific patterns which may indicate a bullish trend or bearish trend –ie, head and shoulders, inverted head and shoulders, cup and handle, double or triple ( bottom or top), ascending and descending triangles, flags, pennants, etc.

Normally, technical chartists would draw a line to connect the tops of an active graph like the Dow Jones industrial index… Connecting the tops create the RESISTANCE line… an imaginary line which seems to keep the index price below this level… while drawing a line to connect the bottoms of the graph would create the SUPPORT line… Support levels are usually below the current price, but it is not uncommon for a security to trade at or near support. Technical analysis is not an exact science and it is sometimes difficult to set exact support levels.

(Melvyn Lopez is a Database Administrator for a Japanese custodian bank based in the New York area. )

Jerick T. Axalan is Researcher Assistant in UP Mindanao for the project Enhancing profitability of selected vegetable value chains in the southern Philippines. He had previous work experiences in marketing research, policy analysis for biodiversity management and conservation, integrated social enterprise development, and stakeholder analysis.

I’m privileged to join the Building Shared Vision Workshop here in Davao. I’ve learned many valuable information and insights from the inputs of the speakers, from the method building shared vision, and from the whole experience in workshop.

From the inputs of the speakers, I gained new knowledge on the essence of a vision, learning organization, learning disabilities, and the solution of learning disabilities. Some of the learning points are:

1. If there is no vision, there is no direction. Vision should be written down and be shared to other people.
2. Learning organization acronym: L- learn, E- experiment, A- adapts, R- risk, N- nurture, I- innovates, N- new ideas, G- grows.
3. Very few organizations are learning organization because of learning disabilities. These learning disabilities are: a. I am position b. he enemy is out there, c. illusion of taking charge, d. the parable of the boiled frog, e. the delusion of learning from experience, f. the myth of the Management Team

4 The solution for the learning disabilities involves a Paradigm Shift, enhance learning team, develop system thinking, and build shared vision.

The BSV workshop also gave me an opportunity to remind my values and to check my attitude as a person. The insights from all the participants and speakers served as reminders to what I mostly value in my life. It is in interesting to note that we shared the same values as individual despite different in background and experience. I was able to check my attitude as a person, my relationship with my family and other people, and the environment.

The role playing method of the BSV is learning by itself. It was my first time to experience as a documentor, inquirer, and presenter. It enhanced my skills in writing, listening, and speaking. The role playing method gave me the opportunity to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each team members. I appreciated more how each team member encouraged one another. There was camaraderie and teamwork to all participants. It was fun activity.

The BSV workshop awakened my desire to do something more for country by having a shared vision and same goal with other Filipino. It gives me a tremendous hope that Filipino can unite despites the issues and uncertainties that country is facing in world today.

by Ben Quiñones

Below is my report to the International Forum – Globalization of Solidarity Economy (Lux09) <www.lux09.lu> (April 22-25, Luxembourg) on the initiatives related to the promotion of solidarity economy in Asia. I wish to thank the various members of the Social Enterprise Task Force (SETF) who contributed inputs to this report, notably George Chen (China), Usha Sridharan (India), Omseng Bora (Cambodia), Ho Thi Quy (Vietnam), Agung Alit (Indonesia), Sunil Chitrakar (Nelpal), Rene Guarin (Philippines), Willy Maldia (Philippines), Robert Abao (Philippines), and Mody Karunaratne (Sri Lanka).

It is my hope that by informing our various partners in other continents about our initiatives in Asia, the international collaboration towards expanding outreach to social enterprises in Asia and other continents will be further advanced. Let us continue our Building Shared Vision (BSV) Learning Journey, share our experiences and relevant information, and advance our own dialogue on social enterprises/ solidarity economy in Asia.

A socially responsible enterprise is often referred to as a ‘social enterprise”. It is a mission oriented enterprise with a triple bottom line, or the 3p’s – people, planet, and profit.

CSRSME Asia promotes the development of social enterprises (SE) in Asia through information exchange and resource sharing. This is carried out through the ‘Building Shared Vision’ (BSV) Learning which enables the SE to transform itself into a more dynamic and flexible learning organization.

BSV Workshops

In 2009, CSRSME Asia conducted one regional BSV workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia following the one conducted in Bangkok, Thailand in October 2008. BSV Bangkok gave birth to the conceptual framework of the Asian Alliance for Solidarity Economy (AASE) as a hub of solidarity economy in Asia. BSV Kuala Lumpur created the Social Enterprise Task Force (SETF) as a means for jump starting AASE. CSRSME Asia serves as the secretariat of SETF.

Several international organizations collaborated with CSRSME Asia in conducting the BSV Learning Journey. These included the RIPESS (International Association for the Promotion of Social and Solidarity Economy), SIDI (Society for Investment in Development Institutions), ALOE (Alliance for Responsible, Plural and Solidarity Economy), CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency), FPH (Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation), ADFIAP (Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific), and Oikocredit Southeast Asia.

The Social Enterprise Task Force (SETF)

As noted earlier, BSV Kuala Lumpur led to the creation of the Social Enterprise Task Force (SETF). To date, there are about 40 members of SETF from more than 30 organizations in15 countries (12 from Asian continent + 3 from other continents). Sunil Chitrakar and Ben Quinones, representatives of Asia to the RIPESS Board, are members of SETF. WFTO-Asia President Chandra Kacchipati has showed interest in beefing up SETF with participation of WFTO-Asia member companies in several Asian countries. continue reading…