At its thirty-fifth session, the Commission for Social Development considered two main topics under its restructured agenda and multi-year programme of work, namely the priority theme "Productive employment and sustainable livelihoods"; and review of relevant United Nations plans and programmes of action pertaining to the situation of social groups.

On the question of productive employment and sustainable livelihoods, the Commission adopted a resolution in which it took note of the report of the Secretary-General prepared in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (E/CN.5/1997/3) and decided to adopt agreed conclusions and transmit them to the Economic and Social Council as a contribution to the high-level segment of its substantive session of 1997 (E/CN.5/1997/11).

The Chairman of the Commission's thirty-sixth session was Mr Ion Gorita (Romania). Its four Vice-Chairmen were: Seyed Hossein Razvani (Islamic Republic of Iran), Aurelio Fernandez (Spain), Ahmed Abdel Halim (Sudan), and Santiago Apunte Franco (Ecuador) who also served as Rapporteur.