Enhancing Social Protection In Asia And The Pacific

On 21-22 April 2010, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) organized a social protection conference in Manila. Interest in social protection has been growing since the global financial crisis heightened awareness of the many millions of people in Asia and the Pacific who live in poverty or vulnerable situations. Thus, policy makers are now keen to develop social protection systems that can assist people to both leave and stay out of poverty. The conference brought together people from ADB, its developing member countries, partner agencies, research institutes, and civil society organizations to exchange valuable experience and information and discuss ideas on how to develop social protection and expand it for the well-being of people in Asia and the Pacific. This book features selected papers from the conference that respond to the need for integrated and inclusive social protection to improve the quality of peoples' lives and livelihoods. Specific areas emphasized are health insurance, pensions, the informal sector, measures targeting children, and measuring and monitoring social protection.

Investments in social protection help to reduce poverty and vulnerability, and promote inclusive growth. This report analyzes comprehensive data on government social protection programs in 35 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The Social Protection Index---developed by the Asian Development Bank---helps to assess the nature and the effectiveness of these programs and to facilitate cross-country comparisons. It provides governments with policy-relevant data and analysis to inform decisions concerning the reform and expansion of social protection programs.

Reflects the work and findings of the ADB Working Group on Social Protection since 1998. Focuses on labour markets, social insurance, social assistance, micro and area-based schemes, and child protection. Concludes with a summary of issues and recommendations regarding the implementation of social protection interventions.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to develop and update a comprehensive set of comparable and accessible data to help measure performance of social protection programs in Asia. The Social Protection Indicator (SPI) report presents data on government social protection programs collected from 25 countries in Asia---while a companion publication covers the 13 countries in the Pacific. This report is an update of The Social Protection Index: Assessing Results for Asia and the Pacific published by ADB in 2013. It helps monitor and assess the nature of governments' social insurance, social assistance, and labor market programs in Asia.

The Social Outlook is a flagship ESCAP publication produced every two years with a dedicated focus on social development issues in Asia and the Pacific. In 2022, under the theme of “The Workforce We Need”, the Social Outlook focuses on building a healthy, protected and productive workforce in Asia and the Pacific to achieve inclusive and sustainable development and build back better after COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the presence of four key megatrends including climate change, ageing, digitalization and rising inequalities which has already prompted green, demographic and digital transitions that are altering the future world of work. Through its analysis, the Social Outlook aims to strengthen the evidence base and build capacity of policymakers on how to design and expand social protection, active labour market policies and health systems to achieve a resilient workforce today and in the future. The Report is structured along six chapters. Chapter 1 sets the latest social development context in the region highlighting the need for deepening solidarity and rebuilding trust to implement the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. Next, Chapters 2-4 delve into three components of a resilient workforce, namely a healthy, productive, and protected workforce and emphasize the role of such a workforce in inclusive and sustainable development. Chapter 5 discusses policy recommendations for attaining such a workforce in Asia and the Pacific and proposes the renewal of the social contract which can put the region on a path for breakthrough and prosperity. Chapter 6 concludes.

In this singular collection, indigenous experts describe the social welfare systems of fifteen East Asian and Pacific Island nations and locales. Vastly understudied, these lands offer key insight into the successes and failures of Western and native approaches to social work, suggesting new directions for practice and research in both local and global contexts. Combining international experiences and professional knowledge, contributors illuminate the role of history and culture in shaping the social welfare systems of Cambodia, China, Hong Kong (SAR, China), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Micronesian region (including the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam [Unincorporated Territory, U.S.A.], Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands [Commonwealth, U.S.A.], and Palau), Samoa and American Samoa (Unincorporated Territory, U.S.A.), South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The contributors link the values and issues that concern populaces most to the development of social work practice, policy, and research. Sharlene B. C. L. Furuto then conducts a comparative analysis of the essays including their data and social service programs, highlighting the similarities and differences between the evolution of social welfare in these nations and locales. She contrasts their indigenous approaches, the responses of governments and NGOs to social issues, the availability of social work education, as well as API models, paradigms, and templates, and the overall status of the social work profession. Furuto also adds a chapter comparing the distinct social welfare systems of Samoa and American Samoa. The only volume to focus exclusively on social welfare in East Asia and the Pacific, this anthology holds immense value for practitioners and researchers eager for global perspectives.

The publication is a practical and comprehensive manual for policy-makers and professionals in the field of labour markets, social insurance, social assistance, micro and area based schemes for the informal sector, and child protection. The volume presents a menu of social protection interventions in each area and the way to prioritize them, assessing for each topic theoretical approaches and project design and implementation issues. The appendixes provide a thorough matrix summarizing social protection and labour policies.

This publication points out that to reduce poverty in Asia and the Pacific, countries need to step up their investment in people, in particular on social protection, education and health care. To be effective, existing social development policies need to reach the furthest behind. This requires policymakers to identify the country-specific population groups that are disproportionally poor and deprived as well as the specific barriers that hinder their escape from poverty. Recognizing the centrality of addressing poverty in all its manifestations, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets out to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.