The 2016 Caritas Asia Regional Conference Week, which was held from the 6th until the 11th of June at Amari Watergate Hotel in Bangkok,  included three events - the Regional Workshop on Laudato Si, the Regional Partners' Forum and the CA Regional Conference.

The Regional Workshop on Laudato Si provided a forum for the Asian Caritas MOs and the global Caritas partners to reflect together and share experiences with one another on how Laudato Si inspires the works of Caritas at the diocesan, national, regional and international levels. The workshop included an interactive exchange of ideas among participants and key resource speakers. It allowed participants to deepen the reflection on Laudato Si, which in turn, further fostered a strong resolve on grounding Caritas works in the Social Teaching of the Church. The workshop highlighted best practices, as well as challenges, on doing Caritas works at all levels. The workshop was designed to ignite personal and professional reflections on the encyclical, in order to lead participants towards a formation of the heart.

The Regional Partners' Forum consisted of exhibitions and presentations of the Central Asia Sub-region, particularly on the sub-region’s initiatives on Institutional Development and Capacity Strengthening. The participants learned more about the Central Asia sub-region, and how its MOs and emerging Caritas organizations collectively contribute to the development of the whole Caritas family in Asia. The Partners’ Forum also included the presentation of the results of the Participatory Evaluation of Caritas Asia’s Regional Thematic Programs, particularly the findings and recommendations of the Evaluation Team. Another highlight of the forum was the preparation for the Asia Regional Strategic Planning process, in which both the Asian MOs and the global partners were encouraged to be actively involved, in order to develop an inclusive and comprehensive Regional Strategic Plan for 2017-2020. The Asia Strategic Plan is envisioned to be responsive to the felt needs and aspirations not just of the Asian Caritas MOs, but also of the global Caritas partners that are present in Asia.

The Caritas Asia Regional Conference, which is the annual statutory session of all the 24 Caritas member organizations in Asia, included the usual statutory sessions concerning the region, such as the distribution of the 2016 CA and CI structural and statutory fees, the region’s decisions on the recommendations of the Participatory Evaluation, the region’s preparations for the strategic planning process, the region’s participation to the various CI committees, and other regional topics concerning the Caritas family in Asia. These statutory sessions of the Regional Conference were held in the afternoon of 10 June, in which 21 out of the 23 Asian MOs were present in the sessions. Prior to the afternoon statutory sessions, the Asian MOs had a joint session with the global partners in the morning and discussed about Caritas Asia’s reports on the 2015 activities and its financial reports. The joint session also included discussions on other CA accomplishments as well as weaknesses, opportunities and threats, etc.