BACKGROUNDER 2 - SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

The processes affecting society can be grouped under four broad categories:

Governance, equality and social justice: Although equality before the law is guaranteed in virtually all the countries and areas of the region, discrimination against women, the poor, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups continues. In low-income economies, universal access and coverage of health services is absent. Many countries and areas, however, are fighting discrimination through a range of laws, polices and mechanisms.

As for governance, the trend toward decentralization in a number of economies, such as India, Nepal and the Philippines, augurs well for more public participation in local decision-making and implementation. That, in turn, makes government and the bureaucracy more accountable. Ongoing economic reforms are also opening up more sectors to private business, which also allows more opportunities for public participation.

Integration of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups: In the region, access and participation in development is not yet completely guaranteed to children, youth, older persons and persons with disabilities, as well as to indigenous groups, ethnic minorities, migrant workers, refugees and displaced persons. Many economies have put in place programmes to address these shortcomings. Yet despite policies aimed in favour of the disadvantaged in countries and areas such as India and Malaysia, progress as a whole in the region has been slow. Changes in the population, such as the increasing number of older persons, are expected to create further stresses. Civil and armed conflicts also continue to send out waves of displaced persons and refugees, although the reduction of tensions, except in Afghanistan and Cambodia, has reduced their numbers.

Violence, crime, drug abuse and other social problems: Urbanization, consu-merism and poverty in the midst of visible affluence has contributed to the rise of crime in the region. The use of illicit drugs and substance abuse is also up. These, and the spreading AIDS pandemic, are creating a new wave of impoverishment. Women throughout the region also continue to be subjected to violence, while children are also being victimized. Countries and areas are trying to cope with preventive, rehabilitative and correctional measures, but the problems are overwhelming.

Family and community support systems: For decades, the family has been the source of stability for many Asian and Pacific societies. But modernization, urbanization and increased labour mobility are changing this institution. The move from extended to nuclear families is eroding traditional support systems for the aged, the sick and people with disabilities.

The increased participation of women in labour will increase the demand for and reliance on day-care and related services for children, the aged and the sick. Enhanced mobility of labour will also mean the absence of one or both parents in many families. The impact on children and the implications for other support services are difficult to predict, but they will be significant. Yet new mechanisms, such as social security and social safety nets, are only beginning to be appear.

Challenges for the Future

Clearly, economic growth is necessary to social development. But growth alone is not sufficient. A recent study concluded that a high rate of expansion in per capita GDP or GNP does not necessarily improve the living standards of the poor. In order for poverty to be reduced, the overall growth in per capita GDP should be based on a high growth of rural GDP in areas with large rural-based poor. In other words, policies for redistribution are crucial to effective poverty reduction.

Yet in spite of the importance of agriculture in many developing economies and the concentration of the poor in the countryside, the lion's share of government expenditure is often devoted to urban areas and for non-agricultural purposes. And while access to arable land is vital to poverty reduction, the experience with land reform has been mixed.

For the most part, the macroeconomic policies pursued by many countries and areas are meant primarily to address stability and growth, with poverty reduction to be accomplished through the trickle-down process. Yet disproportionately heavy burdens of adjustment have fallen on the poor and vulnerable, with the visibly unequal distribution of income seen as a necessary short- to medium-term cost of rapid economic growth. Meanwhile food subsidy programs have been found to be ineffective, with a substantial share of the subsidies absorbed by the non-poor.

Much of the growth in the past decades has been government-led. The role of the government as a source of growth, however, has declined in recent years and may diminish even further. Previous strategies for employment, such as the use of unskilled labour in agriculture and manufacturing, have proven to be fruitful but only for a limited period. The transition from labour-intensive to skill-intensive production will not be easy for many economies. And labour mobility within economies and between economies is likely to increase and accelerate. Job security may decline and perhaps disappear in the next century, as the increasing globalization of markets forces economies to be both flexible and highly competitive.

These, and myriad other challenges, face the Asia and Pacific region. Despite the success of past decades, Asia clearly has its hands full dealing with the challenges at the threshold of the next millennium.

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