Online Forum

Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Draft Aide-Mémoire

Expert Group Meeting on Creating an Inclusive Society: Practical Strategies to Promote Social Integration
Paris, France 10 – 13 September 2007

I. Introduction

The Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), is organizing an Expert Group Meeting on “Creating an Inclusive Society: Practical Strategies to Promote Social Integration” at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France from 10 – 13 September, 2007.

Within the broad objective of developing practical strategies to promote social integration through an inclusive and participatory process, the meeting is geared at exploring essential elements necessary to create an inclusive society, clarifying methodology of analysis of social inclusion, and exploring possible approaches to measure the cohesiveness of societies. This will be done through examining case studies, existing methodologies and indicators to assess the impact of interventions to promote social inclusion at the local and community level. It also aims to examine how these methodologies and indicators can be applied to real challenges that societies are facing, such as urban violence and insecurity, marginalization of certain groups, and, further, what role it could play in conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts.

The meeting is part of ongoing efforts at UNDESA to clarify the meaning of social policy in a contemporary world, including the interconnection of inclusion, participation and justice in building socially integrated societies. Inclusion - in this context refers to policies and institutional arrangements designed to include all citizens - is closely connected to actions taken by policy makers.

This meeting of experts is conceived as a continuation of the work initiated at DESA/DSPD two years ago. It builds upon a conceptual framework described in the recent publication entitled, “Participatory Dialogue: Towards a stable, safe and just society for all”, together with E-dialogues organized by DSPD/DESA in 2005 and 2006, where the potential of participatory dialogue was explored as an important policy tool that can offer a range of practical means to promote social integration. The meeting’s deliberations will be published as a contribution to the global debate, policy dialogue and evolution of practical strategies for social integration - thereby contributing to enhance the social science- social policy nexus.

II. Background

The World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995) established the notion of social integration in the intergovernmental discourse and national policy making. The Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, a key outcome of the Summit, pledged to make the eradication of poverty, promoting full employment and fostering social integration overriding objectives of development. The Declaration contains a specific commitment to advance social integration to create “a society for all” through fostering inclusive societies that are stable, safe, just and tolerant and that respect diversity, equality of opportunity, and participation of all people, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and persons.

A “society for all” is one in which every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play. Such an inclusive society is promoted by social policies that seek to reduce inequality and that are trying to create flexible and tolerant societies that embrace all people. Among other things, the Copenhagen Programme of Action called for creating social institutions and mechanism that are accessible to people and are responsive to their needs; ensuring opportunities for all people to participate in all spheres of public life; and strengthening participation and involvement of civil society in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of decisions. It gave special emphasis to measures to meet the needs and interests of those who face obstacles in participating fully in societies.

Achieving a “society for all” has proved elusive. The concepts and approaches are complex, making it difficult for most Governments to implement inclusive social policy or participatory planning. Some Governments embraced mainstreaming, but mainstreaming does not always guarantee participation. To achieve the kind of integration that is envisaged, Governments should promote active participation by various social groups – especially those historically excluded – in policy and planning processes. This requires measures to ensure that every group has an opportunity to express its views and become engaged in decision-making that affect their lives.

Making “a society for all” operational is crucial. In its efforts to follow-up on the commitments made at the Social Summit, the Division for Social Policy and Development of UNDESA has undertaken a series of activities, geared at promoting inclusive policy processes as well as exploring the potential of dialogue as a means to resolve conflicts non-violently and transform societies to be more inclusive and participatory, and, by extension, to further social cohesion.

There is a general consensus that a concept of “social integration”, as a process for building and changing social relations, can play a central role in overcoming various social challenges, and has relevance for conflict transformation and peacebuilding. One of the recommendations arising from the discussions at the United Nations is to further explore ways to measure social integration, or the degree of social cohesion, to assess its impact; and to this end, discuss what types of indicators or proxy indicators, including complementary elements to existing indicators, could be looked at.

In a publication entitled, “Participatory Dialogue: Towards a stable, safe and just society for all” (February 2007) prepared by DSPD, measuring social integration is identified as one of the most important research and policy goals. It has been suggested that developing some specific indicators or a composite index could be useful to further our understanding of social integration, as well as to measure progress in social integration. The question, however, is how to make such index methodologically adequate - what components or weights could be used to make it truly representative.

Against this background, the forthcoming Expert Group Meeting will explore a variety of approaches to expand and enhance the inclusiveness of policies and policy making processes, as well as institutional mechanisms. It will also highlight participatory aspects of the decision-making processes, including information gathering methods at the local and community level. One of the aspects to be explored may be the role of trust and social capital in finding collective solutions to various social challenges.

III. Context

There is broad-based agreement that societies should be founded on the principles of social justice. These principles are the foundation of the United Nations, and are salient in the declarations and policy statements emerging from the major international conferences held in the late 1990s, notably the World Summit for Social Development. Social inclusion is seen in this context as a crucial policy goal. Most recent developments, however, give substantial reasons for concern.

As a result of rapid socio-economic transitions brought on by globalization, people in many parts of the world face some degree of social and cultural dislocations, creating tensions among/between communities, social groups, or generations. These trends, which have been particularly prevalent in recent years, provide fertile grounds for creating negative social conditions, such as widening disparities and inequalities, and the marginalization of certain groups or communities. Left without any effective and early interventions, these trends may lead to societal polarization and fragmentation.

Some societies are experiencing increased incidents of urban crime and community or inter-community violence, including conflicts between mainstream society and socially marginalized groups, among others, the poor, indigenous peoples, immigrants, migrant workers, ethnic/religious minorities. Others are facing increasing intergenerational tensions between citizens with traditional values and those with new values, such as younger generations. Some are coping with the diversity of the members of their communities with different ethnic, religious, or cultural backgrounds. A large number of immigrants or migrant workers pose another challenge to culturally homogeneous societies.

The direct impact of these tensions is especially felt at the local level. Under the rapid processes of globalization and urbanization, cities have become arenas of accelerated social transformations. Societies are becoming more and more diverse due to migration flows, and, therefore, need to integrate dwellers of different origins. Confrontations stemming from cultural, ethnic, religious and other differences sometimes give rise to irrational fears, prejudices, and encourage the development of ideologies such as racism and practices of discrimination geared at excluding “others”. In many countries, particularly in developing countries, an unprecedented percentage of the population1, seeking for better living standards and job opportunities, is migrating from rural areas to one or two urban cities, thus creating mega cities. The influx of the new population has resulted in expanded urban slums, a large number of unemployed citizens, especially youth, and deteriorating security. This rapid urbanization is of a particular concern for policy makers in developing countries. The question of how to ensure these cities and communities adapt to, and include their culturally diverse citizens is a major challenge for today’s world.

In order to assist the policy makers at the national and local levels in strengthening their social integration policies, UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Programme, among other activities, commits itself to the efforts to counter discrimination and exclusion with the following three focuses: 1) the fight against racism and discrimination at the municipal level; 2) the fight against exclusion of children; and 3) the fight against HIV and AIDS related stigma and discrimination. The International Coalition of Cities Against Racism was launched by UNESCO in 2004 to mobilize the municipalities around a common guiding principle, called “Ten-Point Plan of Action”, covering the areas of competence where the municipalities could play a major role, such as employment, health, education, housing as well as cultural and sports activities. This network of solidarity aims at providing the committed municipalities with a space for dialogue and exchange to share good practices for furthering their policies for social integration and participation of everyone. Regional coalitions are being created in Africa, Arab region, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In a realization that cities today are expected to fulfil a social function, assuring all inhabitants fundamental liberties, collective well-being and equitable opportunities to participate in all spheres of urban life, UN-HABITAT supports efforts towards building an inclusive society at the local level, as part of its mandate to realize sustainable human settlements development, set out by the Habitat Agenda. The UN-HABITAT’s approach to inclusive cities is multi-faceted: 1) inclusive urban planning, through which spatial reality of the city reflects social integration, cohesion and equity in access to services and livelihoods; 2) promotion of urban safety and crime prevention, through capacity building of local authorities, civil society actors, and other partners; 3) social integration in post-crisis recovery, as a process of social transformation for improved governance, conflict prevention, peace building and disaster resilience; and 4) facilitation of inclusive urban governance, ensuring participation of marginalized groups in local decision- making and implementation. The Agency’s activities have contributed to the current momentum towards assisting in a framework for social integration and cohesion, including: the creation of a joint UNESCO/UN-HABITAT Working Group on Urban Policies and the Right to the City; continuing dialogue at the World Urban Forum III in 2006 under the theme of Social Inclusion and Cohesion.

While it is clear that there is a strong need to develop practical strategies and evidence-based social policies aimed at creating a stable, safe, just and inclusive society, it is less clear how to achieve this. Including all citizens with diverse backgrounds and promoting their participation are ever more important now, not only for the reason of ethical or social responsibilities, but also for practical needs to cope with rapidly changing demography and values. A specific tool is required to map out the areas for improvement, in order to formulate or amend existing policies to make them more inclusive and maintain safety and stabilities of societies at local, regional and national levels. For this reason, there is a need to closely examine various indicators that have already been developed at the municipal level in a participatory manner, with particular attention to best practices.

Various organizations of the United Nations system play an active role in advocating the importance of and promoting strategies for creating more inclusive societies. In this context, DESA, UNESCO, and UN-HABITAT, in their respective activities, focus on strengthening the local capacity in maintaining healthy social relations, transforming conflicts in a non-violent manner, and enhancing social cohesion thorough inclusive and participatory processes. By identifying critical elements for creating a society for all, the forthcoming Expert Group Meeting will help to outline measures that prevent societies from slipping into social fragmentation, and polarization.

IV. Objectives and Methodology

The principal objective of this Expert Group Meeting is to explore ways and means to promote social integration, in particular, to identify common approaches in mapping out, monitoring, and measuring the progress of interventions aimed at creating an inclusive society. This will be achieved through: 1) examining policies, case studies and existing approaches mainly at local and community levels; and 2) an E-dialogue planned to be organized prior to the meeting with wider participants to stimulate new ideas and compile existing approaches and good practices. The meeting will also discuss methodological issues pertinent to analysis of social integration and will examine the feasibility of the potential Social Integration Index for further review and analysis. It will examine the usefulness of such indicators when they are applied in specific situations, particularly in the context of conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

The meeting specifically aims to:
a) Review various dimensions of social integration/inclusion/cohesion and explore critical elements that are pre-requisites for creating an inclusive society;
b) Examine current initiatives and existing models in measuring the health of the societies (i.e., social inclusion/exclusion, citizen’s participation, inclusive policy process, safety or security) and identify their strengths and weaknesses;
c) Identify the methodology(ies) and information gathering process which could be used for measuring social integration/inclusion/cohesion;
d) Explore a set of core indicators for measuring social integration/inclusion/cohesion;
e) Discuss if such an approach can also be applied at the national level, in particular, for conflict prevention and peacebuilding purposes;
f) Create a knowledge-base on good practices in this area; and
g) Explore options for the follow-up to the meeting.

V. Expected outputs

The meeting will produce the following outputs:

a) A concept paper to be revised upon receipt of expert inputs
b) 10 – 15 page paper prepared and presented by each expert
c) A suggested set of feasible indicators for measuring social integration/inclusion/cohesion will be identified;
d) Methodology for applying such indicators will be proposed;
e) Policy recommendations at international, national and local levels will be adopted;
f) Further directions, good practices and potential partners will be identified.

The results of the meeting will be incorporated in the final report, which will be used as a basis of a future publication to be prepared by DSPD. Policy recommendations may be presented during the forty-sixth session of the Commission on Social Development scheduled to take place in February 2008. A concept paper on social integration and cohesion will be jointly drafted by UNDESA, UNESCO and UN-HABITAT. The paper will serve as a background document to the EGM, identifying critical elements of and current initiatives for greater social integration and cohesion. Upon receiving expert inputs at the EGM, the concept paper will be finalized as a collective policy paper on this issue.

VI. Organizational and administrative matters

The Expert Group meeting will be organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development, in collaboration with UNESCO and HABITAT. The meeting will be conducted at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, and is scheduled to take place from 10 – 13 September 2007.

The number of participants will be approximately 25, including 15 experts, who will be identified and invited by the Division for Social Policy and Development. In addition, the following will participate:

1. UNDESA/DSPD as an organizer to provide substantive and administrative support;
2. Representatives of UNESCO and HABITAT
3. Discussants who will be identified by DPSD;
4. Representatives from selected NGOs (both international and regional);
5. Facilitators;
6. Representatives from international organizations, UN Departments and agencies.

The participants will meet in plenary as well as in working groups. In an opening plenary, participants' presentations will create a conceptual framework for the discussion. The plenary will be followed by short presentations and in-depth discussions on specific issues both in plenary and working groups. At the conclusion of the meeting, participants will outlines the major conclusions and recommendations of the meeting. A final report will be produced after the meeting.

VII. Documentation and the Language of the meeting

The documentation of the meeting will comprise of the background paper titled, “Participatory Dialogue: Towards a stable, safe and just society for all”, 5 – 10 page contributions from the expert participants, and relevant United Nations documents that will be provided at the meeting site. Expert participants will be invited to provide their contributions in advance (to be submitted by 22 August 2007), and to make brief presentations in the plenary.

The working language of the meeting will be English. Documentation for the meeting will be provided in English.

VIII. Passports and Visas

Participants will be expected to make necessary arrangements with regard to passports, visa and health certificates for travel. An information note will be sent out to participants to assist them with travel arrangements.

All relevant correspondence should be addressed to:

Makiko Tagashira
Social Integration Branch
Division for Social Policy and Development
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations
Two United Nations Plaza, Room- 1378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. (212-963-4836)
Fax (212-963 3062)
E-mail: tagashira@un.org

* According to the third World Urban Forum (Vancouver, June 2006), most of the population growth is happening in cities, and the majority of them are in the poorest countries. It is projected that the number of people living in urban areas will, for the first time in history, outnumber those living in rural areas. In 1976, one-third of the world's inhabitants lived in cities. Thirty years later in 2006, cities are home to half the world's population, and data suggests this proportion will continue to grow to two-thirds of the world's population - or six billion people - by 2050.