Rebecca Lee

Principal Social Procurement Adviser at ICN

Rebecca Lee is the Principal Social Procurement Adviser at ICN Victoria. Her work with ICN Victoria encompasses three years in the Local Jobs First Policy team, and she now brings this experience in policy implementation to the Social Procurement Framework.

Rebecca has experience in driving effective policy implementation and compliance from her previous role as Policy Compliance Team Leader. She has aspirations for social and sustainable procurement practices and looks forward to applying her background in Women and Gender studies to the Building Equality Policy program for ICN Victoria.

Title: Harnessing the power of the marketplace

Synopsis: For better of worse, our individual and collective purchasing decisions have a significant impact on the economy, our communities, and the environment.

An unthinking approach to these decisions reinforces unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and undermines the social and environmental systems that are critical to prosperity, peace, and human flourishing.

Every year, governments and businesses spend trillions of dollars acquiring the goods and services they need to operate and achieve their objectives — from cupcakes to major construction projects. These procurement activities are one of the biggest drivers of our economy.

Social procurement is when these organisations use their buying power to deliver social and sustainable outcomes, above and beyond the goods and services being procured. It aims to harness the power of the marketplace to minimise harm and maximise benefits to people and the planet.

This expert panel focuses on social procurement in action. We'll explore what social procurement is, what best practice looks like, and the big challenges and opportunities for buyers and suppliers.