The S Rajaratnam Endowment (SRE): ASEAN Community Forum was a regional initiative organised by the ASEAN Foundation with support from Temasek Foundation to enhance civil society engagement in ASEAN policy processes. Held in 2017 and 2018, the forum series aimed to raise awareness of the ASEAN Community Blueprints 2025 and explore how these frameworks could better reflect and respond to the everyday realities of people across the region.

Structured as a platform for exchange, the forums provided civil society organisations (CSOs) with valuable insights into ASEAN’s institutional mechanisms, while fostering dialogue between grassroots actors and representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat. Participants engaged in critical discussions on development issues relevant to their work, including social inclusion, sustainable development, and community empowerment.

Each forum featured thematic conversations tailored to the ASEAN Blueprints’ pillars, enabling CSOs to align their advocacy and initiatives more closely with ASEAN’s priorities. Participants expressed optimism about integrating their efforts into the broader ASEAN framework while remaining true to their local causes. The forums also served as an important networking space, enabling collaboration among like-minded organisations across the ten ASEAN Member States.

By the end of its implementation in 2018, the SRE: ASEAN Community Forum had convened 132 participants from 122 CSOs, fostering regional solidarity and narrowing the gap between ASEAN’s institutional identity and its communal aspirations.